Did 1920s Hollywood Really Look as Debauched in ‘Babylon’?
Damien Chazelle’s Babylon captures 1920s Hollywood with all its debauchery, excess and decadence. Chazelle captures the glamour of vintage filmmaking with a modern lens, shooting on dusty backlots as well as in luxurious mansions. Chazelle began by researching for months and finding inspiration from real-life Hollywood stars, powerbrokers, and other historical figures. In many cases, the early days of moviemaking were quite scandalous.
Chazelle stated that “the reality is that these people were operating within a no-holds barred type of world where an entire city and industry were being built from scratch up, and that takes some kind of madness.”
William J. Mann, an author of “Tinseltown”, says that the 1920s were an especially free time. “There was an amazing freedom before the production code was created, so people had a greater sense of their own lives.” Hollywood was a safe haven for lovers and free thinkers before the code.
All that freedom led to lots of experimentation with drugs, alcohol, and sex
“Early Hollywood scandals were really about managing the discourse around why stars are self-destructing,” states Mark Lynn Anderson, author of “Twilight of the Idols.” “Contracts were very intense, which was not a good labor situation for stars making some real income.” This pressure could lead stars to rely on drugs and alcohol. Many stars have died from overdoses early in their careers.
