Hooray for Hollywood: Part 2

"Hooray for Hollywood: Part 2", titled on-screen as "Hooray for Hollywood: Part II", is the second episode of Hollywood. It was released on Netflix on May 1, 2020.

Synopsis
Avis Amberg requests the services of the Golden Tip as Henrietta grows suspicious of Jack. Raymond Ainsley, an up-and-coming director fresh out of film school, attempts to get his film greenlit by Ace Pictures while his contract player girlfriend Camille Washington gets her first break. Raymond meets young screenwriter Archie Coleman to discuss his screenplay – Peg. Henry Willson signs a new client by the name of Roy Fitzgerald.

Plot Summary
Jack gets booked, and back at work Avis invites him to Bugsy Siegel's estate sale in Beverly Hills. At the auction, he tells her that he can't stay out all night because he has a screen test in the morning at ACE Studios. He's in luck, though: "my husband IS ACE Studios," Avis says, and then he absolutely rails her on a stairway.

Meanwhile, young director Raymond Ainsley visits screen legend Anna May Wong to inquire about casting her in a movie he wants to make called Angel of Shanghai. She's skeptical because of the way the town has treated her in the past, but he explains that he's half Asian and doesn't want to conceal that side of his heritage anymore, and he has a meeting at ACE Pictures to discuss it.

On the studio lot, he heads to the commissary where his actress girlfriend Camille Washington is eating lunch. They kiss and discuss her biggest competition among her fellow contract actresses: Claire Wood. At Raymond's meeting, he pitches his film and explains that he wants to resurrect Anna May Wong's career after she was passed over for a role in The Good Earth despite being the best for the role. The studio exec Dick Samuels knows how painful the decision was since he wanted to cast Wong, but despite Raymond's idealistic speech about wanting to change the world, Samuels says "maybe next time" and tells him to pick from a pile of scripts instead.

Jack's screen test is bad, but casting exec Ellen Kincaid sees something in him anyway. He's got star power and she has a feeling about him; Kincaid discovered Judy Garland and Lana Turner so Samuels should trust her. He reminds her that he found Vivien Leigh, but lets her take Jack on as her pet project anyway.

Ellen is not only in charge of the contract players, she also gives them acting classes. Camille and Claire are the star pupils in her latest lecture, about the origins of the Mid-Atlantic accent prevalent in so many old movies; it was made up to add a little refinement to the flat American dialect. Camille gets plucked from class for a role in a picture, but it turns out it's just as a maid, and the director wants her to "make it more funny".

While Raymond and Camille make love (and he tells her how in love with her he is), Jack is busy banging random ladies at work. Henrietta suspects that he's cheating, and confronts him — but a pain in her stomach brings her to the hospital, where a doctor tells him to stop screwing around on her. Having chosen Archie's movie Peg as his favorite script, Raymond meets with the writer to discuss the project.

Over martinis at Hollywood hot spot Musso and Frank's, Raymond pitches his ideas and asks Archie why he wrote about a white girl. Archie makes his own idealistic speech about the effects of the industry on the people trying to make it, and Raymond explains how he wants to change the industry so people who are on the outside can make the decisions. He knows the struggle, since he's half Asian. But he can pass as white, Archie notes, which is what Camille always tells Raymond, too.

Back at the gas station, Roy returns because he can't stop thinking about Archie. Turns out the feeling is mutual, since Archie hasn't even asked Ernie to collect payment at all. Roy wants to be Archie's boyfriend, since the town is lonely and it would be nice if they had each other to lean on, but Archie isn't quite ready for that. They run lines for Roy's audition the next day and Archie gives him some key notes.

Roy has a meeting with major Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who decides to sign him because he knows within 30 seconds if somebody has what it takes to be a star. Roy clearly does, but first he has to work on his physique, his tan, and his voice, and also change his name to Rock Hudson. This dramatic reveal shouldn't be surprising to anyone who knows the real-life history; Willson was a real person who actually did "discover" Rock Hudson. But that stardom comes at a price: "First I need to suck your cock. It's my thing. I gotta do it," he tells Roy, who reluctantly accepts the order.

Samuels greenlights Raymond's pitch for Peg, the only good script he'd read, then Raymond delivers the bad news to Wong. He'll make Angel of Shanghai next, he promises, but she knows that's a pipe dream and it'll never get made because she can't pass. "I'm going to change that," Raymond tells her.

Thanks to a tip from Claire, Jack learns about Peg and the role of the main character's love interest. When he runs into Archie and Raymond on the lot, he pitches himself for the role as they walk to lunch — where they run into Ellen and Avis, having lunch. They pretend not to know each other.

Starring

 * David Corenswet as Jack Castello
 * Darren Criss as Raymond Ainsley
 * Laura Harrier as Camille Washington
 * Joe Mantello as Dick Samuels
 * Dylan McDermott as Ernie West
 * Jake Picking as Roy Fitzgerald/Rock Hudson
 * Jeremy Pope as Archie Coleman
 * Holland Taylor as Ellen Kincaid
 * Samara Weaving as Claire Wood
 * Jim Parsons as Henry Willson
 * Patti LuPone as Avis Amberg

Guest starring

 * Maude Apatow as Henrietta Castello
 * Mira Sorvino as Jeane Crandall
 * Michelle Krusiec as Anna May Wong

Co-starring

 * Samantha Bartow as Girl
 * Adam Bucci as 2nd AC (Camille)
 * Avery Camp as Betsy
 * Timothy Dvorak as Irving Thalberg
 * Anthony Fanelli as Radio Correspondent
 * Jordan Feldman as AD
 * Monica Lee Gradischek as Lucille Reimann
 * Fred Grandy as C. Aubrey Smith
 * Kerry Knuppe as Sally
 * Joe Marinelli as Sidney Franklin
 * Michael Martinez as 2nd AC (Anna's)
 * Holger Moncada Jr. as Cop 1
 * Camille Natta as Luise Rainer
 * Joe Pistone as Cop 2
 * Barry Ratcliffe as Auctioneer
 * Herbert Russell as Len Schlossen
 * Elizabeth Schmidt as Phyllis/Receptionist
 * Laura Siegel as Millie
 * Glenn Taranto as Doctor
 * Nina Umpierrez as Woman (30's)