Damien Chazelle, a French director who won Academy Awards for Whiplash, La La Land, and First Man, is preparing to make a big impact with his upcoming feature film. In Babylon, his upcoming American historical epic, the Jazz Age of the 1920s, when Hollywood switched from silent to talkies, will be examined. The ensemble cast of A-list actors will portray fictional characters that are loosely based on those era’s real-life Hollywood celebrities.
Hollywood enjoys producing films about itself, but Babylon lifts the lid on the business almost a century ago, during what it calls “an era of unbridled decadence and depravity.” There’s no sign that this is Singin’ in the Rain. Here is all the information we have about Babylon.
What exactly is the Babylon plot?
Here is Babylon’s official plot summary, which we teased above:
It follows the rise and fall of several characters during a time of unrestrained decadence and depravity in early Hollywood. The story is one of outsized ambition and outrageous excess. The screenplay was written by Damien Chazelle. Regarding the era in which the story is set, Chazelle stated in an interview with Vanity Fair(opens in new tab) that “everything is shifting underneath people’s feet and I became really fascinated by the human cost of disruption at that magnitude, at a time when there was no road map, when everything was just new and wild.”
Damien Chazelle is directing and writing Babylon, his fourth feature film. His debut feature was the psychological thriller Whiplash from 2014, starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. For Whiplash, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Then he directed the Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling-starring romantic musical comedy La La Land. Damien received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for La La Land and won the Academy Award for Best Director. In his third full-length film, First Man, Ryan Gosling portrayed Neil Armstrong in a biographical drama. Whiplash made $49 million, La La Land $448 million, and First Man $105 million at the global box office.
Who is in the Babylon Cast?
Some of today’s biggest stars are bringing this 1920s Hollywood story to life. The film’s lead actors are Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, who co-starred in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Pitt has agreed to play Jack Conrad, who, according to Vanity Fair, is inspired by leading men of the era such as Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks, and John Gilbert. Meanwhile, Robbie is playing aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy, who is described as a cross between Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, Joan Crawford, and Alma Rubens.
James McKay, an invented character, will be portrayed by Tobey Maguire. On the movie, Tobey also serves as an executive producer. Manny Torres, a Mexican immigrant and Hollywood outsider, will be portrayed by newcomer Diego Calva. Jean Smart, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving, Spike Jonze, Lukas Haas, Eric Roberts, Li Jun Li, Chloe Fineman, Jeff Garlin, Jovan Adepo, Rory Scovel, Phoebe Tonkin, Troy Metcalf, and Flea of Red Hot Chilli Peppers round out the rest of the cast, all of whom will be portraying fictional characters. The only actor portraying a real-life person in Babylon is The Handmaid’s Tale star Max Minghella, who plays late film producer Irving Thalberg.
When will Babylon be released?
Babylon will be released in limited theatres on Christmas Day 2022. (December 25). The film will then be released in theatres worldwide on January 6, 2023. In July 2019, Lionsgate was announced as the frontrunner to acquire the film’s rights, with Damien directing. However, in November 2019, Paramount Pictures acquired control of the project. Filming was supposed to begin in California in mid-2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it back. Instead, production began on July 1, 2021 and concluded on October 21, 2021.