I'm 309 Movies Into the Fractured Mirror and Nowhere Near Finished!
When I began working on my upcoming book The Fractured Mirror, a massive tome about American films about the film industry I had a fuzzy sense of which movies I’d be writing about as well as a word document on my laptop that I am continually updating as I discover movies that fit the book’s criteria for inclusion.
This morning, for example, I wrote up my three hundred and third movie for the book, an icy yet juicy bisexual movie world melodrama called The Dying Gaul from Prelude to a Kiss playwright Craig Lucas.
I’ve exceeded my initial goal for the book and I am nowhere near finished. I have covered a LOT of ground for the book. I’ve written up three hundred and three movies! That’s a shit ton of work right there and I still have much left to do.
What have I written about for the book? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Movies I have written about for The Fractured Mirror
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops
Actors and Sin
Adaptation
Affairs of Annabel
An Alan Smithee Film! Burn, Hollywood Burn!
Alex in Wonderland
Almost Salinas
The Amateurs
American Movie
America’s Sweethearts
An Almost Perfect Affair
Annabel Takes a Tour
The Anniversary Party
Another Face
The Assistants
Baadassss!
Babylon
The Bad and the Beautiful
Baghead
The Barefoot Contessa
Barton Fink
Be Kind Rewind
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Being Michael Madsen
Best Friends
Big Fat Liar
The Big Knife
The Big Picture
Black Bear
Blow Out
Bombshell
The Boneyard Collection
Bottoms Up
Bowinger
Boy Meets Girl
Break a Leg
Brutal Massacre
The Bubble
The Buster Keaton Story
Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star
Callaway Went Thataway
The Cameraman
Cannes Man
The Canyons
The Carpetbaggers
Cats Don’t Dance
The Cat’s Meow
Cecil B. Demented
Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers
Chump Change
Cold Souls
The Comeback Trail
The Comic
Cover Me Babe
CQ
Confessions of an Action Star
Crazy House
Crashing Hollywood
Dangerous Game
Danny Roane: First Time Director
The Day of the Locust
The Deal
The Death of “Superman Lives” What Happened?
Destroyer
Directed by John Ford
Director’s Cut
The Disaster Artist
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
The Dying Gaul
Ellie Parker
Entourage
Entropy
Ernest Saves Christmas
The Errand Boy
Evil Eyes
The Extra Girl
The Fanatic
Fedora
Finding Bliss
Finishing the Game
Fool’s Paradise
For Your Consideration
Forever
Four Girls in Town
Free and Easy
French Exit
Gable & Lombard
Get Shorty
The Goddess
Gods and Monsters
The Goldwyn Follies
Going Hollywood
Goodbye, Norma Jean
The Great Waldo Pepper
Guilty by Suspicion
Hail Caesar!
The Hard Way
Harlow
100.Harlow
101.The Hearts of the West
102.Hellzapoppin’
103.He’s Way More Famous Than You
104.Hollywon’t
105.Hollywood and Vine
106.Hollywood & Wine
107.Hollywood Boulevard
108.Hollywood Boulevard II
109.Hollywood Cavalcade
110.Hollywood Ending
111.Hollywood Hotel
112.Hollywood Man
113.Hollywood or Bust
114.Hollywood Party
115.Hollywood Shuffle
116.The Hollywood Sign
117.Hollywood Story
118. Hollywood Thrill Makers
119. Home Movies
120.Hooper
121. House of Seven Corpses
122.How to Make a Monster (1958)
123.Hurlyburly
124. I Ought to be in Pictures
125.I’ll Do Anything
126.I Love Your Work
127.In a Lonely Place
128.In the Soup
129.The Incident at Loch Ness
130.The Independent
131.Inside Daisy Clover
132.Inside Monkey Zetterland
133.Into the Sun
134.Irreconcilable Differences
135.It’s a Great Feeling!
