Charles Bukowski - Hollywood

Bukowski never held the film industry in high regard, but when he was invited to write a screenplay for a film about himself, he realized reality was far more terrifying than he had ever imagined.

The screenplay was written, and the film — Barfly — premiered in 1987, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. Hollywood fictionalizes Bukowski’s experience while writing that script, blending his sardonic take on the madness of the film industry with his usual pilgrimages to Los Angeles bars and nightclubs. His alter ego, Henry Chinaski — a moderately successful poet and novelist with a strong weakness for women and drink — becomes increasingly entangled in the whirlwind of Hollywood. As Chinaski and his partner get drawn deeper into the cinematic circus, Bukowski seizes the chance to satirize a host of recognizable industry figures, crafting an irresistibly irreverent portrait of Hollywood, while continuing his multi-volume fictional autobiography.