Hollywood by Ryan Murphy

[TotallyOz]

First, I am a big Ryan Murphy fan. I enjoy everything he does (almost). I do like American Horror (depending on the season) and I loved Glee and the Politician. In Hollywood, Murphy is Murphy. He tells a story. It is a beautiful story of what Hollywood could have been in an alternate universe. What I think I got the most out of it was the what ifs? What if someone had starting casting gay characters so many years ago? What if it was easier to be gay in my youth because Hollywood showed it.

I do think that Hollywood (the complex) can change the world. Part of acceptance of gays is because of the acceptance by Hollywood in recent years. Look at Ellen. Who doesn't love her? (well, I hear a few but not many).

I love the hustling aspect of the movie and thought there were a lot of avenues that we on boytoy can explore. Straight men servicing gay men. The casting couch. etc.

I have always love Darren Cris and thought he did a great job. But, for me Pattie LuPone was brilliant. I love her character and have always loved her acting. Murphy stays true and brings in those actors he loves and likes to work with. I like that as well.

The story was a bit overboard at times but I like extravagance and happy endings. There were lots of happy endings in this (boytoy style too) but what I liked was seeing the change in characters as time progressed.

It is only like 8 episode and an easy watch but very enjoyable! Hats off to Murphy but loved seeing the cast of hotties as well!

[Lucky]

I have only seen the first two episodes, but they are very enjoyable.

The husband and I are both taken with David Corenswet, not realizing at first that he was also on The Politician!

 

[Lucky]

I also really like the 1940's look of Hollywood.

[bobtpa1614502761]

I watched all seven episodes over the weekend and very much enjoyed it.  The cinematography was outstanding, many scenes were just beautiful. I liked every member of the cast.  I had only seen Jim Parsons in "The Big Bang Theory" - his acting in "Hollywood" was a revelation.  Taylor Holland has always been one of my favorites and she does not disappoint.  David Corenswet and Jake Picking were both new to me and I hope to see much more of them.  Of course the eye candy didn't hurt either.  I highly recommend.

[Buddy2]

I haven't watched the last episode yet.

 

Ernie and Henry Willson start as bad guys. Willson as a hero later on is huge stretch. I understand Ernie's Change of Heart, not Willson's. 

 

I wish Ryan Murphy's budge emphasis was on the script, less on the atmospheric, clothes and scenery.

[Latbear4blk]

Watching episode 1. Me like it.

[Latbear4blk]

I stayed up to 1:30 AM to finish the season. I hope they keep going. Thanks for this recommendation.

[TotallyOz]

11 hours ago, Latbear4blk said:

I stayed up to 1:30 AM to finish the season. I hope they keep going. Thanks for this recommendation.

I did it in 2 days. Loved each one. Especially the one where Darren was taking it up the ass in the Bangkok apartment. Oops, sorry for the imaginary spoiler.

[Buddy2]

Very difficult to connect the Rock Hudson in "Hollywood" with the real Rock Hudson. But, I understand.

In the final episode, Patti LuPone's clothes were way over the top. Distractions from the plot. Clothes are important, but would Lucille Ball have worn clothes like that when she was the president of Desilu Studios?

[JKane]

7 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

Very difficult to connect the Rock Hudson in "Hollywood" with the real Rock Hudson. But, I understand.

So I already had an aversion from working on several Ryan Murphy shows, where he always struck me as an unreasonable jackass. 

But a show about the dark history of Hollywood, especially how unbelievably fucking awful it was for gays and minorities sounded interesting to me, yet I still was hesitant.  Today I was listening to an interview with the writer and he gave several examples of horrific details of Hollywood's past and then went on about how they wanted to make things happier [so they sugarcoated things and changed outcomes...]. 

I mean there's something enjoyable to watch, but to take real (recent) suffering and downplay it like that doesn't seem right.  Maybe Chernobyl should've ended with everybody having superpowers and that area becoming amazingly fertile and wealthy?  

But I say all this from the standpoint of not having seen any of it yet, and remain very conflicted about whether I will.   

[RockHardNYC]

I think it's absolutely dreadful. I had to stop watching after the utterly fake Academy Awards scene, with Rock Hudson kissing his Black lover, Archie, for all to see. What the fuck is Ryan Murphy smoking?

Like most Ryan Murphy TV shows, Netflix's Hollywood is total camp fantasy. It's not the worst thing on television, but it's far from great. Period productions are not cheap. They're spending some serious money on this one, and most of that money should have gone to the unemployed freelancers.

