It’s not exactly a secret that Hollywood can be a tad self-centred: it loves making films about itself, sometimes lovingly so (such as in Singing in the Rain), sometimes bitingly caustic (take Sunset Boulevard, for instance). And this has pretty much been a part of Hollywood’s MO since the beginning. For our December podcast, join Julie, Sam and Alan as they look at three films in which Hollywood depicts itself, for better or for worse, from the 1970s to the present. Starting with John Schlesinger’s adaptation of Nathanael West’s novel The Day of the Locust (1975), a dark, sometimes downright apocalyptic satire, continuing with Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator (2004) and ending up with Damien Chazelle’s much-derided Babylon (2022), they examine how these films depict historical Tinseltown and what this reveals about their attitudes towards the US movie industry.

For further listening on these topics, make sure to check out Karina Longworth’s podcast You Must Remember This, especially her series “Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon” and “The Many Loves of Howard Hughes” – and our very own podcast episode #18 from way back in early 2019, in which Julie joined us officially for the first time to discuss The Aviator.