TheHollywoodReporter has revealed that Damien Chazelle (La La Land) has secured funding for his next feature film Babylon as it has landed at Paramount Pictures.
The drama will explore Hollywood’s transition in the late 1920s from the silent film era to the new style of filmmaking, talkies.
The story is said to be set in the late 1920s, during the movie industry’s transition from silent films to talkies. The rise and fall of fictional and historical characters figure into the proceedings.
Emma Stone and Brad Pitt are reportedly circling the project for the lead roles, Stone playing real-life actress/sex symbol Clara Bow. However, no deals are in place which means they might not actually end up joining the project.
If deals are made, Stone would portray Clara Bow, the early sex symbol and box office star who was Hollywood’s first “It” girl. Pitt would play a fictional character, a silent film star who fails to make the transition to the new technology; sources say he is based on real-life figure John Gilbert.
Hollywood moving from silent films to talkies saw a lot of many silent film stars not being able to make the transition.
Filming will be taking place in California as the film earned state tax breaks.
Pitt recently starred in James Gray’s sci-fi drama Ad Astra and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Stone was seen in Sony’s horror-comedy Zombieland: Double Tap and is currently shooting Disney’s Cruella (a prequel to 101 Dalmations).
Paramount Pictures has dated Babylon for limited release on December 25th, 2021 and will get a wide release on January 7th, 2022.
SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
