Babylon: Everything you need to know about the raucous Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt film, set in the roaring twenties

A hedonistic, drug-fuelled and unapologetic Hollywood scene is the backdrop for Babylon, the star-studded film that’s expected to be the next ‘It’ movie after its release later this year.

The buzz around the epic – starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie – is already building after its raucous trailer was released in September, painting the picture of a flamboyant time during the early days of Hollywood. There’s drug use, wild dancing, and, erm… rattlesnake fighting. Not to mention an unexplained elephant.

Fans have been waiting a long time for the film since it was originally scheduled for a 2021 release date which was sadly pushed back due to the pandemic. Back in 2020, at the Golden Globes, Brad revealed he was extra excited about the project. “He’s looking at the silent movie era, the death of the silent movie era. It’s good. It’s really good. He’s really good,” he said of director Damien Chazelle. 

Many claim it’s giving The Wolf Of Wall Street vibes on steroids. And since director Chazelle is known for raking in the awards nominations courtesy of previous movies La La Land and Whiplash, we’re expecting great things. Any details about the film have been kept strictly classified until recently – so here’s everything we know so far about Babylon…

What is the plot of Babylon?

Set in 1920s Hollywood, the film will explore the early days of the movie scene, when silent films were beginning to transition to sound, or ‘talkies’. 

Damien Chazelle told Vanity Fair that Babylon was inspired by this idea of change and how it would impact the people involved. “Everything is shifting underneath people’s feet and I became really fascinated by the human cost of disruption at that magnitude, at a time when there was no road map, when everything was just new and wild,” he said.

He hinted that ambition will be a running theme throughout the movie, and there will be some dark undertones to the hedonistic, party-hard themes. “It was really a wild West period for these people, this gallery of characters, as they rise and fall, rise, fall, rise again, fall again,” he said. Ooh.

Who is in the cast of Babylon?

Brad Pitt stars as Jack Conrad, an ultra-famous silent movie actor who is wondering what the changes in Hollywood will do for his career. Margot Robbie, his former co-star from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, is Nellie LaRoy, an ambitious young actress who finds herself in the spotlight. “I just want everyone to party forever,” she declares in the trailer.

Diego Calva will play immigrant actor Manny Torres, who, according to Variety, will “serve as the audience’s eyes” in the world of early Hollywood, as an outsider himself. Many have speculated on Twitter that Manny is the lead character in the film.

The epic film also features an impressive supporting cast, including Tobey Maguire, a rumoured Olivia Wilde, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart.

Is there a trailer for Babylon?

Yes! The aforementioned trailer certainly sets the scene as the Paramount logo appears and ends with a shouting Margot Robbie propositioning a party crowd to watch her fight a rattlesnake. “F*ck yeah!” comes Brad Pitt’s reply.