Babylon (2022)

Babylon (2022)

Director Damien Chazelle

Plot Synopsis

A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Male Deaths

• Lukas Haas (George Munn)
• Danny Jolles (Unnamed Writer)
• Frederick Koehler (D.P. Bill)
• John Macey (Kyle)
• Brad Pitt (Jack Conrad)
• Rory Scovel (The Count)
• Ethan Suplee (Wilson)

Female Deaths

• Margot Robbie (Nellie LaRoy)
• Jean Smart (Elinor St. John)
• Phoebe Tonkin (Jane Thornton)

Gallery

John Macey

Rory Scovel

Trivia

1. Emma Stone was originally cast in the lead role, which was announced to be based on Clara Bow, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts after the production was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After Margot Robbie replaced her, the role was reworked to become more fictional in nature.
2. Both Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio read Damien Chazelle's script for Babylon (2022) while filming Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). DiCaprio's friend Tobey Maguire is one of the producers of Babylon.
3. Of working with Margot Robbie for the role of Nellie, director Damien Chazelle said, "I needed someone utterly fearless. I had a sense she would attack it. There's this sort of ravenous physical bravado to her. On the other hand, she's also the most technically skilled thespian you could hope to work with as a director."
4. Chazelle mentioned that there exists a version of the film entirely shot on his phone in his backyard, with him, his wife, and Diego Calva playing every role. This was to help get Calva more involved in a rehearsal process when stuck in quarantine after the pandemic shut production down. He joked that this version is pretty good too.
5. In April 2022, it was announced that Tobey Maguire would play Sir Charles Chaplin in this film. However, he actually plays a fictional character named James McKay.
6. Jack Conrad, the character played by Brad Pitt, appears to be based on John Gilbert. Gilbert was one of the leading MGM stars of the 1920s, but the innovation of talkies revealed to many an apparent mismatch between his soft voice and his dashing on-screen persona. This led to dwindling roles, a drinking problem, and a death by heart attack at age 38 in 1936. What the gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart) says of Conrad near the end of this film was true also of Gilbert: despite his final MGM films tanking, he was still securing one of the largest paychecks in Hollywood due to his former fame and contract. Gilbert's story also inspired the screenplay of Singin' in the Rain (1952), in particular one of the clips featured in Babylon.
7. Chazelle pitched this film to a producer in 2009, who thought it was a bit ambitious for the filmmaker at the time. He did, however, like the idea of the film's relationship with music and suggested Chazelle to try writing a musical. And so, this film idea would ultimately become La La Land.
8. The opening scene of the film, expected to last 30 minutes, will feature "Fellini-esque debauchery" and graphic imagery involving a long orgy, reminiscent of films such as Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
9. Chazelle detailed the process of casting Diego Calva in the lead as a rigorous two year process. He sifted through hundreds of thousands of headshots before stumbling on Calva's. He said he was sold on his "eyes and overall look", and wanted a lead that "didn't come with emotional baggage for the audience to connect to". This, and zoom auditions, resulted in Calva landing the role.
10. Margot Robbie's starlet Nellie is inspired by troubled Clara Bow, the original It Girl who scandalised the United States by being open about her sexual desires.
11. While on a podcast, Damien Chazelle stated the script was inspired by the TV show, Babylon Berlin (2017).
12. Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt previously starred in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). Both this and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) explore the transition periods in movie industry. This story explores the transition period between silent movies and talkies and the latter explores the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.