The art of filmmaking may be a strenuous task but it is an intriguing collaborative process that brought the best of the crew. Almost everyone knows the filmmaking process that it has been incorporated into daily functions and pop culture.
And one would thank one or more of these ten films on showing the process of how a film started, got funded, went into production and was received by the audience. For that, here are then ten best movies about making movies, whether they are fictional movies or real ones.
14 Saving Mr. Banks (2013) 79%
It is interesting to learn that one of the most cherished Disney classics had legal battles and creative disputes along the way. While some of them are condensed down, Saving Mr. Banks retains the main conflict of P. L. Travers (Emma Thompson) being confronted by Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) into granting him the rights to adapt Mary Poppins onscreen.
The filmmaking process most focused on here is the conception and the release. During its humble beginnings, Disney brought in his screenwriter and his song composers, the Sherman brothers, to win Travers over. Though flawed, Saving Mr. Banks is an enthralling journey.
13 Bowfinger (1999) 81%
Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin are paired up in this Hollywood satire about amateur filmmaker Bobby Bowfinger who tricks popular action star Kit Ramsey into acting out scenes while he is secretly being filmed. When that backfires, the filmmaker Bowfinger turns to Ramsey’s lookalike Jiff to continue on with the film.
While Martin works as another of his conniving leading man roles, Murphy takes it all in for dual performances as Kit Ramsey and Jiff, both with levels of charisma and lightheadedness. And the lengths for Bowfinger to construct each scene for his film Chubby Rain is an all-around farce.
12 Tropic Thunder (2008) 81%
Tropic Thunder is a raucously exciting satire of big-budgeted filmmaking and Hollywood stardom. With Ben Stiller confident in front and behind the camera, R-rated laughs are assured. Stiller plays action hero Tugg Speedman who, along with a band of prima donna actors, has to pull off a last ditch attempt to film an expensive Vietnam War film.
Each is at their A-game, with Jack Black channeling Chris Farley, Brandon T. Jackson acting as an outrageous rapper-turned-serious actor, Danny McBride as a trigger-happy demolition expert and Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian method actor who wore blackface. It is outrageous fun.
11 Shadow Of The Vampire (2000) 82%
It is an interesting feat to see the line between reality and fiction blur when method acting goes to extreme lengths. This is the subject of Shadow of the Vampire, a fictionalized reenactment of the filming of Nosferatu. When the director F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich) hires Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) for the lead role as vampire Count Orlok, the cast and crew sensed the bewilderment of Shreck’s method acting and lengths to become Orlok.
The meta-references that run throughout the film plays a crucial part to express the passion on creating horror films. And Dafoe’s Shreck embodies that gleefully.
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9 The Disaster Artist (2017) 91%
The Disaster Artist details the most unbelievable production process behind the cult classic The Room, regarded as the Citizen Kane of bad movies. James Franco directs this biographical comedy and also stars as Tommy Wiseau to a fault, whose peculiar acting and cagey background becomes a hindrance for his cast and crew.
While the book had deeper detail on the film production, this film captures it sufficiently with a committed ensemble cast that also includes Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Ari Graynor, Alison Brie, Zac Efron and others. A great farce, The Room is a love letter to an extremely bad movie.
8 Ed Wood (1994) 92%
More on the subject of infamous filmmakers, Tim Burton brought to life the biography of Ed Wood as he creates two of the worst movies of all time, Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Johnny Depp played the cult film director, whose bizarre vision is a challenge for his collaborators to suspend their disbelief. Along the way, he establishes a complex connection with his idol Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau).
It is fascinating that Burton captures the unthinkable imagination of Ed Wood with a black-and-white aesthetic and a tribute to Landau, who gives an incredible performance as Lugosi.
7 Dolemite Is My Name (2019) 97%
Rudy Ray Moore is a standup comedian who specializes in street-smart rhyming monologues under the persona Dolemite. His influence in the African-American community led him to be dubbed as the “Godfather of Rap”. His instance on creating kung-fu Blaxploitation films featuring Dolemite led to a crowd-pleasing comedy showing the behind-the-scenes look, with Eddie Murphy playing as Moore.
While it is not a stretch to play a figure that he and other comedians idolized, Murphy is at top form as Rudy Ray Moore. And his intentions to produce a Dolemite film are noble at best. For that, this is a crowd-pleaser.
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4 8½ (1963) 98%
Typically, the best movie about movies involves filmmakers falling into creative block and rediscovering their imagination with a life-changing experience. The best of them has to be Federico Fellini’s masterpiece 8½. An Italian surrealist film, 8½, focuses on a film director commissioned to do a science-fiction film. However, he lost his touch from the material that it made him draw away from his personal life and lead back to his intimate mindscapes.
Much like any subversive film from the 60’s, 8½ is a response to the New Wave of science fiction. As a whole, it is a visual, reflective exercise.
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2 Singin’ In The Rain (1952) 100%
And speaking of a crowd-pleaser, this is where Singin’ in the Rain enters. While it is most well-known for its iconic dance number with Gene Kelly under the rain, this is a more positive look on Hollywood’s rocky transition from silent films to talkies during the 1920s.
At the center of this transition is silent film star Don Lockwood (Kelly), who ponders about his future film career. Luckily, he got help from his best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) and aspiring star Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) on finding inspiration to what leads to The Dancing Cavalier.
One of the greatest examples of love for films and filmmaking, Singin’ in the Rain is a genuine crowd-pleaser, filled with exciting toe-tapping dance sequences.
1 Sullivan’s Travels (1941) 100%
One of the greatest enduring comedy classics of today, Sullivan’s Travels is a remarkable portrait on looking back on one’s roots and seeing inspiration in the simplest of aspects. The story follows comedy director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) wanting to make a socially-conscious drama, adaptation of a novel entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou?. But after attaining director’s block, he takes intensive researching by disguising as a hobo. Along the way, he encounters a girl (Veronica Lake) who accompanies him in his self-reflecting journey.
While McCrea makes the most as Sullivan, Veronica Lake is a stunning, touching female lead.
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