Netflix series Hollywood dreams up a timely alternate version of showbiz

There’s a scene in the new Netflix Hollywood mini-series in which Patti LuPone says, “If you want to do something, let a woman do it.” I would like to know what 2020 would be like if Hollywood in the 1940s had been something like the industry that was designed on this show.

Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan and streaming starting Friday, May 1st, this seven-episode mini-series introduces an alternative version of Los Angeles. Real places are filled with versions of real film people Rock Hudson (Jake Picking) or Hattie McDaniel (Queen Latifah). But while things look familiar at first glance, they’re taking a totally unexpected and totally welcome turn.

Don’t be fooled by the title or the first episode: this is neither a romanticized account of Hollywood’s classic era nor a direct criticism of the obvious racism, sexism, homophobia and sexual abuse that took place there. It is both clear, but it is also something more: not just a look at Hollywood, but a dream of what Hollywood could be.

This Hollywood is a parallel universe where actors, writers, directors and even studio managers dare to be brave. They understand their responsibilities and use them in ways that real Hollywood was too scared for. The message in Murphy’s Hollywood is clear: Film and television are powerful teaching tools that challenge prejudice and can and should expand the concept of what is normal or acceptable.

“I used to think good government could change the world. I don’t know if I believe it anymore,” says Hollywood’s version of Eleanor Roosevelt (Harriet Sansom Harris) of a group of studio honchos. “But what you do can change the world.”

The ensemble plays several of Murphy’s usual suspects. Darren Criss (The Murder of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story) plays Raymond, an ambitious aspiring director. David Corenswet (The Politician) is a World War II veteran with Clark Kent quality. He just moved to Los Angeles and dreams of becoming a movie star. Dylan McDermott (The Politician, American Horror Story) is Ernie, someone who also had big dreams but ended up running a gas station where he sold both sex and gasoline. Broadway legend LuPone has one of the juiciest parts, as a woman who is unaware of her power. And Jim Parsonswho appeared in Murphy’s The normal heart, takes on his first major role since the end of the Big Bang theory as an alternative version of the colorful real-life Hollywood agent Henry Wilson.

One of the newcomers is Jeremy Pope, a black, gay screenwriter who knows that no studio will ever register him. The cast is rounded off by veterans like Mira Sorvino as an aging actress who never reached her full potential, and Holland Taylor as an avid studio manager.

Hollywood is also a show about Los Angeles that was filmed in current Los Angeles. Many of the city’s glamorous institutions like The Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hollywood Forever Graveyard, the Orpheum Theater, Paramount Studios and the Hollywood sign make cameos. You can spot decadent old-fashioned restaurants like The Prince, The Dresden and the film favorite Musso and Frank Grill. The show also re-created the industry hangout Schwabs pharmacy, demolished in the 1980s.

There is a constant change of name of film titles, actors, directors and events that actually took place, mixed with the fictional ones. You may be reaching for your phone to check if George Cukor really threw wild parties (he did) though Tallulah Bankhead had an affair with a certain actress (almost certainly) and what became a silent film star Billy Haines (it includes interior design).

The plot follows the battle for a film that takes the toll Hollywood is taking on a young actress who is making another fictional film. A film in a film in a mini series – there is no more meta. Even if you put aside all of the show’s alternate universe, the movie buff in you will devour Hollywood in the same way you would once enjoy it in Hollywood. The artist or François Truffauts Day after night.

We learn the meaning of terms like taxes and lenses. Why a film is “produced” and not just “made”. We see a class for actresses who master the transatlantic accent.

Murphy and co-creator Brennan, who write credits for most episodes, even make fun of their jobs. “I’m the author,” announces a screenwriter. “I hate breaking it for you, but you fuck the least powerful person in Hollywood.”

Not everything works in Hollywood (the show). The veneer of perfection feels nerve-wracking, even unreal, from the flawless costumes and the beautiful cast to the always sunny Los Angeles. But this flawless look fits the presentation of the idealized 1940s show as a classic Hollywood homage. This is Hollywood as it was, but it is Hollywood as it should be. It is an alternative Tinseltown where dreams are possible regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.

Like Brennan and Murphy, I firmly believe in the educational power of film and television. It’s almost unbelievable how current this show is in the 1940s, since many of the current topics are still very topical today.

We hope for a Hollywood that is more like Brennan and Murphy, where more women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ + community and minorities will have the opportunity to show that there are other ways to make films and TV shows – sorry, too to produce .