50 Greatest Movies About Movies

For Your Consideration (2006)

Lights! Camera! Action! Praise goes to the heads of the cast of Jewish drama Home For Purim when their performances generate 'Oscar buzz.'

Trouble On Set: The increased attention on the film causes the Hollywood execs to demand awful changes, and forces the cast into a demeaning publicity blitz.

Chances Of An Oscar: Yes - but not for the stars who think they deserve one.

My Week With Marilyn (2011)

Lights! Camera! Action! Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) heads to Britain to co-star with Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) in The Prince And The Showgirl .

Trouble On Set: A clash of American and British acting styles, as Marilyn outrages Olivier by forgetting her lines, turning up late and insisting on keeping acting coach Paula Strasberg with her at all times.

Chances Of An Oscar: Zilch - The Prince And The Showgirl wasn't nominated.

White Hunter, Black Heart (1990)

Lights! Camera! Action! Hollywood director John Wilson (Clint Eastwood) heads to Africa to make his latest movie, but is more interested in hunting elephants.

Trouble On Set: A bust-up with Wilson's friend Pete Verill (Jeff Fahey) over his sinful insistence on killing animals instead of making the film.

Chances Of An Oscar: This is a fictionalised version of John Huston's The African Queen , which did indeed win an Oscar for Humphrey Bogart's lead performance.

Son Of Rambow (2008)

Lights! Camera! Action! Unlikely friends Will (Bill Milner) and Lee (Will Poulter) bond over a shared love of First Blood .

Trouble On Set: Will has been brought up by a religious sect who ban him from watching movies. Sylvester Stallone never had this problem.

Chances Of An Oscar: The boys aren't aiming for the Academy; they just want to get their film shown on the BBC show Screen Test .

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Lights! Camera! Action! Hapless actors Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) and Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr) are dropped in the jungle to shoot Vietnam epic Tropic Thunder guerrilla-style.

Trouble On Set: The stars think they're being filmed with hidden cameras, but the director is dead and they're walking into a drug war.

Chances Of An Oscar: Believe it or not, Speedman wins ol' Goldenhead.

Broken Embraces (2009)

Lights! Camera! Action! Director Mateo Blanco (Lluis Homar) falls in love with star Lena Rivas (Penelope Cruz) while making Spanish farce Girls And Suitcases .

Trouble On Set: Lena's other lover is the film's obsessively jealous producer, who conspires to wreck Blanco's relationship and his career.

Chances Of An Oscar: Slim, after Blanco is blinded and Martel deliberately edits the film using the worst takes.

State And Main (2000)

Lights! Camera! Action! The cast and crew of Walt Price's (William H. Macy) new film The Old Mill turn up in a small town to begin shooting.

Trouble On Set: The mill burnt down decades ago, forcing major rewrites from screenwriter Joseph Turner White (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Meanwhile, leading man Bob Barrenger (Alec Baldwin) is upsetting the locals by thinking with his dick.

Chances Of An Oscar: They don't have time to worry about that now. They have a film to make.

Through The Olive Trees (1994)

Lights! Camera! Action! An Iranian director visits the remote village of Koker to make And Life Goes On..., a film about the aftermath of a real-life earthquake.

Trouble On Set: An amateur actor hired for the film is distracted when he decides to propose to a local girl whose family don't like him.

Chances Of An Oscar: And Life Goes On... was a real film (directed by Abbas Kiarostami, who also made this). He's never even had a nomination.

Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

Lights! Camera! Action! Role reversal and then some, as child star Baby Jane is usurped when sister Blanche becomes the bigger movie star.

Trouble On Set: Blanche is crippled in a car accident... years later, Jane (Bette Davis) is still terrorising her sister (Joan Crawford) by feeding her dead parakeet for dinner.

Chances Of An Oscar: For sheer eye-rolling hysterics, they both deserve one.

Inland Empire (2006)

Lights! Camera! Action! Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) accepts a role on Kingsley's (Jeremy Irons) latest film, On High In Blue Tomorrows .

Trouble On Set: The story's roots in a Polish folk tale have already seen one attempt to film it cursed... and so is this one.

Chances Of An Oscar: Who knows? Maybe the talking rabbits will win.