Hail Caesar!
No, not that one. This one: The Movie.
Cue Mr. Hollywood. Mr. Fix-it. The guy that gets things done. The guy that got things done back in The Golden Age.
This is one of those “film within a film” films. Also, a film that is based on folks that actually did exist way back in that “Golden Age”. So, supposedly, this is more or less how things actually “worked” back then.
But now – historically – we are at that crucial “turning point” as they say. The old “studio system” is beginning to crumble. Big changes are on the horizon. And adjustments have to be made.
So, you tell me: In the midst of yet another blockbuster Summer Season are things actually better today?
In one sense, Eddie Mannix reminds you of Ray Donovan. Either that or Ray Donovan reminds you of Eddie Mannix. Just different eras with different folks chasing different bucks. Unless of course Ray Donovan is just a thug.
And then somewhere in the midst of all this tongue-in-cheek farce come any number of references to religion. But you will have to decide for yourself the extent to which God and religion are being mocked here. Same with the Communists. They pop up too. And as well are bascially made fools of.
IMDb
[b]George Clooney was actually slapped by Josh Brolin several times. His reaction shown in the film was genuine.
The real Eddie Mannix died in 1963. Robert Taylor and James Stewart were among his pallbearers.
The big secret about Baird Whitlock, which the Thacker sisters each threaten to reveal to their respective gossip columns, is likely based on a long-established rumor regarding Gone with the Wind (1939). Reportedly, Clark Gable insisted that original director George Cukor be replaced because Gable had, years earlier, engaged in a sexual liaison with the influential director as a way to further his own career.
Most of the characters are inspired by real people:
Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), is based on real E.J. Mannix, a longtime producer for MGM and a fixer specialized in disguising any scandal that could ruin a movie production or the character or reputation of an actor.
Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is based on three Hollywood legends: Robert Taylor, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas, who previously starred in the historical movies Quo Vadis (1951), Ben-Hur (1959) and Spartacus (1960), respectively.
DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) is based on Esther Williams. Her plot about a baby belongs to Loretta Young.
Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum), is based on Gene Kelly.
Sisters Thora and Thesaly Thacker (Tilda Swinton) are based on Hollywood reporter Hedda Hopper. And the theme of sibling rivalry is reminiscent of longtime columnists and real-life twin sisters Ann Landers (Pauline “Eppie” Friedman Lederer) and Abigail Van Buren (Pauline Friedman Phillips).
Carlota Valdez (Veronica Osorio) is based on Carmen Miranda.
Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) is actually based on four classic cowboy actors: Howard Keel, Dick Foran, James Ellison and Tim Holt.
Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) is based on Vincente Minnelli.
C.C. Calhoun (Frances McDormand) is based on the longtime editor Margaret Booth. [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail,_Caesar!
trailer: youtu.be/kMqeoW3XRa0
HAIL, CAESAR! [2016]
Written and directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
[b]Eddie [in the confessional]: Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It’s been…
[he looks down at his watch]
Eddie: …24 hours since my last confession.
…
Eddie [to a group of religious leaders]: Gentlemen, thank you all for coming. I know you have parishes, flocks and temples making enormous demands on your time. But I’m sure you appreciate also that great masses of humanity look to pictures for information and uplift and, yes, entertainment. Here at Capitol Pictures, as you know, an army of technicians, actors, and top notch artistic people are working hard to bring to the screen the story of the Christ. It’s a swell story.
…
Rabbi: You realize, of course, that for we Jews, any visual depiction of the Godhead is most strictly prohibited.
Eddie: Oh.
Rabbi: But of course, for us, the man Jesus Nazarene is not God.
Eddie: Ah-ha.
Protestant Clergyman: Who plays Christ?
Eddie: A kid we’re all very excited about, Todd Hocheiser, a wonderful young actor we found in Akron, Ohio, after a nationwide talent hunt. But Hocheiser is seen only fleetingly and with extreme taste. Our story is told through the eyes of a Roman tribune, Autochlus Antonius, an ordinary man, skeptical at first, but who comes to a grudging respect for this swell figure from the East.
…
Eddie: Gentlemen, given it’s enormous expense we don’t want to send it to market except in the certainty that it will not offend any reasonable American, regardless of faith or creed. Now that’s where you come in. You’ve read the script; I wanna know if the theological elements of the story are up to snuff.
…
Eddie: As for the religious aspect…does the depiction of Christ Jesus cut the mustard?
Catholic clergyman: Well. The nature of the Christ is not quite as simple as your photoplay would have it.
Eddie: How so, Father?
Catholic clergyman: It is not the case simply that Christ is God, or God Christ.
Rabbi: You can say that again! The Nazarene was not God!
Eastern Orthodox clergyman: He was not not-God.
Rabbi: He was a man!
Eastern Orthodox clergyman: Part God.
Rabbi: No sir!
…
Catholic Clergyman: Christ is more properly referred to as the son of God. It’s the Son of God who takes the sins of the world upon Himself so that the rest of God’s children, we imperfect beings, through faith, may enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Eddie [clearly perplexed]: So God is…split?
Catholic Clergyman: Yes. And no.
Eastern Orthodox clergyman: There is unity in division.
Protestant clergyman: And division in unity.
Eddie: Not sure I follow, Padre.
Rabbi: Young man, you don’t follow for a very simple reason; these men are screwballs. God has children? What, and a dog? A collie, maybe? God doesn’t have children. He’s a bachelor. And very angry.
