My favorite fictional movies about the movie industry

– Why don't you want to make O Brother, Where Art Thou, Sully? – In the first place, I'm too happy to make O Brother, Where Art Thou? In the second place, I haven't suffered enough to make O Brother, Where Art Thou? – You haven't suffered enough? – He hasn't suffered enough? – But Sully! – I'll tell you something else. There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan. Boy.

Joe: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. Norma: I am big. It's the pictures that got small.

Director Von Ellstein (Ivan Triesault) to Shields (Kirk Douglas) about the aesthetics of movies: "I could make this scene a climax. I could make every scene a climax. If I did, I would be a bad director. A picture with all climaxes is like a necklace without a string. It falls apart. You must build to the big moment and sometimes, you must build slowly. You see this picture one way, and I another. It will be done your way, but not by me, and not by any other director who respects himself. You know what you must do, Mr. Shields, so that you'll have it exactly as you want it? You must direct this picture yourself. – To direct a picture, a man needs humility. Do you have humility, Mr. Shields?"

Veronica: Then why would anyone want to be an actor? Jack: That's a good question. Veronica: Why? Jack: To hide from the world.

A magic moment: Don takes Kathy to an empty studio and the unreality becomes real.

A moment of movie magic: Gloria Jean sings "Estrellita".

Scene 253: ESTHER AT MICROPHONE Esther: Hello, everybody … This is Mrs. Norman Maine. The ovation is tremendous. CAMERA MOVES IN TO A BIG CLOSEUP OF ESTHER. Tears are starting down her cheeks. She looks out past all this crowd, this confusion, this uproar, to some distant point of her own. The music swells up. FADE OUT. THE END

Hollywood(land) sign – "the mammoth metal monument to this mecca of broken dreams".

Dixon Steele: I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me. – You like it? Laurel Gray: What is it? Dixon: I want to put it in the script. I don't know quite where. Laurel: The farewell note? Dixon: I... I don't know. Maybe. Say it back to me. Let's hear how it sounds. Laurel: I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I... I... Dixon: I lived a few weeks while she loved me.