‘Babylon’ director Damien Chazelle speaks on movie theaters

• Damien Chazelle and Matthew talk about their journey to get their film, Babylon.
•  The film’s producer and director discuss the “battle” that studios wage.
• To keep their films from bypassing theatres and heading directly to streaming.

Damien Chazelle and Matthew Plouffe have talked openly about their struggles to get their film, Babylon, released and their journey to make it.

The film’s producer and director team also discussed their difficulties in securing Paramount for the project, which aims to represent the “darkness” that surrounded the industry in the 1920s.

Chazelle and Plouffe discussed the “battle” that studios have to wage to keep their movies from bypassing theatres and heading directly to streaming in an interview.

Plouffe advised filmmakers to build works of art that will draw in audiences: “If you want your movie to play on the big screen, you have to go grab it, you have to demand it.”

What will draw viewers to the large screen is something that, in my opinion, “I think filmmakers embrace that: What is going to bring people to the big screen? How can I grab that audience? I hope that inspires them. It’s what inspired me when we were making this movie.”

The problem faced in a market today dominated by direct-to-streaming and day-and-date releases was acknowledged by Chazelle, who concurred. “A battle needs to be won. Even if I’m optimistic, there is still work to be done, he stated.

The criticism of streaming services for mistreating filmmakers has been raised by producers and directors in recent months, including Steven Spielberg, and it is echoed by both Chazelle and Plouffe.

Additionally, Chazelle and Plouffe admitted that they had trouble getting Babylon to Paramount. Wyck Godfrey, who was then the President of the Motion Picture Group at Paramount, was needed by Chazelle, Plouffe, and Olivia Hamilton, the wife and producer of Chazelle.

He replied to it by turning into the champion. He battled valiantly to get the movie inside the studio, Chazelle said. I’m not sure it would be a Paramount movie without him. Godfrey previously served as a producer on Damien Chazelle’s previous movie, First Man.

Due to the pandemic, filming on the movie, which was supposed to commence in Santa Clarita in March 2020, didn’t begin there until July of the following year. Thirteen years prior, Chazelle had initially discussed his idea with Plouffe.

The film’s authors claimed that they wanted to illustrate what the business was “truly like” at the time, with several scenes highlighting the struggles that both directors and actors faced.

According to Chazelle, this included looking into the “unhinged, wild, and brilliant people that established the industry” in order to “convey what that moment was truly like.”

They demonstrate this in one scenario as a theatre audience dances on top of their chairs in response to witnessing a “talkie” picture for the first time. The movie also shows the disorder of the time, with one shot showing a silent movie in the middle of a desert.

Cameras break in the scene, orchestras perform on the sand, and riotous extras dressed like vagrants add to the cacophony of noise. Due to the sensitivity of the microphones, Nellie LaRoy (played by Margot Robbie) must contend with the noise while learning to adapt to the “silent on the set” setting, making sure she is aware of her decibel levels.

Chazelle remarked that the film has a disaster movie-like quality to it and pointed out that the time period was marked by “rashes of suicides among stars and bit characters.”

Babylon chronicles a number of people as they ascend and descend during an early Hollywood period of excess, decadence, and wickedness.

Brad Pitt plays Jack Conrad in the movie; other cast members include Jean Smart as Elinor St. John; Olivia Wilde as Ina Conrad; Diego Calva as Manny Torres; Phoebe Tonkin as Jane Thornton; Troy Metcalf as Orville Pickwick; Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer; and Hansford Prince as Joe Holiday.

On December 23, Babylon will have its theatrical debut.

Babylon trailer below:

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