Hollywood: Ryan Murphy goes ga-ga for La La Land.
Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix drama explores the underbelly of La La Land
RYAN MURPHY’S LATEST truth bomb of a TV drama, following on from the likes of Pose and The Politician, addresses many of his recurring concerns. With echoes of LA Confidential, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and Murphy’s own Feud: Bette And Joan, Hollywood takes us behind the curtain of the movie industry in its golden age, exposing the harsh reality of rampant sexual exploitation, racism and sexism beneath the shiny glamour. In fact it’s got all the ingredients of Peak Murphy TV.
THE HISTORY
The seven-part limited series, co-written by Murphy with Ian Brennan (Glee) and Janet Mock (Pose), traces the backstory of post-world War Two Hollywood, mixing fictionalised characters with real historical figures such as actor Rock Hudson (Jake Picking) and his legendary agent Henry Willson, played by The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons. Against the backdrop of the studio system, when a handful of all-powerful moguls ran everything, the narrative touches upon the struggles of writers, would-be actors, producers and directors as they tried to make it in the movie business.
THE CHARACTERS
The key characters each offer a particular glimpse into the issues facing those marginalised by the Hollywood system. We meet Archie (Jeremy Pope), a gay screenwriter recruited by a sleazy gasstation owner to work as a rent boy while Archie works on his first big movie script. One of his clients turns out to be the future star Rock Hudson. David Corenswet plays a young wannabe actor also working as a gigolo, whose older women clients include the wife of a studio mogul, played by Patti Lupone. Murphy regular Darren Criss (The Assassination Of Gianni Versace) also stars as an aspiring director who wants to make Archie’s script into a movie.
THE STRUCTURE
The drama intriguingly takes the form of an alternate, revisionist history of La La Land, where people of all sexualities, genders and ethnicities are foregrounded. And instead of building the show around one or two lead roles, the stories of the individual characters intersect with each other throughout, and the narrative cuts between them in a boldly freewheeling structure.
Like all of Ryan Murphy’s best work, Hollywood is hard to pin down.