“When somebody who makes movies for a living — either as an actor, writer, producer or director — lives to be a certain age, you have to admire them. It is an act of courage to make a film — a courage for which you are not prepared in the rest of life. It is very hard and very destructive. But we do it because we love it.” – John Carpenter
10.Ed Wood dir.Tim Burton
Don’t have the confidence to make a movie? Don’t worry,Ed Wood will give you all the confidence you need.Even with his terrible tastes and skills of movie-making,he still managed to make “the best worst movies ever” – Plan 9 from Outer Space,you couldn’t done worse than that.
9.Singin’ in the Rain dir.Stanley Donan and Gene Kelly
This greatest musical of all time is also an enjoyable romance comedy about the difficult transformation for big Hollywood studios in the most critical period in cinema history.Movie-making never looks more fun in this all-singing all-dancing classic.
8.You Shoot,I Shoot dir.Ho-cheung Pang
The first word “shoot” means shooting with a gun and the second word “shoot” means shooting with a camera,the story of the movie is about the fictional contract killing business.As one of the funniest Hong Kong comedy after 2000s,director Ho-cheung Pang paid homage to many famous Hollywood gangster movies with his brilliant debut film.
7.Through the Olive Trees dir.Abbas Kiarostami
From the start of the movie,when the director talks directly to the camera,we instantly know it’s a movie about making a movie,the movie in the shooting process is its prequel And Life Goes on.This romance story which happens at a movie-making set shows the instinctive sensibility of Abbas Kiarostami to capture the truth in real life.
6.Man Bites Dog dir.Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoit Poelvoorde
One of the most badass mockumentaries ever made,one thing this movie differs from those serial killer movies is that all those killing scenes look so real,and what’s more terrifying is the crew takes part in this so-called killing-for-justice madness,you won’t believe it until you see it.
5.Day for Night dir.Francois Truffaut
As what Carpenter said,movie making is hard,sometimes finishing a movie is satisfying enough.In the love letter to cinema shot by the most faithful filmmaker Francois Truffaut,everything can go wrong,goes wrong,and it is the passion for cinema that saves the whole project.
4.Boogie Nights dir.Paul Thomas Anderson
An epic about one of the most controversial business – pornographic movies.”The Master” of our time Paul Thomas Anderson took us to behind-the-scenes of something we can never imagine,a porn star is born and ruined just like many other traditional Hollywood stories.
3.Sunset Boulevard dir.Billy Wilder
A dark film-noir about the self-destruction of one of the biggest stars in silent era,completely the opposite tone of Singin’ in the Rain above.The picture is always too small for an ego too large and the close-up she wants in the end will probably never be given.
2.The Player dir.Robert Altman
If you’d like to know how Hollywood makes movies,this is the movie you should watch.In this Hollywood encyclopedia movie,director Robert Altman took you into one of the most prestigious producers’ head,when the movie-making process itself became a movie,the fun and thrill of watching it became endless.
1.8 1/2 dir.Federico Fellini
Nobody could describe a director’s crisis in the language of cinema better than Federico Fellini.In this one of the greatest movies of all time,Fellini constantly shifts the plot between the conscious and unconscious world of the confused director Guido,and turned all this movie-making process into a circus play.