Movies About Making Movies

by chgaines-1 | created - 18 Sep 2010 | updated - 04 Oct 2010 | Public

Help me add to this list! I LOVE movies about making movies.

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1. Living in Oblivion (1995)

R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama

81 Metascore

This ultimate tribute to all independent filmmakers takes place during one day on the set of a non-budget movie.

Director: Tom DiCillo | Stars: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle von Zerneck

Votes: 20,144 | Gross: $1.15M

2. The Player (1992)

R | 124 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

86 Metascore

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected, but which one?

Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg

Votes: 65,757 | Gross: $21.71M

3. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

R | 87 min | Documentary, Comedy, Crime

85 Metascore

Following the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.

Director: Banksy | Stars: Banksy, Mr. Brainwash, Space Invader, Debora Guetta

Votes: 68,817 | Gross: $3.29M

4. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

99 Metascore

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: 260,559 | Gross: $8.82M

5. The Big Picture (1989)

PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

64 Metascore

Film school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems.

Director: Christopher Guest | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh

Votes: 6,185 | Gross: $0.12M

6. Get Shorty (1995)

R | 105 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller

81 Metascore

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: 89,068 | Gross: $72.08M

7. King Kong (1933)

Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror

92 Metascore

A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.

Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher

Votes: 90,937 | Gross: $10.00M

8. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

R | 92 min | Drama, Horror

71 Metascore

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: 44,166 | Gross: $8.29M

9. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)

R | 96 min | Documentary

Documentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems--nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.

Directors: Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola | Stars: Dennis Hopper, Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, George Lucas

Votes: 23,218 | Gross: $1.32M

10. Barton Fink (1991)

R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller

69 Metascore

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner

Votes: 128,932 | Gross: $6.15M

11. Ed Wood (1994)

R | 127 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

71 Metascore

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: 183,931 | Gross: $5.89M

12. American Movie (1999)

R | 107 min | Documentary, Comedy

84 Metascore

Documentary about an aspiring filmmaker's attempts to finance his dream project by finally completing the low-budget horror film he abandoned years before.

Director: Chris Smith | Stars: Mark Borchardt, Mike Schank, Tom Schimmels, Monica Borchardt

Votes: 19,329 | Gross: $1.16M

13. Be Kind Rewind (2008)

PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy

52 Metascore

Two bumbling store clerks inadvertently erase the footage from all of the tapes in their video rental store. In order to keep the business running, they re-shoot every film in the store with their own camera, with a budget of zero dollars.

Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jack Black, Yasiin Bey, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow

Votes: 94,265 | Gross: $11.17M

14. What Just Happened (2008)

R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama

Two weeks in the life of a fading Hollywood producer who's having a rough time trying to get his new picture made.

Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Robert De Niro, John Turturro, Stanley Tucci, Sean Penn

Votes: 28,515 | Gross: $1.09M

15. Day for Night (1973)

PG | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A committed film director struggles to complete his movie while coping with a myriad of crises, personal and professional, among the cast and crew.

Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Léaud, François Truffaut, Valentina Cortese

Votes: 24,775 | Gross: $0.02M

16. Overnight (1986)

96 min | Comedy, Drama

An out of work actor takes a role in a vampire porno.

Director: Jack Darcus | Stars: Victor Ertmanis, Gale Garnett, Barbara Gordon, Alan Scarfe

Votes: 22

17. Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir

94 Metascore

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: 236,352

18. Bowfinger (1999)

PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy

73 Metascore

When a desperate movie producer fails to get a major star for his bargain-basement film, he decides to shoot the film secretly around him.

Director: Frank Oz | Stars: Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham, Christine Baranski

Votes: 73,919 | Gross: $66.38M

19. Swimming with Sharks (1994)

R | 93 min | Comedy, Crime

66 Metascore

A young, naive Hollywood studio assistant finally turns the tables on his incredibly abusive producer boss.

Director: George Huang | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley, Michelle Forbes, Benicio Del Toro

Votes: 25,014 | Gross: $0.38M

20. State and Main (2000)

R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama

75 Metascore

A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all too ready to give up their values for showbiz glitz.

Director: David Mamet | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Rebecca Pidgeon, Michael Higgins

Votes: 22,178 | Gross: $6.92M

21. Wag the Dog (1997)

R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama

74 Metascore

Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.

Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson

Votes: 88,455 | Gross: $43.02M

22. Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

R | 101 min | Comedy, Romance

56 Metascore

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Gerry Bednob

Votes: 182,278 | Gross: $31.46M

23. Tropic Thunder (2008)

R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, War

71 Metascore

Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Kahn

Votes: 447,855 | Gross: $110.52M

24. Tristram Shandy (2005)

R | 94 min | Comedy

80 Metascore

Director Michael Winterbottom (Northam) attempts to shoot the adaptation of Laurence Sterne's essentially unfilmable novel, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman."

Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Steve Coogan, Jeremy Northam, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes

Votes: 13,176 | Gross: $1.25M



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