The Top 10 Best Movies About Filmmaking

5. The Big Picture

One thing they never seem to show in movies about filmmaking is that Holywood can chew you up and spit you. Kevin Bacon stars as a film school grad who manages to have his dream of making movies come true after he wins an award. With bright eyes, he sets off to make the movie he’s always dreamed of. The bright lights though blind him to the studios and producers manipulating him and pretty soon he’s completely lost sight of his movie and himself. Luckily, he manages to get his act together and rid himself of his new slick Hollywood side to go on to create the movie he always wanted to.

4. 8 ½

The audacity! How could I put a Federico Fellini film at number 4!?! Do I know even know who Federico Fellini is!?! Yeah, I know. I heard all about him in every class I ever took at film school. I’m not going to knock the guy. He was a hell of a director, but his movies weren’t… Fun. 8 ½ is less a movie about filmmaking and a bit more about a filmmaker. It tells the story of a wildly successful director who can’t get a moment’s rest from people wanting things from him and soon he finds himself worn out creatively. Most of the film follows his life and career in flashbacks as he dreams of the good old days.

3. The Player

The noble Hollywood producer. A pillar of morals and kindness. In all seriousness though, producers have it rough in Hollywood and not just because most people have no idea what a producer actually does. In this Robert Altman flick about filmmaking, Tim Robbins stars as a producer being blackmailed as he tries to juggle his personal life and professional responsibilities. It’s a pretty picture of the Hollywood scene as Robbins navigates it in an attempt to find the person behind the threatening letters to him. He falls dangerously far down the rabbit hole before the end though. A great movie for those looks for “mild satire.”

2. Boogie Nights

Porn might not be high art, but a film is a film. Boogie Nights shows us a different side of filmmaking as it follows Mark Wahlberg through the booming porn industry of the 1970s. Paul Thomas Anderson assembles an outstanding cast of actors for his comedy showing how the porn industry is surprisingly similar to Hollywood. Along his journey into fame, Wahlberg encounters all manners of characters in the industry from an aging director just looking out for him to a pornstar simply known as “Rollergirl.” I won’t say it’s fun for the whole family because watching it with your parents is going to get really awkward, really quickly.

1. The Artist

One of the more recent movies on this list, The Artist doesn’t necessarily follow a specific film being made. Instead, it follows the life of a silent movie era film star at the height of his fame and fortune. However, like Charlie Chaplin did, he finds himself struggling with the invention of talking pictures and soon his career starts to suffer. It’s a unique look at filmmaking because it focuses on the aspect that affects the actors more than anyone else and that’s just how shallow Hollywood is at the end of the day. If you’re not hot and desired, well then you aren’t going to be making movies for much longer.

Of course, there are plenty of other movies about filmmaking, but the ones above stand head and shoulders above the others. However, I want to know what you really think. Let me know if the comments which of the movies above you like the most and tell me what your favorite movie about filmmaking is! I’d also love to hear what other Top 10 lists you would like me to tackle in the future.