Subtly revealing and at times heartbreaking, Mantello’s performance makes it easy to fall in love with Samuels, a gay man who struggles to find a place for his identity in a prejudiced industry during an even more intolerant time.Īnother remarkable performance came from Patti Lupone in the role of Avis Amberg, a jaded older woman whose failed acting career and all-too-early shotgun wedding condemned her to a life of playing the dutiful spouse to Ace Amberg, head of the major film studio Ace Pictures. However, it is beyond belief that Hollywood is his first major role in front of a camera. Mantello is a veteran of the entertainment industry, having directed many successful Broadway productions-among them, Assassins and Wicked -and holds two Tony Awards and two Drama Desk Awards, for both directing and stage acting. Joe Mantello’s portrayal as studio executive Richard Samuels made Hollywood worth watching. Hollywood was cast to perfection, and while its younger actors embodied their characters spectacularly, the most compelling performances came from the show’s more senior players. The series boasts an all-star cast, with familiar faces such as Jim Parsons ( Big Bang Theory ), Darren Criss ( Glee ), Dylan McDermott ( American Horror Story ), Laura Harrier ( Spiderman: Homecoming ), Holland Taylor ( Two and a Half Men ), David Corenswet ( The Politician ), and Broadway icon Patti Lupone. The series does not shy away from controversy, with commentary on the plethora of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and sexual abuse which plagued the filmmaking scene of the late 1940s.

Hollywood, created by Ryan Murphy (whose past credits include American Horror Story, Pose, and Glee ) and Ian Brennan, follows a diverse group of characters through the cutthroat movie-making industry in post-World War II Los Angeles as they toil to produce Meg, a pathbreaking motion picture written by a gay black man, while also being the first to star a black woman. Though it has been received both positively and negatively by critics, one short series stands out in the streaming app’s vast collection of new content. Netflix has been on a roll lately, releasing several successful originals in the past few months, including Outer Banks, Too Hot to Handle, Money Heist and Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.

City of the fallen angels