Top 10 Films About Filmmaking

Legendary director Billy Wilder guides us through a film noir about a has-been silent movie actress who thinks she has a shot at rekindling her career when a young screenwriter makes the mistake of indulging her crazy. This backfires horribly when he can no longer take her delusion and attempts to set her straight. Named for a Hollywood-area street with an historical connection to filmmaking, this classic, Oscar-winning movie picks apart the false and misleading fantasy world associated with “the pictures” – and thus was considered offensive by many contemporary stars at the time.

Co-written, produced, directed by and starring Ben Stiller, this film follows a down-and-out actor who tries to revamp his career by starring in a Vietnam War film. He wants it so bad that even when his director explodes right in front of him, he refuses to call it quits and leads his cast deeper into drug cartel territory, ignoring the signs and pissing off a lotta people along the way. With celebrity cameos and invaluable acting advice thrown in, “Tropic Thunder” is a satirical look at movie industry pros who take themselves too seriously.

Art and commerce butt heads in this hundred-minute-long study in parallelisms. Brigitte Bardot stars as the wife of Paul Javal, a screenwriter hired to jazz up the screenplay for a film rendition of “The Odyssey.” But while the screenwriter, producer and director all argue about the treatment of the film, Paul’s relationship with his wife begins to disintegrate as she cosies up with the producer – talk about complicated. However, the fact that “Contempt” places artistic desires at odds with the director’s wish for a big-budget action epic helps this film resonate even today.

Before we start questioning Martin Scorsese’s choice in directing a warm and fuzzy feature that’s absolutely nothing like his usually violent mob movies, let us not forget that the man himself is a hardcore cinephile, and the film is basically about a boy who helps a once famous filmmaker rekindle his love for movies. And just in case you wondering if Scorsese could pull it off, the movie went on to win five Oscars, and revived everyone’s love of film.

This is one of those films that you want to watch over and over again. Starring Gene Kelley, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, the story is set in the roaring twenties when Hollywood underwent a major shift from silent films to talking pictures. Ironically, while the plot revolved around over-dubbing actors whose voices weren’t up to snuff, life imitated art when Reynolds’ own voice was replaced by an un-credited actress in some scenes. Even so, its spectacular Technicolor sets and feel-good songs make you wish the whole world were one big dance number.

Not all filmmaking is as innocent as a Gene Kelley musical. But what would a countdown about filmmaking be if it didn’t mention the seedier side of motion pictures? “Boogie Nights” follows Dirk Diggler, a high-school dropout who, with the help of his oversized manhood, rises to the heights of porn stardom, buys a lotta stuff, does a lotta drugs and eventually gets in way over his head. Like all filmmaking, porn is a business – and a kinda boring one at that. But this movie is anything but, thanks to Mark Walhberg’s star-making performance.

A yuppie studio exec, played by Tim Robbins, turns down the wrong script and starts receiving threatening postcards from a rejected screenwriter. In a desperate act, he kills a man he wrongfully suspects of being the postcard sender and spends the rest of the film covering his tracks. “The Player” is the epitome of ‘90s Hollywood, replete with oversized suits and car phones, and including cameos from over fifty celebrities. Gently satirizing Hollywood culture, “The Player” is packed with in-jokes that are a nod to director Robert Altman’s own troubles with the Hollywood machine.

Many contemporary films have used old-timey filming styles, but few have succeeded in combining old-with-new so perfectly as writer/director Michel Hazanavicius – and to have an almost entirely silent film win the Best Picture Oscar in 2012 is a feat unto itself. “The Artist” centers on the lives of two people who meet in the late-1920s: a veteran silent film actor and a beautiful woman aspiring to be the next Hollywood starlet. From this meet-cute, their lives are forever entwined as they navigate through Hollywood’s evolution toward talking pictures.

Sometimes, even terrible stories are worth watching. This movie follows the career a man widely considered the worst director ever, who ends up making “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” widely considered the worst movie ever. The character of real-life film director Ed Wood is just obscure enough to suit Tim Burton’s directing style, and Johnny Depp plays him to a tee – whether in pants or a skirt and pumps. “Ed Wood” the film may not have achieved box-office success, but did win critical acclaim for its portrayal of exploitation films of the ‘50s.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- “Be Kind Rewind” (2008)
- “Bowfinger” (1999)
- “Adaptation.” (2002)
- “Barton Fink” (1991)

It’s an indirectly autobiographical movie about a director who’s trying to make an indirectly autobiographical movie. Monumental upon its release, Federico Fellini’s masterpiece is about a filmmaker who recalls his past while looking for inspiration for his next film. Conveyed from the director character’s own point-of-view, it’s a movie about the nature of inspiration, how creativeness comes from unexpected places and the tricks of the filmmaking trade. Not only is “8 ½” number one on our list, it’s also considered one of the most important films of all time.

Do you agree with our list? Which film do you think best describes tinsel town? For more illuminating Top 10s, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.