Still, for a gay audience, there is some fun eye candy.

David Corenswet may be wearing too much make-up, but he sure looks sexy naked. His pairing with Judd Apatow's daughter is limp-wristed, but the marriage is supposed to be rocky. His character manages to fend off the gay predators, but the story would be far more interesting had he fallen prey, like so many straight men did in the 50's and 60's.

Rob Reiner as a studio chief is perfect. Patti LuPone as his over-produced wife is a stretch. Patti has gained some serious weight in recent years. To play this part, she is corseted and wigged for RuPaul's Drag Race. One can only imagine her pain while shooting her scenes. The costumers wrapped her in so much fabric, thinking that might slender her down. Fail. She's too fat to do sex scenes with young Hollywood hunks. It's all embarrassingly laughable. I wanted to vomit as Corenswet went down on her to lick her pussy.

You may have to look quick, but certain poses reveal how thick Patty is in the middle. They try to cover it with ridiculous sleeve tricks, but it all looks excessive.

Jaye Picking would be fine as a high school jock on Glee, but he's no Rock Hudson. Awful casting. The fake teeth are SO BAD after he visits the dentist.

Laura Harrier does not look real or believable to me as a Black actress of the time. I'm not buying her relationship with Darren Criss' character either. Criss may be straight in real life, but he films gay (or soft), no matter what you do with him.

I love the mega talented Jeremy Pope but I think he's totally miscast as Rock Hudson's lover. I'm not convinced the Hollywood cameras like his face. He's better suited on stage.

The self-hating homo scumbag agent, Henry Willson, is perfectly played by Jim Parsons,, wearing a ton of make-up. However, why the fuck can't the make-up artists match his face skin to his body? Willson must have been a monster in real life. He died a penniless addict with an unmarked grave. One can only imagine the famous cocks he sucked.

Dylan McDermott as famous pimp Scotty Bowers is annoying, if you can get past that awful grey wig.

Holland Taylor going after Joe Mantello made my skin crawl. I think she's old enough to be Joe's mother, and "Dick" is gay.

Good grief. How the fuck did this shit get financed? There is a great story to be told about this time in history, but this isn't it.

[Lucky]

I loved the series. I thought the sets and costumes are great. Who would be so petty as to focus on whether Patti Lupone has gained weight when she is acting her heart out? That gas station was played quite well. Ryan Murphy is trying to show us what Hollywood could have been, and I, along with millions of others, am along for the ride. If I could have seen positive gay role models when I was young it would have changed my life. There can be no doubt about that.

Now Jim Parsons as the nasty agent was not the role I would have preferred, but his character, a self-loathing, pompous closet queer who criticizes everything as not good enough for him, well, we have to live with that even today.

So if you are a normal red-blooded homosexual without pretensions of being a New York assistant on some minor film, you will find a lot to enjoy here. If you want something to make your skin crawl, focus on the disdain that the real Hollywood had for women, people of color, and gays. Then enjoy this alternate look and come tell us about it.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Lucky

[Latbear4blk]

It is a Romantic fantasy about a Hollywood that does not and has never existed. The connexions with the real history go vanishing as the episodes progress. I loved it. I hope they start the second season with the movie they are filming where the first one closes.

[RockHardNYC]

13 hours ago, Latbear4blk said:

It is a Romantic fantasy about a Hollywood that does not and has never existed.

What a LAME idea! It's a piece of entertainment for those who like to believe in fairy dust.

[Buddy2]

27 minutes ago, RockHardNYC said:

What a LAME idea! It's a piece of entertainment for those who like to believe in fairy dust.

I don't know enough about Patti LuPone to be concerned about her weight. She is seventy years old and those clothes made her look ridiculous.

I realize the Intentions were fine, but how was gastation Ernie transformed into the kind and loving man shown later in the story?  Same question about most of the other characters in the show.

 

Where does that leave Netflix. It will survive, less sure about Ryan Murphy.

[Latbear4blk]

1 hour ago, RockHardNYC said:

What a LAME idea! It's a piece of entertainment for those who like to believe in fairy dust.

[RockHardNYC]

28 minutes ago, Buddy2 said:

I don't know enough about Patti LuPone to be concerned about her weight.

I'm not "concerned" about anyone's weight unless it's someone I'm fucking. No blubber bouncers for me.

Curious is the word I would use. I'm curious why a so-called, self-proclaimed DIVA, always OVER-RATED IMO, who lets her short body go to hell in her elder years, and then accepts a TV part where she's supposed to play a tough, powerful, and glamorous Hollywood woman in the 1950's. Patti has always been very vain. I can't imagine what went on between the costumers of this bloated drag queen fantasy and Patti's huge ego. Now that's an episode worth taping.

