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 

  1. Abbott and Costello in Hollywood 

  2. Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops 

  3. Actors and Sin 

  4. Adaptation 

  5. Affairs of Annabel 

  6. An Alan Smithee Film! Burn, Hollywood Burn! 

  7. Alex in Wonderland 

  8. Almost Salinas 

  9. The Amateurs 

  10. American Movie 

  11. America’s Sweethearts 

  12. An Almost Perfect Affair 

  13. Annabel Takes a Tour 

  14. The Anniversary Party 

  15. Another Face 

  16. The Assistants 

  17. Baadassss! 

  18. Babylon 

  19. The Bad and the Beautiful 

  20. Baghead 

  21. The Barefoot Contessa 

  22. Barton Fink 

  23. Be Kind Rewind

  24. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon 

  25. Being Michael Madsen 

  26. Best Friends 

  27. Big Fat Liar 

  28. The Big Knife 

  29. The Big Picture 

  30. Black Bear 

  31. Blow Out 

  32. Bombshell 

  33. The Boneyard Collection 

  34. Bottoms Up 

  35. Bowinger 

  36. Boy Meets Girl 

  37. Break a Leg 

  38. Brutal Massacre 

  39. The Bubble 

  40. The Buster Keaton Story 

  41. Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star 

  42. Callaway Went Thataway 

  43. The Cameraman 

  44. Cannes Man 

  45. The Canyons 

  46. The Carpetbaggers 

  47. Cats Don’t Dance 

  48. The Cat’s Meow 

  49. Cecil B. Demented 

  50. Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers 

  51. Chump Change 

  52. Cold Souls 

  53. The Comeback Trail 

  54. The Comic 

  55. Cover Me Babe

  56. CQ 

  57. Confessions of an Action Star 

  58. Crazy House 

  59. Crashing Hollywood 

  60. Dangerous Game 

  61. Danny Roane: First Time Director 

  62. The Day of the Locust 

  63. The Deal 

  64. The Death of “Superman Lives” What Happened? 

  65. Destroyer 

  66. Directed by John Ford 

  67. Director’s Cut 

  68. The Disaster Artist 

  69. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story 

  70. The Dying Gaul 

  71. Ellie Parker 

  72. Entourage 

  73. Entropy

  74. Ernest Saves Christmas 

  75. The Errand Boy 

  76. Evil Eyes 

  77. The Extra Girl 

  78. The Fanatic 

  79. Fedora 

  80. Finding Bliss 

  81. Finishing the Game 

  82. Fool’s Paradise 

  83. For Your Consideration 

  84. Forever 

  85. Four Girls in Town 

  86. Free and Easy 

  87. French Exit 

  88. Gable & Lombard 

  89. Get Shorty 

  90. The Goddess 

  91. Gods and Monsters 

  92. The Goldwyn Follies 

  93. Going Hollywood 

  94. Goodbye, Norma Jean

  95. The Great Waldo Pepper  

  96. Guilty by Suspicion 

  97. Hail Caesar! 

  98. The Hard Way 

  99. 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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