Movies about making movies
Some of the best movies I have seen during the last 70 years have been movies about making movies. No doubt someone has already compiled such a list but, if so, I cannot find it. I would like all of you with better memories and greater knowledge than me to suggest titles. They don't have to be good films but, if not, they should be ambitious (pretentious is O.K. too!) or bring something to the table, even if only a single good scene or novel twist. I am looking for fiction feature films rather than documentaries, though with biopics the lines can get blurred. Thanks.
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38 titles
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJack PalanceIda LupinoWendell CoreyHollywood actor Charles Castle is pressured by his studio boss into a criminal cover-up to protect his valuable career.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsKirk DouglasEdward G. RobinsonCyd CharisseAfter spending three years in an asylum, a washed-up actor views a minor assignment from his old director in Rome as a chance for personal and professional redemption.
- DirectorDavid MametStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanWilliam H. MacyRebecca PidgeonA movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all too ready to give up their values for showbiz glitz.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppMartin LandauSarah Jessica ParkerAmbitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsKarlheinz BöhmAnna MasseyMoira ShearerA young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJacqueline BissetJean-Pierre LéaudFrançois TruffautA committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenTéa LeoniBob DorianA director is forced to work with his ex-wife, who left him for the boss of the studio bankrolling his new film. But the night before the first day of shooting, he develops a case of psychosomatic blindness.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy GarlandJames MasonJack CarsonA film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanJack ConwayVictor FlemingStarsJanet GaynorFredric MarchAdolphe MenjouA young woman comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom, and achieves them only with the help of an alcoholic leading man whose best days are behind him.
- DirectorFrank OzStarsSteve MartinEddie MurphyHeather GrahamWhen a desperate movie producer fails to get a major star for his bargain-basement film, he decides to shoot the film secretly around him.
- DirectorBarry SonnenfeldStarsGene HackmanRene RussoDanny DeVitoA mobster travels to Hollywood to collect a debt, and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsGael García BernalFele MartínezJavier CámaraAn examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsMarcello MastroianniAnouk AiméeClaudia CardinaleA harried movie director retreats into his memories and fantasies.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsAsa ButterfieldChloë Grace MoretzChristopher LeeIn 1931 Paris, an orphan living in the walls of a train station gets wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
- DirectorMichel HazanaviciusStarsJean DujardinBérénice BejoJohn GoodmanWhen George, a silent movie superstar, meets Peppy Miller, a dancer, sparks fly between the two. However, after the introduction of talking pictures, their fortunes change, affecting their dynamic.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorSacha GervasiStarsAnthony HopkinsHelen MirrenScarlett JohanssonThe relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho (1960) in 1959 is explored.
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsSienna MillerToby JonesImelda StauntonThe turbulent relationship between filmmaker Sir Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) and actress Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller).
- DirectorBenjamin RossStarsLiev SchreiberJames CromwellMelanie GriffithOrson Welles produces his greatest film, Citizen Kane (1941), despite the opposition of the film's de facto subject, William Randolph Hearst.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsMark WahlbergJulianne MooreBurt ReynoldsBack when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, an idealistic porn producer aspires to elevate his craft to an art when he discovers a hot young talent.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsTim RobbinsGreta ScacchiFred WardA Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected, but which one?
- DirectorRichard RushStarsPeter O'TooleSteve RailsbackBarbara HersheyA fugitive stumbles onto a movie set just when they need a new stunt man, takes the job as a way to hide out and falls for the leading lady while facing off with his manipulative director.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
- DirectorTom DiCilloStarsSteve BuscemiCatherine KeenerDermot MulroneyThis ultimate tribute to all independent filmmakers takes place during one day on the set of a non-budget movie.
- DirectorE. Elias MerhigeStarsJohn MalkovichWillem DafoeUdo KierThe filming of Nosferatu (1922) is hampered by the fact that its star Max Schreck is taking the role of a vampire far more seriously than seems humanly possible.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
- DirectorSpike JonzeStarsNicolas CageMeryl StreepChris CooperA lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJohn TurturroJohn GoodmanJudy DavisA renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsSteve CooganJeremy NorthamRob BrydonDirector Michael Winterbottom (Northam) attempts to shoot the adaptation of Laurence Sterne's essentially unfilmable novel, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman."
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDonald SutherlandKaren BlackBurgess MeredithAn art director in the 1930s falls in love and attempts to make a young woman an actress despite Hollywood who wants nothing to do with her because of her problems with an estranged man and her alcoholic father.
- DirectorAlbert BrooksStarsAlbert BrooksSharon StoneAndie MacDowellWith his career on the skids, a Hollywood screenwriter enlists the aid of a modern-day muse, who proves to test his patience.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroJohn TurturroStanley TucciTwo weeks in the life of a fading Hollywood producer who's having a rough time trying to get his new picture made.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsAntonio BanderasEion BaileyAlan ArkinHollywood makes a deal with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa to film his war and recreate his life.
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsMelanie GriffithStephen DorffAlicia WittAn insane independent film director and his renegade group of teenage filmmakers kidnap an A-list Hollywood actress and force her to star in their underground film.
- DirectorChristopher GuestStarsKevin BaconJennifer Jason LeighEmily LongstrethFilm school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsRichard ConteJulie AdamsRichard EganAn independent producer unwisely opens a can of worms after he decides to make a movie about the unsolved murder of a famous silent film director in 1929.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsJacques GamblinDenis PodalydèsCharlotte KadyIn German-occupied France, two filmmakers solve the collaboration dilemma differently.