37 minutes ago, Buddy2 said:

It will survive, less sure about Ryan Murphy.

Ryan Murphy will survive. I'm sure there are plenty of tasteless queens around the globe who love this campy horse shit, especially the gay couch potatoes who have nothing better to do while stuffing their faces with chips and salsa in a pandemic

[Buddy2]

We are in the midst of middle of a pandemic. Many people are out of work, not by choice: so-called couch potatoes also exercise and read as well as watch television.

[Latbear4blk]

Janet Mock Already Has An Idea For Hollywood Season 2

[Lucky]

Those of us who know Patti are aware that the ego thing is in public only. For her friends, she is as kind and courteous and caring as you could wish for.

I thought her costumes were a little odd, but I didn't care as I don't have much knowledge of what was considered glamorous in late 40's Hollywood.

My experience there was limited to 2+ years some 40 years ago. There were so many gay men who wanted to be connected to Hollywood. Pompous, curt, ignorant fellows who thought that if they were sucking the dick of some minor honcho it made them well-connected. And, of course, any popular commercial movie or theater was to be looked down upon.  I guess it makes them feel superior. It doesn't cost me anything.  Good thing, too, since I still run into guys like that.

[RockHardNYC]

2 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

so-called couch potatoes also exercise

You'd have to prove that to me.

2 hours ago, Lucky said:

I don't have much knowledge

You said it. You're also a two-faced HYPOCRITE with ZERO credibility.

Edited May 7, 2020 by RockHardNYC

[Buddy2]

39 minutes ago, RockHardNYC said:

You'd have to prove that to me.

You said it. You're also a two-faced HYPOCRITE with ZERO credibility.

Hey, RockHardNYC, I agreed with your critical comments about "Hollywood," and have only seen Patti LuPone three times (twice in the "Sweeney Todd" concert). I don't believe Bernadette Peters has worked with Ryan Murphy even. If so, smart decision.

[RockHardNYC]

10 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

I agreed with your critical comments about "Hollywood,"

While I welcome varied and opposing opinions on everything -- no two people think exactly alike -- it's always fun when a stranger sees the same details and qualities that irk.

10 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

have only seen Patti LuPone three times

Patti and her brother Robert spent most of their childhood on Long Island. Robert was born in Brooklyn. They hit the NYC theater scene before I did. Patti's older than I am. I first worked with her on Evita in 1979. Even though I haven't seen her recently, we have quite a long history. I have history with Robert, too.

10 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

I don't believe Bernadette Peters has worked with Ryan Murphy

Bernadette tried hard to get a spot on Glee. I don't know any reason why she and Murphy shouldn't work together. Ryan is very good at employing favorite divas from our past, and I fully support keeping aging actors gainfully employed. Bernadette is a major talent who has kept and maintained her wonderful dancer figure. Bernadette still tours, and her show is always amazing. Not to be missed.

Edited May 8, 2020 by RockHardNYC

[Buddy2]

Perhaps Netflix will rethink the company's relationship with Ryan Murphy after this disaster, or at least exercise more control of his work 

Glorified Henry Willson makes no sense to me. Same comment for a woman head of a major studio in the late 1940s.

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Buddy2
One additional comment for context

[RockHardNYC]

3 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

Perhaps Netflix will rethink the company's relationship with Ryan Murphy after this disaster

I don't think 57% on Rotten Tomatoes constitutes a "disaster." And with an Audience Score of 78%, goes to show how desperate some people are for fancy-dressed fairy dust.

3 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

Glorified Henry Willson makes no sense to me.

Pushing for producer credit came later in Willson's life, after Rock Hudson dropped him. Rock Hudson was Henry's meal ticket, and when that relationship went south in 1966, Willson didn't have much left. Willson was so cruel, he threatened to throw acid on Rock's face to destroy him. By then, Willson was very sick from his own addictions. The evil that he was came to eat him alive.

We all know what a self-hating gay is like. Giving someone like that power in Hollywood, a full-blown alcoholic, is a deadly trap. We can only imagine how many gay men feared and suffered at the hands of this predator. Willson had Mafia friends.

3 hours ago, Buddy2 said:

Same comment for a woman head of a major studio in the late 1940s.

Well, as Latbear4blk said, the show is a romantic fantasy of what Hollywood should have been like. Yippee! I'd rather watch porn.

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by RockHardNYC