Ryan Murphy is renowned for taking the outcasts and the fringe dwellers and rewriting their stories. He first found mainstream success with Glee, a musical comedy-drama about a high school show choir whose disparate members battled social issues while hitting the high and low notes of puberty. Fast forward to 2018, and the Netflix series The Politician was released to high acclaim and marked the beginning of the lucrative streaming service’s development deal with Murphy. Now Hollywood releases exclusively on the platform, with Murphy alumnae Darren Criss and David Corenswet back on board. What results is Hollywood, an alt-history narrative that asks ‘what if’ certain events and attitudes had not stopped the destinies of ill-fated stars.
Hollywood begins just after WWII, with veteran and California newcomer Jack Castello (Corenswet), filling his eyes with wonder at the hopes and dreams of becoming La La Land’s next big thing. Every day he lines up outside the gates of Ace Studios, only to have his hopes dashed by the fickle system that chews and churns out wannabes. Finding our handsome, stock standard lead depressed in a bar is Ernie West (Dylan McDermott), based off the real Scott Bowers who ran a gas station that was actually a front for a prostitution business. As elite customers pull up to the Golden Tip, they request to be taken to ‘Dreamland,’ and this acts as a literal and figurative vehicle to view the rest of the series. You see, all the characters have dreams and through this gas station they will attend debaucherous mansion pool parties and ride the casting couch to success.
Jack realises he will have to pump more than gas as he services his clients and their vices, being introduced along the way to Avis Amberg (the delightful Patti LuPone). Avis is the turban-wearing, shawl strutting wife of Ace Amberg, and she’s a little jaded that she was passed over as an actress in her earlier years for being “too Jewy.” Through Avis, Jack lands a role in ‘Meg’, a production about the tragic demise of real life actress Peg Entwhistle who jumps to her death from the Hollywood sign. The production of the film strings together other characters who are victims of the studio system that harboured racism, homophobia, sexism and overall blackmail. Raymond Ainsley (Criss) is a half Filipino director whose ability to “pass” as a white male motivates him to direct a picture that gives the spotlight to leading ladies of colour, including his girlfriend Camille Washington (Laura Harrier). Camille’s roles are mostly confined to maid stereotypes akin to the real life Hattie McDaniel (Queen Latifah), whose Oscar win was not enough to allow her into the hotel where the award was presented.
There’s Rock Hudson, the simple yet strongly built man who hides his attraction to men but lives with his boyfriend Archie Coleman, a black screenwriter who pens Meg but is pressured into leaving his name off the credits. Hudson faces pressure to be more macho or risk losing film roles while his agent Henry Wilson (Jim Parsons), coerces him into sexual relationships. The same modern day Hollywood that is criticised in the #metoo, Weinstein era is the reimagined Hollywood of the show that justifies the means as long as the characters eventually become famous.
The supporting characters deserve more credit. Jack Castello has a bored wife who gets relegated to the side, but when he compromises on his own morality to get ahead in Hollywood, he weakly objects to cheating on her. We know nothing about their life really, except that Jack’s a little distracted and has a dream.
This is where the plot gets messy. The first half of the limited series establishes the complications that many of our characters face, and begs its audience to view their portrayals as being defined by more than their struggles. Painting a marginalised character with complexity is a service that fights stereotypes, and yet there is nothing in the way of backstory once the characters get their way. It all becomes too easy. Suddenly, the achievements of individuals who fought for lasting change over 70 years are nullified with one single, fictionalised film.
There are still noteworthy performances. Patti LuPone convinces us that she is a force to be reckoned with, despite her husband (Rob Reiner) constantly trying to silence her ideas. Holland Taylor is charming, and plays a studio executive who still strives for love at a later stage in her life. Both women represent the old guard embracing the new, which can be a palpable outcome of Murphy’s intentions to rewrite history.
Hollywood is glamorous, and has swirling cinematography, classic costuming and gives a nod to the dreamers.
If you can accept it as pure fantasy, then it works.
For the rest of us, something more grounded in fact is closer to be award-winning.
Netflix Australia
About The Author
