The Oscar-winning filmmaker who earned a one-way trip to directors’ jail: “I have no illusions”
After the release of La La Land in 2017, the modern old Hollywood musical set against the crushing reality of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, Damien Chazelle showed a knack for stories that critique the business of filmmaking and began a glorious love affair with the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood. After becoming the youngest ever director to win the Oscar for ‘Best Director’, many people waited on the edges of their seats to see what he did next, and when Babylon was announced in 2022, it seemed like the answer to everyone’s prayers – another movie about making movies.
However, despite having a stacked cast and another epic score from Justin Hurwitz, the film spectacularly flopped, with the film losing nearly $50million and barely recouping half of its budget. And sadly enough, Chazelle is aware of the impact that this will have on his future ability to make films, and recently revealed his thoughts on it being seen as a commercial failure.
Many people have debated about why Babylon didn’t make the splash that was predicted, with some putting it down to the lengthy runtime, poor reviews or bad marketing. The film was sold as a lighthearted and comical film about greed and excess in the industry, with the trailer painting it to be a somewhat hollow film about drugs, parties and fame. However, after watching the movie, many were baffled by how it was marketed, with a layered and nuanced look at Hollywood as a system and the way it chews people up and spits them back out the more pressing theme. But alas, many people did not want to watch a film that looked like The Wolf of Wall Street had entered old Hollywood.
Despite starring Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and Brad Pitt in the lead roles, the combined star quality of the actors was also not enough to bring a substantial audience to the theatres. It was a huge loss for the studio and an even more baffling result for Chazelle, who had seemingly fallen from the highest pedestal in the business.
When asked about how his relationship to the industry has changed since Babylon, Chazelle said, “I’ve been head in the sand. I’ve been sort of busy writing. So I’ll get a real taste of how it’s changed or not [since ‘Babylon’] once I get to finish this script and try to actually get it made. I’m in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won’t get a budget of ‘Babylon’ size any time soon, or at least not on this next one.”
The director expanded on the reception of Babylon, saying, “Certainly, in financial terms, ‘Babylon’ didn’t work at all. You try to not have that effect what you’re doing creatively, but, at some level, it can’t help but affect it. But maybe that’s okay? I have very mixed mind about it. Who knows. Maybe I won’t be able to get this one made. I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Before the release of Babylon, Chazelle described it as the passion project he had always wanted to make and how he had made La La Land as a step towards finding funding for his Singin in the Rain-inspired story. While the cold reception towards the project is imaginably disappointing, Chazelle is a true cinephile, and one doubts that any amount of frosty feedback will prevent him from making movies.
