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Films within a Film
Monday, October 22, 2012 at 11:05AM As I set out to wrap up auditions for the cast of an upcoming short film, the only topics on my mind (mostly) are schedules, headshots, pre-production notes and related paperwork. Since schedules, however, can be quite boring, here is a theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme that I think you all may enjoy: Film within a Film.
Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring scenes where a movie is being made. These scenes should showcase actions going on behind the scenes such as actors getting into costumes, crew members setting up equipment or a fly-on-the-wall view of movies being shot. Here are my selections for this week’s Film within a Film theme.
Scream 3
Neve Campbell stars in this film, where a copycat killer chases her through a movie set that was built for the fictitious Stab 3 sequel based on her life. I’ve probably watched this movie twice and only remember a few scenes: the costume/wardrobe department that freaks out Neve Campbell’s character because she doesn’t know which one is being worn by the killer and the oh so memorable investigation scene featuring the Stab directors’ “Somebody’s trying to ruin my movie!” response to these Hollywood murders -- as if the alleged sabotage of his fake film trumps the actual deaths of real people. What a jerk!
What I find most interesting (or sad, depending on how you look at it) is that when ‘Scream 2’ came out in 1997, the movie theater murder in its opening scene didn’t alarm onlookers. The people attending the Stab showing thought it was a publicity stunt and weren’t concerned about the stabbing until the victim collapsed in front of their screen, bleeding to death.
Fast forward to 2012 where we live in a world of celebrity wax figures and ever-evolving technology that produces IMAX, 3D animation, killer surround sound and kick-ass special effects. These technological advances are made to seem so realistic that people don’t even realize when something serious is going on -- not even when bullet holes are ripping through their screen during an action scene, like what happened at the Dark Knight Rises massacre. I wonder if people don’t react to real violence in movie theaters because they are either in shock, denial of what’s going on or both while hoping that when the house lights come up, it will all have been just a really unfortunate movie scene.
Lost in La Mancha
Actor Jeff Bridges narrates this documentary, about director Terry Gilliam trying to get his project ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ made. Gilliam has access to resources that many independent filmmakers only dream about -- actors such as Johnny Depp, investors willing to shell out millions of dollars for his production and a full crew who did their jobs as best as they could.
All of the pieces, from concept to execution, did not come together they way Gilliam anticipated including the shoot which starts going over budget while logistics casting issues and logistics problems screw up the schedule. After long days and frustrated crew members, the production nightmare that unravels in this movie ends -- leaving Gilliam with a lot of unusable footage and back in the fundraising seat to finish a films that seemed doomed ever since the first ball dropped. Who knows, he just might get it done one day.
What movies have YOU watched that feature scenes about a film in progress?
Reader Comments (6)
I figured that Shadow Of The Vampire would be a good fit here, as would King King and Chaplin. The only other I can think of just now is Boogie Nights.
I'm up at:
http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/2012/10/mmm-monday-movie-meme-movie-within-movie.html
Tina @ Life is Good
Anaconda comes to mind for this meme. Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and friends filming the documentary about a long lost tribe becoming fodder - and food - for snakes with a preference for "human".
Oh....good topic. Have to think about this one. Lessee..
-The Game: GREAT film from the director of Fight Club and The Social Network (just re-released on blu-ray!)
-Hugo: Showcasing films of Georges Méliès (have you seen this one?)
-Strange Brew: The McKenzie brothers and their jar of moths!
-One Crazy Summer: Featuring the animated talents of Hoops
And that's all I can think of at the moment. I know more will come to me as the night wears on...
Dale,
Shadow of the Vampire sounds so familiar, yet, I'm pretty sure I haven't watched it but Boogie Nights was a funny little weird one that makes me giggle every time I think about a few scenes in that movie. Good choice for this week's meme. Now, if I could just get up to speed on Chaplin, things will be alright. I never heard of King King, so will have to look for that when I'm browsing through DVD and VOD one of these days :)
Tina,
I didn't expect the selection that you picked and boy, is it a good one! Kudos to the multiple film within a film storylines all from one motion picture!
Angela,
You're on the money with a damn-near perfect pick for this week's meme. I also like the fact that your "Anaconda" selection adds a genre mashup into the mix: Anaconda is a sorta horror film but within the film, Ice Cube and J-Lo are making a documentary.
Herman,
OMG...The Game is classic! I still haven't watched fight club but I didn't know that the same director was behind all three of those movies. That's quite an interesting bounce between story types and genres.
Nope I haven't watched Hugo but I am familiar with it....just haven't been into it enough to add it to my Netflix just yet. Ditto for Strange Brew and Crazy Summer but I'd probably watch Hugo and Fight Club before viewing any of the other ones.
For some odd reason...I just realized that there is one movie that fits this weeks meme so perfectly, I wish I thought of it sooner to list it in my blog post.....'The Five Obstructions' - One filmmaker challenges another filmmaker to remake his own movie, five times over. Talk about film within a film....this movie is an intentional mixture of about one half-dozen films. Oh my!
I've missed so many of your posts. I just had to come back and comment on this one since this includes many of my favorites.
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is one of the best Freddy Krueger movies.
Day of the Locust is about film making back in the 20's or 30's. They're trying to film a movie about The Battle of Waterloo. Good depictions of the life of the people behind the scenes of filimmaking.
One of the greatest films about making a movie is Fellini's 8 1/2 . It's a masterpiece about the nature of the creative mind and the conflict between creativity and real life. If you haven't seen this I think it's a prerequisite for all filmmakers. Great stuff.
Many more but I'll stop there.
Lee