Movies about making movies
by lhmcm | created - 28 Apr 2023 | updated - 2 days ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Fabelmans (2022)
PG-13 | 151 min | Drama
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch
Votes: 117,046
A Spielberg masterpiece.
2. Scream 3 (2000)
R | 116 min | Horror, Mystery
While Sidney and her friends visit the Hollywood set of Stab 3, the third film based on the Woodsboro murders, another Ghostface killer rises to terrorize them.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 164,154 | Gross: $89.14M
An underrated, hilarious entry into the Scream series that follows murders on the making of a ‘Stab 3’.
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 285,807 | Gross: $140.54M
A good found footage horror film about making a documentary.
4. Hail, Caesar! (2016)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes
Votes: 143,216 | Gross: $30.50M
The thin plot is just a vessel for the Coen brothers to recreate the glamour of old Hollywood, but the performances and comedy make up for that. They also do a very good job at recreating classic film genres.
5. The Aviator (2004)
PG-13 | 170 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly
Votes: 384,241 | Gross: $102.61M
Very good Scorsese/DiCaprio outing about the eccentric man behind the spruce goose and some great films.
6. The Girl (2012 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 91 min | Biography, Drama
The turbulent relationship between filmmaker Sir Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) and actress Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller).
Director: Julian Jarrold | Stars: Sienna Miller, Toby Jones, Imelda Staunton, Conrad Kemp
Votes: 7,210
This concerns the making of The Birds and Marnie, and the abuse the star of both of those movies faced from the director. It is a little underdeveloped, but overall good.
7. See How They Run (2022)
PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered.
Director: Tom George | Stars: Kieran Hodgson, Pearl Chanda, Gregory Cox, Harris Dickinson
Votes: 64,262
Though it’s more of a murder mystery, it follows the making of a film that didn’t end up actually being made. There are plenty of scenes in Hollywood and moments showing the screenwriting process.
8. Licorice Pizza (2021)
R | 133 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits
Votes: 140,401
The focus in this isn’t making movies, but since the love interest is an actor, it is a subplot.
9. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A 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.
Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen
Votes: 260,837 | Gross: $8.82M
This true classic is all about 1930s Hollywood and the transition from silent to sound film.
10. Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
R | 118 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon.
Director: Craig Brewer | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson
Votes: 64,982
It follows the making of the Blaxploitation classic ‘Dolemite’.
11. Someone to Love (1987)
R | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A Hollywood film director assembles a group of friends and strangers for a social gathering on Valentine's Day in a deserted movie theatre where he interviews them all on their opinions on love and loneliness.
Director: Henry Jaglom | Stars: Henry Jaglom, Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Emil, Sally Kellerman
Votes: 444
A bizarre indie drama in which a filmmaker makes a documentary by interviewing people about love and loneliness.
12. Ed Wood (1994)
R | 127 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette
Votes: 184,038 | Gross: $5.89M
A film about the life of one of the most notorious directors: Edward D Wood Jr.
13. Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery
A film school is the center of a fresh spate of killings based on urban legends.
Director: John Ottman | Stars: Jennifer Morrison, Matthew Davis, Hart Bochner, Loretta Devine
Votes: 18,966 | Gross: $21.47M
In this sequel, murders start happening at a film school. There are many scenes devoted to showing making movies.
14. Trumbo (2015)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K.
Votes: 84,800 | Gross: $7.86M
A film about the great black listed Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.
15. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
Votes: 236,584
A classic about a washed up Hollywood actress and a screenwriter’s relationship.
16. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Not Rated | 68 min | Documentary
A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
Director: Dziga Vertov | Stars: Mikhail Kaufman, Elizaveta Svilova
Votes: 28,007
A surreal representation of filmmaking, showing men with movie cameras all over Russia.
17. New Nightmare (1994)
R | 112 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A demonic force has chosen Freddy Krueger as its portal to the real world. Can Heather Langenkamp play the part of Nancy one last time and trap the evil trying to enter our world?
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Jf Davis, Miko Hughes
Votes: 64,234 | Gross: $18.09M
A meta horror film about making a cheesy horror sequel.
18. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
R | 92 min | Drama, Horror
The 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.
Director: E. Elias Merhige | Stars: John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier, Cary Elwes
Votes: 44,191 | Gross: $8.29M
A great filmmaking satire on a fictional story of the making of Nosferatu.
19. His New Job (1915)
TV-G | 31 min | Short, Comedy
Charlie is trying to get a job in a movie. After causing difficulty on the set, he is told to help the carpenter. When one of the actors doesn't show, Charlie is given a chance to act but ... See full summary »
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Billy Armstrong, Agnes Ayres, Arthur W. Bates
Votes: 2,043
A funny Charlie Chaplin short about the tramp failing to work at a film company.
