Babylon: Release date, trailer, cast, plot & more

Here’s everything we know about Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, from its release date and trailer, to cast, plot, and other details.

If we’re looking at the history of three-for-three cinematic runs, Chazelle is already among the greats. Whiplash is one of the strongest debut movies of the past 10 years, La La Land was an instant classic, and First Man was a majestic ode to mankind’s first steps in space.

After a four-year break, the wunderkind will return this year with Babylon, his “most ambitious” movie to date.

Alongside the likes of The Whale and The Son, it’s already being tipped as a major Oscar contender, so here’s everything you need to know about Babylon, including its release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more.

Babylon release date: When is it coming out?

Babylon is due for a limited release on December 25 this year, before its wide release in the US on January 6, 2023.

In the UK, the film is due for release on January 20, 2023.

So far, only critics have been able to see the film, with mixed reactions:

Babylon is an ambitious mess of a film. I don’t even know where to begin with this one but the tone is all over the place. Margot Robbie tries but the script fails her. A love letter to cinema that made me hate cinema. #BabylonMovie pic.twitter.com/BnKQiOz2Zd

— Scott Menzel (@ScottDMenzel) November 15, 2022

#Babylon feels like if someone read Damien Chazelle the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and then he said, "hold my beer!"
High octane, cocaine-inducing trip. First half is great. Likely the internet's new favorite movie of all-time. Margot Robbie and Justin Hurwitz are your stars. pic.twitter.com/aM3rru1so0

— Clayton Davis – Stand with 🇺🇦 (@ByClaytonDavis) November 15, 2022

Equal parts decadent, deviant and delirious… #Babylon is a entertaining and sprawling epic about the highs and lows of the golden age of Hollywood. It’s a bit messy in its third act and the ending is something from the multiverse (?) …but overall a love letter to cinema.

— Destiny Jackson (@DestinyDreadful) November 15, 2022

Babylon trailer: Is there a trailer for the Damien Chazelle movie?

Yes, there is a trailer for Babylon, and you can watch it below:

Some first-look images featuring the movie’s cast were also released as part of Chazelle’s interview with Vanity Fair, which you can see below:

First look at Diego Calva, Lukas Haas, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo and Tobey Maguire in Damien Chazelle’s ‘Babylon’ pic.twitter.com/7c539IU7hi

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 7, 2022

Babylon cast: Who’s in the Damien Chazelle’s movie?

Damien Chazelle has always bagged strong casts: Whiplash saw JK Simmons win his first Oscar, while it considerably elevated Miles Teller’s career; La La Land banked on the unmatched chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone; and Gosling returned for First Man, starring alongside the likes of Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, and Kyle Chandler.

Babylon is his biggest and best cast yet, and includes:

• Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad
• Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy
• Diego Calva as Manny Torres
• Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer
• Li Jun Li as Lady Fay Zhu
• Jean Smart as Elinor St. John
• Tobey Maguire as James McKay
• Max Minghella as Irving Thalberg
• Katherine Waterston as Ruth Arzner
• Lukas Haas as George Munn
• Samara Weaving
• Olivia Wilde
• Spike Jonze
• Rory Scovel
• Eric Roberts
• Flea

Pitt and Robbie starred together in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Babylon marking their second film together.

First look at Tobey Maguire, Margot Robbie, and Brad Pitt in Damien Chazelle’s #Babylon

(via @VanityFair) pic.twitter.com/9RzY3Nz9kh

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) September 7, 2022

Chazelle told Vanity Fair: “Part of what was magical about working with them in these roles is that each of them felt like they were really able to make the performance the most personal thing they had done.”

Chazelle has also reunited with cinematographer Linus Sandgren and composer Justin Hurwitz, both of whom won Academy Awards for La La Land.

Babylon plot: What’s the Damien Chazelle movie about?

Paramount Pictures have yet to release an official synopsis, but Babylon was described by Empire Magazine as “a drama set in a transitional period for Hollywood as silent moviemaking gave way to the talkies, and will blend real personalities from the time with fictional characters.”

Chazelle also explained: “The basic idea was just to do a big, epic, multi-character movie, set in these early days of Los Angeles and Hollywood, when both of these things were coming into what we now think of them as.

“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.”

We’ll update this article upon further announcements.