136. It Happened in Hollywood
137.Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
138.Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
139.Jim and Andy in the Great Beyond
140.Jiminy Glick in LaLaWood
141.Jodorowsky’s Dune
142. Johnny Doughboy
143. Jolson Sings Again
144.The Jolson Story
145.Just Write
146.The Kid & I
147.The Kid Stays in the Picture
148.King Kong (1933)
149. King Kong (2005)
150.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
151. Knight of Cups
152.La La Land
153. Lady Killer
154. The Last Command
155.The Last Movie Star
156.The Last of Sheila
157.The Last Producer
158.The Last Shot
159.The Last Tycoon
160. The Legend of Lylah Claire
161.Living in Oblivion
162.Lobster Man from Mars
163.The Lonely Lady
164.Looney Tunes: Back in Action
165. Lord Love a Duck
166. The Lost Squadron
167.Love Me or Leave Me
168.Love, Hollywood Style
169. Madness in the Method
170. The Majestic
171. Make Me a Star
172.The Making of…And God Spoke
173.The Man of a Thousand Faces
174.Mank
175.Matinee
176. Merton of the Movies
177. Miracle of the Bells
178.Mistress
179.Modern Romance
180.Mommie Dearest
181.Movers & Shakers
182.Movie Crazy
183.The Muppet Movie
184.The Muse
185. Myra Breckinridge
186. My Tiny Universe
187. Naked Movie
188.National Lampoon’s Another Dirty Movie
189.National Lampoon’s Dirty Movie
190. Nerdland
191. Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
192.Nobody Knows Anything
193.Nope
194.Not Another Not Another Movie
195. Once in a Lifetime
196.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
197. Orgazmo
198.The Oscar
199.The Other Side of the Wind
200.Overnight
201. Paparazzi
202. Paris When It Sizzles
203.The Party
204.Pauly Shore Is Dead
205. Pawparazzi
206.The Perils of Pauline
207.Pick a Star
208.The Pickle
209.Pipe Dreams
210. The Player
211. The Pretenders
212.Playing it Cool
213.Rented Lips
214.Return to Horror High
215. Road to Nowhere
216. Room 237
217. Rules Don’t Apply
218.Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street
219. Scream 3
220. Search and Destroy
221. Searching for Bobby D
222. Second Fiddle
223. See This Movie
224.Seed of Chucky
225.The Seven Psychopaths
226.Shoot or Be Shot
227. Shrink
228. Show People
229.Showgirl in Hollywood
230. Shut Up and Shoot!
231.Silent Movie
232.Silver Bullets
233.Simone
234.Singing in the Rain
235. Sitting Pretty
236. Slightly French
237.Slipstream
238.S.O.B.
239.Something to Sing About
240.Southland Tales
241.Special Effects
242.Stand-In
243.The Star
244.Starry Eyes
245. Starstruck
246. Star Spangled Rhythm
247.A Star Is Born (1937)
248.A Star is Born (1954)
249. Start Cheering
250. State and Main
251. Straight-Jacket
252. Stranger’s Kiss
253.The Stunt Man
254.Sullivan’s Travels
255.Sunset
256.Sunset Boulevard
257.Super 8
258.Supporting Characters
259.Susan Slept Here
260. Sweet Liberty
261. The Talk of Hollywood
262.Targets
263.Teen Titans Go! To the Movies!
264.Terror Eyes
265. Terror Firmer
266.That’s Adequate
267. 13 Fanboy
268.Three Amigos
269.3 Geezers
270.Three Holes and a Smoking Gun
271. Timecode
272. Tinseltown
273.Tropic Thunder
274. Trumbo
275. Two Weeks in Another Town
276.The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
277. Uncle Kent 2
278. Under the Rainbow
279. Untitled Horror Movie
280. Urban Legends: The Final Cut
281.Valentino (1951)
282.Valentino (1977)
283. The Valley of the Dolls
284. Variety Girl
285. Wag the Dog
286.The Watermelon Woman
287. W.C Fields and Me
288. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
289.What Just Happened
290. What Price Hollywood?
291.Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
292.White Hunter, Black Heart
293. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
294.The Wild Party
295. The Wings of Eagles s
296. With Friends Like These
297. The Wizard of Speed and Time
298. The Woman Chaser
299. Won Ton Ton, The Dog that Saved Hollywood
300. World’s Greatest Lover
301. X
302. Young and Beautiful
303. Zeroville
Right now the goal is for me to write up 365 movies for the book. I’m a sucker for a nice round number and I like the idea of having a new entry for every day of the year.
Will I have covered everything when I hit 365? I have no idea! It’s entirely possible that I will still have plenty left to do.
My task is complicated by the fact that new American movies about the film industry keep coming out and I am obligated to cover them all. It’s also complicated by the fact that there are a lot of movies involving actors who appear in television, film and the live stage and it can be difficult to discern whether they’re fundamentally movies about movies, and consequently fit the criteria for the book, or if they’re movies about actors who sometimes appear in movies.
Take Birdman. It’s about a movie star and very meta regarding Michael Keaton’s film career but Birdman is very overtly a movie about theater in which theater rather than film is the central theme so I am not going to include it in the book.
With every book the big question is whether anyone will care once I’ve reached the finish line and have a big, beautiful book that I can’t wait to share with the world.
Will anyone care about The Fractured Mirror when it’s released? I honestly have no idea. I’m not feeling terribly confident about my career right now but I am feeling good about the way The Fractured Mirror is coming together.
I’m way behind on many aspects of my career right now but I am ahead on The Fractured Mirror and my Substack column on The Fast and the Furious project I’m doing over at Substack at Nathan Rabin’s Bad Ideas and I take tremendous pleasure in the work itself.
There is a sort of cumulative joy to The Fractured Mirror. To paraphrase one of my favorite Prince lyrics, loving movies is truly believing that there is joy in repetition. Even when the movie I’m watching is dreadful I appreciate it because it’s part of this worthwhile adventure.
Life has made me a pessimist, particularly where independent media is concerned but there are worse legacies than having written a bunch of great books, even if they’re aren’t big sellers.
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