Catholic clergyman: No, no, He used to be angry.
Rabbi: What, he got over it?
Protestant Clergyman: You worship the god of another age!
Catholic Clergyman: Who has no love!
Rabbi: Not true! He likes Jews.
Protestant clergyman: God loves everyone!
Catholic clergyman: God is love.
Eastern Orthodox clergyman: God is who is.
Rabbi: This is special? Who isn’t “who is”?
…
Cuddahy [Locheed corporation recruiter]: Let me show you something. Ever heard of the Bikini atoll?
Eddie: No.
Cuddahy: A test site, just a couple of rocks in the middle of the Pacific until a few weeks ago. When we blew the H-erino. Shouldn’t be telling you this. It’s the real world. The hydrogen bomb. Fusion device.
Eddie: Armageddon.
Cuddahy: And Lockheed was there!!
…
Herbert Marcuse [to Baird]: Man is unity, a simple economic agent. Man’s institutions are split, expressing contradictions that must be worked through. And they are worked through in a causative, predictable way: history is science. This is the essence of the dialectic.
Communist: You see, if you understand economics, you can actually write down what will happen in the future, with as much confidence as you write down the history of the past. Because it’s science. It’s not make-believe.
…
Baird: Me, for the little guy? Of course I’m for the little guy!..Listen. I better get back, the studio’s got to be going nuts. Can we cut it off now and pick it up right here at the next study session?
Communist: Okay, well, See. I’m afraid it’s not that simple.
…
Narrator: And so Baird Whitlock found himself in the hands of Communists. Meanwhile, far from the crashing surf of Malibu, Eddie Mannix, torn from his lunch with the Lockheed man hurries back to the vastness of Capitol Pictures, whose tireless machinery clanks on, producing this year’s ration of dreams for all the weary peoples of the world.
…
Communist: Then Dr. Marcuse came down from Stanford, joined the study group. And started teaching us about direct action.
Marcuse: Praxis.
Communist: Action.
Marcuse: We each pursue our own economic interest, we ourselves are not above the laws of history. But in pursuing our interest with vigor, we accelerate the dialectic, and hasten the end of history and the creation of the New Man.
…
C.C. [to Eddie]: Reverse! Reverse! Rerverse!
…
Hobie: Is it hard to dance with all them bananas on your head?
Carlotta [putting a purse on her head and dancing]: Oh, no. Anyone can do it. It’s all in the hips and the lips and the eyes and the thighs.
…
Eddie: When the studio needs someone who meets the legal standard of…how did you put it, Sid?
Sid: Personhood.
Eddie: Joe steps in and acts as the, uh…person.
DeeAnna: So you’re a professional…person?
Joe: That’s right, miss. Initial here, and here.
…
Baird: Hobie Doyle? You’re a communist too?!
Hobie: So, it’s Commies…
…
Gofer [to Christ on the cross]: Who’re you?
Todd [who plays Christ]: Todd.
Gofer: Todd…You have a hot breakfast or a box breakfast?
Todd: I…I don’t know.
Gofer: Are you a principal or an extra?
Todd: I think I’m a principal.
…
Baird: These Communists were pretty interesting, though. They’ve actually figured out the laws that dictate…everything. History, sociology, politics, morality. Everything. It’s all in a book called “Kapital”, with a K.
Eddie: That right?
Baird: Yeah. You’re not gonna believe this, these guys even figured it out what’s going on here at the studio. Because the studio is nothing more than an instrument of capitalism. Yes, so we blindly follows these laws like any other institution. The laws these guys’ve figured out. The studio makes pictures to serve the system, that’s it’s function, that’s really what we’re all up to, here.
Eddie: Is it?
Baird: Yeah, we’re just conrming what they call the status quo. I mean, we might tell ourselves that we’re creating something of artistic value, that there’s some sort of spiritual dimension to the picture business, but what it is, is this fat cat, Nick Schenk, out in New York running this factory that’s serving up these lollypops to the…what did you use to call the a bread and circuses for the…
[Eddie can stand not more…he gets up from his desk and walks over to Baird…he yanks him off the chair]
Baird: What?!
Eddie: Now, you listen to me, buster. Nick Schenk and this studio have been good to you and to everyone else who works here. If I ever hear you bad mouthing Mr. Schenk again it’ll be the last thing you say before I have you tossed into jail for colluding in
your own abduction.
Baird: Eddie! I wouldn’t, I would never do that.
Eddie: Shut up!! You’re going to go out there and you’re going to finish “Hail, Caesar!” You’re gonna give the speech at the feet of the penitent thief and you’re gonna believe every word you say. You’re gonna do it because you’re an actor and that’s what you do.
Just like the director does what he does, and the writer and the script girl and the guy who claps the slate. You’re gonna do it because the picture has Worth and you have Worth if you serve the picture and you’re never gonna forget that again.
Baird: Okay, Eddie, okay.
Eddie: Baird. Go out there and be a star.
…
Thora: Baird Whitlock, your biggest star, got his first major part in On Wings as Eagles by engaging in sodomy with the picture’s director, Laurence Laurentz.
Eddie: We’ve all heard the story. But here’s something you haven’t heard: your source is a Communist. If you print it it’ll be dismissed as a Commie smear tactic and you’ll be dismissed as a Commie stooge.
…
Eddie: Add a call to a Mr. Cuddahy at the Lockheed Corporation.
Assistant: Long call, short?
Eddie: Tell them, “Thanks, but no thanks.” That short enough for you? [/b]