'It's a very tight, two-hour version'': Babylon director Damien Chazelle reveals he has an iPhone version of the film

Director Damien Chazelle recently admitted in a Q&A that he has a two-hour cut of the 2022 American epic period comedy-drama Babylon stored on his iPhone.

Damien Chazelle's Babylon covers the rise and fall of multiple characters during Hollywood's transition from silent to sound films in the late 1920s. It stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, and Li Jun Li, and a number of popular faces in supporting roles.

The original movie is more than three hours long and has received five nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and nine nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture.

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Damien Chazelle rehearsed Babylon using just two actors in his backyard

At a pre-release Q&A in Los Angeles in November 2022, Chazelle revealed that he rehearsed and shot the entirety of Babylon in his backyard using two actors.

Chazelle recruited his wife Olivia Hamilton (who played director Ruth Adler) and Diego Calva (who played assistant-turned-producer Manny Torres) to help him rehearse a two-hour cut of the film. The entire two hours were shot in the backyard of his home. During the Q&A session, he stated:

"It's a very tight, two-hour version of the entire movie, [filmed] on an iPhone in our backyard"

He continued:

"We rehearsed the whole movie in his backyard, only Olivia, Damien, and I''

At the same Q&A, Margot Robbie who plays Nellie LaRoy in Babylon, revealed that the director also appeared briefly in the final cut. Even though he does not show up on the screen, his voice can be heard off-screen: once as a cameraman and once as a man gossiping about Robbie's character Nellie LaRoy when she hides in a bathroom.

Robbie said:

"Every time someone's laughing at a character, that's Damien's laugh."

Chazelle wasn't too keen on keeping his own appearances in the movie, but the cast convinced him to leave it as it was. Brad Pitt, who plays Jack Conrad, said:

"I actually fought to keep Damien outside the bathroom talking s--- about [Nellie]," explained Pitt, who also served as a producer on the film. "It's so spot on."

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What is Babylon about?

Released on December 23, 2022, in the United States, the film sees the rise and fall of multiple characters of American Cinema transition from silent to sound films in the late 1920s. The movie's official synopsis reads:

"From Damien Chazelle, Babylon is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood."

The movie has been praised for its cinematography, score, and acting, especially Margot Robbie's. The filming took place in California. The film managed to gross over $5 million against a budget of $ 80 million. The movie is produced by Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, and Olivia Hamilton and written by Damien Chazelle himself.

Linus Sandgren is credited as the cinematographer of the firm, and music has been helmed by Justin Hurwitz. Paramount Pictures is the official distributor of Babylon.

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The movie is now playing in theaters in the USA.