Have you ever watched a movie and seen a fictional movie within it that you’d like to watch? I know I have. Sometimes the whole movie is about another movie, and sometimes it’s a brief mention or even just a poster in the background. Here’s my list of the movies within movies that I want to watch one day.
Tropic Thunder (Tropic Thunder)
I remember the first time I saw the trailer for Tropic Thunder and said to my friend, “Oh, it’s been a while since there was a good Vietnam movie.” Of course, it’s not actually a Vietnam War movie, but they are filming one that I still want to see to this day. All great Vietnam movies have trials and tribulations during production, and this one certainly did too!
Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red (This Is The End)
This Is The End is one of the most ridiculous movies ever conceived (in a good way), so it makes sense that I would left wanting more. More James Franco and Seth Rogan to be exact and what better way than to follow up the apocalypse with another the creation of a potential Pineapple Express franchise, starting with Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red? Save me from the end of the world, I need to see this movie!
Habeas Corpus (The Player)
Throughout Robert Altman’s The Player, different stars making cameos make a number of movie pitches at the fictional movie studio. Most of them include the recurring joke that the movie should star Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis. Sure enough, right at the end of the movie, the fictional movie Habeas Corpus is filmed and you guessed it, Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis are the stars. Based on the lone scene show, of Willis rescuing Roberts from the gas chamber, I have to see the rest! I’d like to see the original ending too.
Napoleon (Get Shorty)
Get Shorty is a movie filled with hilarious ideas for movies, but given the 2023 release of Ridley Scott’s Napolean, it had me yearning to see the version of Napolean starring Danny DeVito’s character, Martin Weir. DeVito hasn’t played a lot of serious roles, so seeing him, as the serious actor Martin Weir, playing a dramatic part would just be fantastic.
The 14 Fists of McCluskey (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood)
Like a lot of movies about Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood features a few fictional movies, including “The 14 Fists of McCluskey” with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt-double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). There are a bunch of Easter Eggs packed into this one, including a reference back to Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and a clip from a real movie called Hell River from 1974 used as the clip in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Maybe Robert Rodriguez could direct it.
Coming Home In A Body Bag (True Romance)
Christian Slater’s character, Clarence, in True Romance, is a huge movie fan and I trust his taste in film. His gushing praise of Coming Home In A Body Bag is all I need to hear to want to see it in real life. I love a good ‘Nam movie, and this seems like it could be one of the best. I’m unsure about the potential sequel, however, though it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever make it through production, given the events of the real movie it exists within.
Bluntman and Chronic (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back)
In this day and age of superhero movies, what the world needs is a Bluntman and Chronic movie, right? While “Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season” looks pretty hilarious in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, it’s really all about Bluntman and Chronic when you are talking about fake movies in Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse. This is one that maybe could actually be real one day, right? I’ll keep believing.
Angels With Filthy Souls (Home Alone)
In Home Alone, Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) uses a clip to scare off the Wet Bandits from a movie called “Angels with Filthy Souls” and as a fan of old gangster flicks, it looks right up my alley. It was decades before I even learned this wasn’t a real movie! I sure wish it was.
Machete (Grindhouse)
Talking about getting meta with things, Grindhouse is part of a double feature, and while it’s a real movie, it’s sort of presented as a fake one, and within it is another fake trailer for, “Machete,” among a couple of other films. All the films were eventually turned into real movies, but it’s the ones in the trailers I want to see.
Home for Purim (For Your Consideration)
The Christopher Guest-directed movies have some of the best quotes in movie history and while For Your Consideration doesn’t quite reach the heights of Best in Show and Waiting For Guffman, it’s still great. The idea of a movie about the Jewish holiday of Purim is just perfect for the movie within the movie. In the end, predictably, the movie’s plot is changed to Thanksgiving, but the original idea sounds way more interesting.
Hyde (Entourage)
The HBO show Entourage had countless fictional movies within the show about Hollywood stars. In the movie, made after the show concluded, included “Hyde” starring Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), who also directed the fake movie. In the real movie, the fake one is a huge hit, and even Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) wins a Golden Globe for his performance!
Somethin’s Cookin’ (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
The opening scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit sets up the character of Roger Rabbit perfectly. The struggling toon star is a disaster while trying to film a movie called “Somethin’s Cookin’.” He just can’t get it right and apparently, he had a refrigerator dropped on his head 23 times. Who wouldn’t want to see how it finally turns out? Remember, stars, not birdies!
The Three Amigos (Three Amigos)
The premise of Three Amigos is pretty classic. A town confuses three B-movie stars (Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve Martin) for actual heroes and hires them to protect their town. It’s all based on a movie the town sees. That’s enough to sell the movie to me. A movie so good they are hired for real? Sold!
Hail, Caesar! A Tale Of The Christ (Hail, Caesar!)
The Coen Brothers have used the “Capitol Pictures” name in a few of their movies, including Hail, Caesar!, starring George Clooney as a dopey film star in the 1950s. Capitol Pictures is the production company making “Hail, Caesar! A Tale of the Christ” which, judging by the title, sounds like a completely insane premise, especially since Julius Caesar died 44 years before the birth of Christ. I’m in!
