‘Babylon’: Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt in the first images of the new film by the director of ‘La La Land’

After dazzling the whole world with “The City of Stars: La La Land” and traveling to the Moon with “First Man – El primer hombre”, Damien Chazelle has almost finished with his next feature, “Babylon”, a epic about the show set in the early days of Hollywood, in the 1920sand has a stellar cast that includes Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.

From Vanity Fair we get the first exclusive images of the project, a film that the publication describes how “epic, great and choral” and this explores a vibrant time when the film industry was transitioning from silent to talkie and the California city was full of hopes for fame and wealth. Sounds familiar to us, right? Chazelle, in fact, once again expresses his love for the Seventh Art and the city of stars after “La La Land”, with an idea that has been on his mind since he moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago.

Although most of the characters in “Babylon” are fictional, Chazelle, who also wrote the script, drew inspiration from real Hollywood stars to create them. For example, Pitt’s character Jack Conrad would be based on legendary movie stars such as Clark Gable and Douglas Fairbanks. Pitt reunites with Robbie after recently working together on “Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood”. The “I, Tonya” actress plays Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actress who takes shape from early movie stars such as Clara Bow, Jeanne Eagels, Joan Crawford and Alma Rubens.

Semi-unknown Diego Calva (“Narcos: Mexico”) gives birth to Mexican actor Manny Torres, who brings the outsider’s perspective to Hollywood and, as Chazelle assures Vanity Fair, is experiencing something similar to what his character lives in the film. Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Jean Smart and Tobey Maguire, who also play fictional characters, complete the cast. The only real character who appears in the film is the great producer Irving Thalberg, played by Max Minghella.

regular team

First images of ‘Babylon’, by Damien Chazelle

1 Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy

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Two Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad and Diego Calva as Manny Torres

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3 Tobey Maguire as James McKay

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4 Diego Calva as Manny Torre and Jean Smart as Elinor St. John

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5 Li Jun Li in the role of Lady Fay Zhu

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6 Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer

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7 Lukas Haas as George Munn and Diego Calva as Manny Torres

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8 Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad

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9 Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy

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10 Damian Chazelle

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Judging by the images, which evoke Baz Luhrmann’s excess, his most luxurious and ostentatious work to date awaits us. And to create that universe of excess, extravagance and hedonism, Chazelle once again turned to his trusted collaborators, including director of photography Linus Sandgren and composer Justin Hurwitz.both Oscar winners for their respective work in ‘La La Land’.

Chazelle has no hesitation in qualifying “Babylon” as his most ambitious project to date. “It was without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever done”he declares to Vanity Fair. “The logistics, the number of characters, the scale of the settings, the length of the film … it’s all conspired to make it particularly difficult, but it was a very exciting challenge.”.

‘Babylon’ will be released in the United States next December by Paramount Pictures, with a release date in Spain waiting to be announced.