HURRAY FOR HOLLYWOOD
RYAN MURPHY’S LATEST SERIES FOR NETFLIX OFFERS VIEWERS A WISH-FULFILLINGLY REVISIONIST HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD’S GOLDEN AGE
Sexier!” Standing in front of the Paramount gates, surrounded by hundreds of extras in bolero jackets and fedoras, Hollywood star David Corenswet is radioed that direction from creator Ryan Murphy. The moment is an apt metaphor for Murphy’s shows and his ability to zhuzh up any setting, be it teen glee club or murderous asylum.
With Murphy’s seven-episode 1940s-set drama, the subject matter is glamorous in the extreme – exposing the inner workings of the studio system. Yet Murphy has made it sexier, literally, in the show’s tackling of sex work (“The first episode has very little filmmaking and a lot of nakedness,” quips Corenswet), and figuratively, in its view of a more inclusive
Hollywood that welcomed women, people of colour and the LGBTQ community.
Hollywood (on Netflix from Fri., May 1) stars Corenswet, Darren Criss, Jeremy Pope, Laura Harrier and Jake Picking as young dreamers teamed with long-overlooked Hollywood insiders played by Jim Parsons, Patti LuPone, Joe Mantello and Holland Taylor. Together they chase glittery dreams and tackle (continuing) systemic ills. “It showcases how everything has changed,” says Picking, “and nothing has changed.”
Murphy and fellow executive producer Criss conceived this alt-Hollywood over rosé. As Criss tells it, Murphy was looking to do something “young, period and optimistic”. Reading Hollywood pimp Scotty Bowers’ memoir, Criss was inspired by the dichotomy between opulent dream factories and the seedier underbelly, exacerbated by the postwar milieu. “You introduce a wild polarity between people who have just seen hell and now are in paradise. What did that do to someone’s moral compass and sense of ambition and dreams?” ponders Criss, before underscoring the show’s sunniness in spite of that. “It’s candy, fantasy and escapism at its original, most golden form.”
For most of the cast, that fantasy is highly personal. Criss stars as Raymond, a halfFilipino director passing as white (something the actor has spoken frankly about in his own career). Raymond is in an interracial relationship with Harrier’s Camille, an aspiring
actress. While the cast did their requisite retro research, they admit there wasn’t a true model. “Given censorship at the time, it seems like there weren’t interracial relationships and there weren’t people in queer relationships, and that’s obviously not true,” reflects Harrier. “People have been living and loving how they are now for forever.”
Being not just accepted but celebrated for decades is a tantalising vision. “The retelling of history allows people to bask in the nostalgia,” Corenswet enthuses. “Watching old movies or period pieces is bittersweet because you can’t [fully] indulge in nostalgia knowing it wasn’t that great for everybody.” A guilt-free Golden Age with room for all? Now, that is sexy.