Hollywood is often depicted as a sparkling, magical place, but the best Hollywood stories typically reveal a more multifaceted reality. In 1994, Susan Orlean published “After the Party,” a New Yorker profile of the formidable talent agent Sue Mengers. In her heyday, in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, Mengers was one of the preëminent figures in the film industry, representing stars and directors including Barbra Streisand, Steve McQueen, Sidney Lumet, Michael Caine, Brian De Palma, and Ali McGraw. “She rose fast in a business that was then dominated by men. She outmanned many of them: she was the toughest negotiator, the bluntest adversary, the nerviest deal maker,” Orlean writes. Orlean deftly chronicles how Mengers eventually became an outsider in a town of insiders—and a realist within a city of master illusionists.
This week, we’re bringing you a selection of stories about the fascinating world of Hollywood and filmmaking. In “No. 1512,” Lillian Ross reports on the production of John Huston’s epic film “The Red Badge of Courage.” In “The Duke in His Domain,” Truman Capote profiles the actor Marlon Brando on the set of his film “Sayonara,” in Japan. In “Raising Kane,” the film critic Pauline Kael chronicles the creation of Orson Welles’s classic movie “Citizen Kane.” Arthur Krystal recounts the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald’s adventures in Hollywood, and, in a piece from 1938, Russell Maloney speaks with the director Alfred Hitchcock about his filmmaking process. In “Nicole Holofcener’s Human Comedies,” Ariel Levy considers the humor and poignancy of the director’s work. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., examines the innovative filmmaking partnership of the Hughes brothers and the inspiration for their film “Menace II Society,” and Margaret Talbot explores her father’s movie career, during the nineteen-thirties. Finally, in “Can Hollywood Change Its Ways?,” Dana Goodyear writes about the reckoning in the film industry in the wake of #MeToo. We hope that you enjoy these glimpses behind the glittering Hollywood curtain.
“No. 1512”
The making of “The Red Badge of Courage.”
“The Duke in His Domain”
Marlon Brando, on location.
“Raising Kane”
Orson Welles’s “Citizen Kane.”
“Slow Fade”
F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood.
“What Happens After That“
Alfred Hitchcock’s mind is full of plans; nothing else can get in.
“After the Party”
Sue Mengers used to be one of the most formidable agents in Hollywood. Then the business changed, and she didn’t.
“The Realness of ‘Menace II Society’ ”
The twenty-one-year-old directors Allen and Albert Hughes want to make one thing clear: they don’t fit into any mold.
“The Screen Test”
How my father came to act alongside Stanwyck, Davis, and Lombard.
“Can Hollywood Change Its Ways?”
In the wake of scandal, the movie industry reckons with its past and its future.
“Nicole Holofcener’s Human Comedies”
The director’s films find humor and poignancy in bad behavior.
