Are the characters of Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in Damien Chazelle’s film Babylon inspired by real actors, or are they purely fictional? Response elements !
Babylon’s story begins in the 1920s in Los Angeles. The new film by Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash…) traces the rise and fall of different characters during the creation of Hollywood, presented as an era of decadence and limitless depravity.
The two main characters of the film are played by Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, but are they inspired by personalities who really existed? Babylon blurs the tracks, by having in its credits the name of real characters like Marion Davies (a famous actress and producer), played by Chloe Fineman, or mixtures, confusingly suggesting people who really existed, like Randolph Hearst (the newspaper magnate who inspired Citizen Kane).
2022 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. Brad Pitt and Diego Calva in Babylon
The character played by Brad Pitt, named here Jack Conrad, is a mixture of several actors. The direct inspiration is an actor who rightly nurtured other feature film tributes to the cinema.
This actor is called John Gilbert, born in 1897 and died in 1936, at only 38 years old. If ever this name meant nothing to you, it inspired the hero of Singing in the rain, and more recently The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius, with Jean Dujardin. His most famous film is called The Great Lover.
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John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina
John Gilbert had a tragic destiny, like the one we can see in The Artist. Damien Chazelle explained that while researching John Gilbert, he was told different theories about the end of his career. “I wanted to offer the most believable and also the most disturbing explanation possible.explained Damien Chazelle (via the site TF1.info). People had grown up with the image of a silent actor, and when they saw him kissing someone with sound, there was something that just didn’t work anymore. He was doing nothing wrong. But the public was not ready. It’s this idea, that being a star is all about timing, and this weird coincidence of elements that you can’t really control.”
In addition to this main reference, the character of Brad Pitt also summons the memory of actors like Douglas Fairbanks or Rudolph Valentino. By choosing Brad Pitt for this role, Damien Chazelle said that he saw no other current actor who could have the aura of a star of the time. According to the filmmaker, “Brad Pitt is one of the few people today who reflects the idea of what an old-fashioned movie star was like.” “That sort of larger-than-life aura that a star of the era could exude, seemingly effortlessly.he continues. (…) This is part of the magic that we feel at home.”
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Margot Robbie in Babylon
As with Brad Pitt, the character of Margot Robbie (Nellie LaRoy) is inspired by several silent film stars. Clara Bow was the main source of inspiration. Its trajectory is indeed the true story that fueled Margot Robbie’s preparation: “Clara Bow probably had the worst childhood I’ve heard of“, she says, referring to the trauma and abuse she suffered in an environment also marked by poverty.
“Clara’s parents never got a birth certificate because they had already lost two children, and were sure she would never outlive her infancy. When I read this, the character of Nellie started to make sense to me. I understood that she had always felt that every day spent on this planet was counted for her, and she gave her all accordingly..”
Clara Bow is often presented as the first “it girl”. This femme fatale, who had a difficult childhood, chained the films. One of the best known is The Wings, released in 1927, and the first winner of the Best Picture Oscar statuette. She will eventually be overtaken by sex scandals and fired from Paramount!
For the anecdote, Clara Bow was also an inspiration for Singing in the rain, and even the iconic Betty Boop!
Babylon is currently playing.