History of the World Part II (History Of The World Part I)
This one is something that we almost actually got to see. Mel Brooks’ classic History of the World Part I ended with a fake trailer for “History of the World Part II.” More than 40 years later, in 2023, Brooks produced History of the World Part II as a TV show for Hulu. The caveat is that the show didn’t include the promised bits the fake trailer included, so we’re still not getting the movie he promised! The show is great, but who doesn’t want to see the three completely inappropriate skits in the original trailer? I do.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day Starring Sylvester Stallone (Last Action Hero)
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero has a great poster for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, that is a real movie,” you’re not wrong but in Last Action Hero the film stars Sylvester Stallone! As much as I love the actual movie, seeing Stallone as the Terminator would be amazing!
Coming Up Daisy (Burn After Reading)
The late Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite writers and his books have been turned into some great movies. The absurd idea that the noir author would write a “chick lit” book that’s being turned into a movie is one of the best jokes in the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading and I just have to see it.
Argo (Argo)
“Argo” was the name created by the CIA for the fake movie they used the supposed production of to extract hostages from the US Embassy in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution. In the actual movie, also called Argo, the fictional film is described as a sci-fi flick akin to Star Wars. I’m a big believer that the world needs more great sci-fi so this feels like a missed opportunity for a real movie.
The Night the Reindeer Died (Scrooged)
Bill Murray’s Scrooged has a lot of over-the-top insanity when it comes to the movies and TV produced by Murray’s character Frank Cross on the TV network he runs. One of those is shown in a commercial on the station that opens the movie, “The Night the Reindeer Died.” Starring Lee Majors as a James Bond-type rescuing Santa at the North Pole. I’m seriously all in on this. It’s too bad Lee Majors can’t be the next James Bond.
Deception (The Holiday)
Lindsay Lohan and James Franco in an action-adventure hit? Sign me up! All we get to see of this fake movie called “Deception” is a trailer in The Holiday, but Cameron Diaz and her team (including John Krasinski) really sell it!
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (The Man Who Killed Don Quixote)
Former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam is one of my favorite directors and while his movies aren’t for everyone, I love them all. Especially The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which infamously took almost three decades to complete. Adam Driver stars as a commercial director who is reminded of the first film he directed, also called “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” which leads his character down memory road and on his own quixotic quest. If it’s that good, I’d love to see it, too.
See You Next Wednesday (An American Werewolf In London)
“See You Next Wednesday” is often used by director John Landis in his movies when he needs the name of a fictional film and it has become an Easter Egg for fans of the director. An American Werewolf in London is one example of the movie title being used as an adult film. The name is even seen on a movie poster at the movie theater where Michael Jackson watches the “Thriller” video.
Jaws 19 (Back To The Future Part II)
Back in the ‘80s, it seemed like the Jaws franchise was going to go forever and get more and more ridiculous as it went. It was such a trope that it found its way into Back to the Future II when Marty (Michael J. Fox) sees a hologram for “Jaws 19.” Of course, now that Back to the Future’s future is in our past we know that the shark franchise didn’t keep making movies, but I sure wish it still did.
Lightyear (Toy Story)
In 1995’s Toy Story, audiences were introduced to the toy Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen). Buzz was an astronaut from a blockbuster movie that had been turned into one of Andy’s favorite action figures. Of course, this is an example of a movie we finally did get to see when Pixar released Lightyear in 2022, but it was a long wait.
Action Doctor (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World)
In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Lucas Lee (Chris Evans) is a B-movie star and one of Ramona’s exes that Scott (Michael Cera) has to defeat to win her heart. Scott is a fan of Lee’s and in one scene lays out a number of his movies on DVD, including one called “Action Doctor” which sounds so ridiculous I just have to see it.
The Old Mill (State And Main)
State and Main is an absurd and hilarious take on the ridiculousness of the movie business. It is about the troubled production of a movie called “The Old Mill” in a town that doesn’t, in fact, have an old mill. We never get to see how the movie turns out and I still want to.
Stab (Scream Franchise)
In the Scream franchise, “Stab” is the meta-tastic film-within-a-film parody of slasher films in a movie meant to be pretty much the same thing. We’ve heard a lot of the movie, but now we need to see the whole thing!
Sawdust and Mildew (Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult)
It’s fair to say that Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult is the least funny of the Naked Gun franchise, and mostly forgettable in every way. It actually makes the joke about the bomb at the Academy Awards funnier though, as the producers of “Sawdust and Mildew” stand up. It must have been a box office bomb. Still, I try to see as many of the nominated movies as I can.
The Dueling Cavalier (Singin’ In The Rain)
There are a couple of fake movies in Singin’ In The Rain but the one I want to see is “The Dueling Cavalier.” The movie is so bad that it turns into a Rocky Horror-like showing in the theater with the crowd yelling at the screen and acknowledging how bad it is, making it a must-see in my book.
Salome (Sunset Boulevard)
The biblical story of Salome has never received a modern telling on the silver screen, but it almost did in Billy Wilder’s legendary Sunset Boulevard. The script in the movie was written by Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), but writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) is working to make it, you know, good. I trust that he could have!
True Fear (One Cut Of The Dead)
One Cut of the Dead is one of the best zombie movies ever made, and in it, the characters are working to make their own zombie movie, eventually attempting to make the movie with the “real” zombies that are suddenly appearing. A movie about zombies in a zombie movie? I’m all in.
Logjammin’ (The Big Lebowski)
Okay, so this is probably not a movie I’d want to see in the theater, as it’s of a very adult variety. But let’s be real, it actually looks pretty hilarious as Karl Hungus stops by to “fixin da cable.” while Bunny La Joya’s friend takes a shower.