From classics like "King Kong" and "Singin' in the Rain" to, most recently, "Hail, Caesar!," movies about the process of making films have followed the history of cinema. Here are some of the best ones.
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The best films about filmmaking
From classics like "King Kong" and "Singin' in the Rain" to, most recently, "Hail, Caesar!," movies about the process of making films have followed the history of cinema. Here are some of the best ones.
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'King Kong' - the original and the remakes
With its iconic monster ape and special effects, the 1933 version of "King Kong" was a milestone in film history. Many remakes were to follow, including the 2005 version by Peter Jackson (photo). A love story and a thriller, the movie also follows a film team traveling to Skull Island, where they find the colossal ape.
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Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr.'
This silent film comedy from 1924 is presumably the first film to bring viewers behind the scenes of a movie. "Sherlock Jr." is the story of Buster, a film projectionist who dreams he is part of a movie in which he is a master detective who solves a case and wins a girl's love. Back in real life, Buster imitates his movie hero. "Sherlock Jr." is regarded as one of Keaton's most important works.
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'Singin' in the Rain'
This 1952 movie is all about Hollywood actors in the 1920s who had to learn the ropes again after sound film replaced silent films. Suddenly, they had to speak, and even big names waned. "Singin' in the Rain" with Gene Kelly (pictured) and Debbie Reynolds in legendary song and dance sequences is also a tribute to musical films.
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'The Artist'
This French film from 2011 is an homage to the silent film era and a declaration of love to filmmaking. It was shot in black and white, using intertitles and not much dialogue. Here, too, actors are in transition to sound film. In 2012, "The Artist" won five Oscars and three Golden Globes - just to name a few of the prizes.
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'Sunset Boulevard'
In this drama from 1950, director Billy Wilder tells the story of the unsuccessful filmmaker Joe Gillis (William Holden, right) and of the forgotten actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). The result is a merciless portrait of the so-called dream factory - Hollywood. Wilder avoided revealing the plot to his producers as long as he could, as he expected they would try to soften his tone.
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'Le Mépris'
Jean-Luc Godard also portrayed Hollywood and the commercialization of cinema in "Le Mépris" (1963). Brigitte Bardot (pictured left) plays the wife of screenwriter Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli). Godard celebrated his passion for films and the art of making them in this French-Italian production.
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'Ed Wood'
In 1994, Tim Burton shot this black-and-white biopic featuring Hollywood in the 1950s and filmmaker Ed Wood (Johnny Depp, bottom right). Wood was an admirer of Orson Welles, but he didn't quite have the same talent. He nevertheless went on making many low-budget B-movies, with some featuring fading film star Bela Lugosi. Martin Landau's interpretation of Lugosi in the Burton film won him an Oscar.
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'The State of Things'
Filmmaker Friedrich Munro's production faces financial problems in Wim Wenders' movie "The State of Things" (1982). When payments expected from Los Angeles don't come in, Munro (Patrick Bauchau) travels there himself. In his movie, Wenders built in many references to other films or filmmakers, such as Friedrich Murnau and Fritz Lang.
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'State and Main'
David Mamet's comedy "State and Main" (2000) is the story of a chaotic film production: A film crew is in Vermont to shoot "The Old Mill." Once they get there, they realize that the town no longer has a mill. The lead actress suddenly wants way more money for her role, the screenwriter is paralyzed by writer's block, and the leading actor flirts with a local teen (Julia Stiles, pictured).
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'8 1/2'
The film '8 1/2' is centered on director Guido Anselmi (played by Marcello Mastroianni), who's struggling with creative block. Italian master Federico Fellini built in his own problems as a filmmaker in this classic from 1963. Claudia Cardinale (pictured) plays the role of the ideal woman. The movie won two Oscars in 1964 and remains one of the most celebrated movies about filmmaking.
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'Boogie Nights'
"Boogie Nights" tells the story of the rise and fall of porn film star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg, left), chronicling the Golden Age of Porn in the 1970s and its decline in the early 80s. Paul Thomas Anderson's movie, with Burt Reynolds (right) as a porn filmmaker, is also a portrait of people reaching out for their dreams. It obtained two Oscar nominations in 1998.
Image: picture alliance / United Archives
'Hail, Caesar!'
This movie focuses on the problem-solving producer Eddie Mannix, who has to find out what happened to Baird Whitlock (George Clooney, pictured), a lead star who vanishes from the set of a Roman epic production. This 2016 comedy by Ethan and Joel Coen celebrates Hollywood in the 1950s, a transitional period for the film industry, then threatened by the competition of early television.
Image: Universal Pictures
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Filmmaking fascinates both movie-lovers and directors alike. On anyone's list of favorite films, there's bound to be a work that goes behind-the-scenes of the film industry.
The chaos that characterizes many film shoots has inspired great comedies, such as David Mamet's "State and Main." "The Player" by Robert Altman depicts the absurdities of everyday life in Hollywood. And a whole film crew gets lost in the middle of a jungle in Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder."
Some of these films reflect the directors' deep passion for their art. "Day for Night" ("La Nuit américaine"), by Francois Truffaut, portrays various difficulties that can arise during a film shoot - all while celebrating the power of cinema.
Other films chronicle how famous works were made. "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000) is a tribute to the German filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, portraying him making the classic "Nosferatu" - in a fictionalized way. The lead actor is actually a vampire who sucks the blood of other crew members.
Film theaters have also obtained a starring role in many movies, with "Cinema Paradiso," featuring Philippe Noiret, or Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" among the most famous examples.
Click through the gallery above for our 10 favorites films about films.