20. Argo (2012)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin
Votes: 639,350 | Gross: $136.03M
It’s really an intense thriller about saving 6 Americans from terrorists, but part of that is creating a fake movie, and a lot of that process is shown.
21. I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meathook, and Now I Have a Three Picture Deal at Disney (1993)
Unrated | 16 min | Short, Comedy, Horror
A first-time feature-film director (who's also the writer and producer) is casting the lead actress. We meet him talking to his wife about the picture and the process. We meet the actress, ... See full summary »
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Jay Lacopo, Karla Montana, Johanna McCloy, Tommy Hinkley
Votes: 824
Ben affleck’s first film is strange. It’s about a sexist film director who does exactly what the title says, then hires an actress for his next film. She may also be his next victim.
22. The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
R | 122 min | Drama
At a media-swamped party to celebrate his 70th birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: John Huston, Oja Kodar, Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg
Votes: 8,051
A great found footage-like film about the fictional director Jake Hannaford, “the Ernest Hemingway of the cinema.”
23. Hugo (2011)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
In 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.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 336,925 | Gross: $73.86M
A film about George Melies that shows some scenes of him making movies.
24. Mank (2020)
R | 131 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphrey
Votes: 82,781
The story of writing the iconic classic citizen Kane.
25. Toby Dammit (1968)
45 min | Drama, Horror
During a trip to Rome, a debauched Shakespearian actor is tormented by fans, the press, the Italian film industry and the Devil - who appears as a little girl seeking to collect his head.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Terence Stamp, Monica Pardo, Anne Tonietti, Marina Yaru
Votes: 544
The bizarre, horrific and haunting landscape of a depressed and drunken movie actors’s mind.
26. The Dead Pool (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan must stop a sick secret contest to murder various San Francisco celebrities, with himself being one of the targets.
Director: Buddy Van Horn | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, Evan C. Kim
Votes: 49,003 | Gross: $37.90M
The story of Dirty Harry trying to solve a murder that’s connected to a horror exploration director.
27. Dead of Winter (1987)
R | 100 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A fledgling actress is lured to a remote mansion for a screen-test, soon discovering she is actually a prisoner in the middle of a blackmail plot.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Mary Steenburgen, Roddy McDowall, Jan Rubes, William Russ
Votes: 4,677 | Gross: $2.41M
28. La La Land (2016)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 672,221 | Gross: $151.10M
29. A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)
TV-MA | 101 min | Biography, Comedy
In the 1970s and '80s, National Lampoon's success and influence creates a new media empire overseen in part by the brilliant and troubled Douglas Kenney.
Director: David Wain | Stars: Frank Gingerich, Morgan Gingerich, Annette O'Toole, Harry Groener
Votes: 17,975
30. Wiener-Dog (2016)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama
A dachshund passes from oddball owner to oddball owner, whose radically dysfunctional lives are all impacted by the pooch.
Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Greta Gerwig, Keaton Nigel Cooke, Tracy Letts, Julie Delpy
Votes: 11,072 | Gross: $0.45M
31. Lux Æterna (2019)
51 min | Drama, Thriller
Two actresses, Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are on a film set telling stories about witches - but that's not all. 'Lux Æterna' is also an essay on cinema, the love of film, and on-set hysterics.
Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Béatrice Dalle, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Abbey Lee, Claude-Emmanuelle Gajan-Maull
Votes: 7,399
32. Get Shorty (1995)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A mobster travels to Hollywood to collect a debt, and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, John Travolta
Votes: 89,176 | Gross: $72.08M
33. Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
PG-13 | 94 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A documentary exploring the myth of the Loch Ness monster.
Director: Zak Penn | Stars: Werner Herzog, Kitana Baker, Gabriel Beristain, Russell Williams II
Votes: 4,424 | Gross: $0.04M
34. American Fiction (2023)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama
A novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from Black entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of the hypocrisy and madness he claims to disdain.
Director: Cord Jefferson | Stars: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander
Votes: 77,039
35. Peeping Tom (1960)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Karlheinz Böhm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer, Maxine Audley
Votes: 39,301 | Gross: $0.08M
36. True Romance (1993)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
In Detroit, a pop-culture nerd steals cocaine from his new wife's pimp and tries to sell it in Hollywood, prompting the mobsters who own the drugs to pursue the couple.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer
Votes: 242,616 | Gross: $12.28M
37. The Cotton Club (1984)
R | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Music
Meet the jazz musicians, dancers, owner, and guests (like gangster Dutch Schultz) of The Cotton Club in 1928-1930s Harlem.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee
Votes: 19,561 | Gross: $25.93M
38. Stardust Memories (1980)
PG | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
While attending a retrospective of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault
Votes: 23,991 | Gross: $10.39M
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