ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
The cast of Netflix’s decadent new series on bringing the golden era of showbiz to the modern day
what if we had given opportunities to these men, these women, the queer community, black people – how different could Hollywood be?’ Rising star Jeremy Pope recalls producer, screenwriter and director Ryan Murphy – the man behind Glee, Pose and The Politician – posing this question as part of his campaign to get him on a new Netflix show. At the time, Pope had little information on the series. But what he did know – that the series is set in the 194Os and that it takes a revisionist look at the supposed glory days of the film industry by giving black, Asian and LGBTQ characters leading storylines – captivated him.
Hollywood, which features fictional storylines intertwined with real-life events, is a fizzing, glamour-filled dose of television that balances its irreverent, witty plots with smartly relevant commentary. Alongside a cast of industry heavyweights like Patti LuPone, Holland Taylor and Rob Reiner, it gives a big break to young talents such as David Corenswet, Maude Apatow, Laura Harrier, Samara Weaving and Darren Criss.
‘I was interested in going after young, sparkling new voices,’ says Murphy. ‘We auditioned, and everybody wanted to be a part of this show. I think because, once they figured out what it was about, it was meaningful for them.’
Pope, 27, agrees that there was a deep connection to his character, Archie Coleman, a gay black man who writes an explosive screenplay. ‘It was easy to put myself in Archie’s shoes. Being a black man in this business, you wonder if there’s enough space for you to use your gift.’ Hollywood marked Pope’s first move to the small screen after a landmark year on Broadway. But he was also attracted by the show’s creative team: he believes on-screen representation only works if it’s mirrored behind the camera. ‘I asked Ryan early on: “Being that I’m playing this black gay writer in the 194Os and 195Os, is there someone in the writers’ room who represents me in that way?”’ There was: Janet Mock.
‘Ryan asked the question: “What would happen if Rock Hudson, Anna May Wong and Dorothy Dandridge had had happy endings?” The idea of pulling up buried history and rewriting some wrongs excited me,’ says Mock, an executive producer, writer and director on the show, who joined after collaborating with Murphy on Pose.(Hollywood is part of a multimillion-dollar development deal that Mock signed with Netflix.)
Murphy’s productions, Mock explains, hinge on a theme. For Pose, it’s family. ‘With Hollywood, it’s ambition,’ she says. ‘What does it mean to be a dreamer? To be an openly gay black screenwriter who is able to write a story not limited to race or sexuality? What does it mean to be a brown girl in a sea of white faces, trying to become a star?’ Mock instantly connected to characters like Archie and Camille, a black actor longing to break out of playing maids, played by Laura Harrier. To write such roles, Mock drew from her own experiences as one of the few black transgender public figures: ‘The pressure of being the first, I understand that. To be the first and the only. When I thought about our characters, who were the first to do this or that, I wondered, What does that isolation and alienation look like? How do you fight it?’
As Laura Harrier says, ‘I can look up to Angela Bassett and others who paved the way, but [Camille] didn’t have that,’ she says. And that’s what makes Hollywood so special. That’s the whole magic of this show: we’re showing representation in Hollywood at a time when you didn’t see it on screen. It’s so crazy that we think the world was just straight and white in the 194Os. Obviously that’s not true.’ She pauses, then asks, ‘What would the world look like now, had those barriers not been there?’ Hollywood is on Netflix now
”THAT’STHEMAGIC OF THIS SHOW: WE’RE SHOWING REPRESENTATION IN HOLLYWOOD AT A TIME WHEN YOU didn’t see it on screen”