You Bedlam Files subscribers may notice that much of the following essay was included in the July ‘25 newsletter. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond my control the content got botched, so here’s how the essay should look.
Penny Marshall, Garry Marshall
One especially annoying aspect of getting older is having to watch my successors discover things I figured out decades ago. Case in point: Hollywood nepotism, which modern-day cultural commentators have latched onto with gusto. It’s an issue that appears to have gotten Gen-Z into quite a snit, so much so that they’ve invented a term for it: nepo babies, which are apparently “everywhere in entertainment these days” and have “been a thing in the culture for a little while now.” A little while?
Nepotism, defined as “the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs,” has been a dream factory mainstay since forever. Hollywood, in fact, views itself as a monarchy and its offspring as industry anointed. It’s certainly no coincidence that the mega-producer Richard D. Zanuck happened to be the son of legendary Twentieth Century Fox founder Darryl F. Zanuck, or that horrormeister Osgood Perkins was sired by a certain genre icon bearing that last name. The late Garry Marshall, who was wholly responsible for jump-starting the career of his actress-director sister Penny, once admitted that “When in doubt, you bring in relatives. Nepotism is a part of my work.”
Further proof of nepotism’s hold on Hollywood is evident in a future set scene in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989), depicting a holographic advert for “JAWS 19,” which is “Directed by Max Spielberg.” The real-life son of the film’s executive producer, Max Spielberg was just four years old at the time of BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II’s release, yet was evidently being groomed to not only take on his father’s profession but continue a movie franchise the old man initiated. Max, for the record, has yet to direct a feature film, JAWS related or otherwise, but another Spielberg offspring, one Destry Allyn, does appear poised to assume her father’s mantle.
Destry Allyn Spielberg made waves when she was announced as director of the 2022 short LET ME GO (THE RIGHT WAY), scripted by Stephen King’s son Owen and starring Sean Penn’s son Hopper. Quite a nepo-fest, I will admit, but the situation was far from unprecedented; think back to ORANGE COUNTY (2002), directed by Jake Kasdan and starring Colin Hanks and Schuyler Fisk (Jake and Colin’s last names should clue you in on their parentage, while Schuyler is the daughter of Sissy Spacek).
It’s my belief that the 2000s and 2010s marked a high point in filmic nepotism. It was during this period that ORANGE COUNTY was released, and when we learned the names Emma Roberts, Dakota Johnson, Zoe Kravitz, Scott Eastwood, Maude Apatow, Jaden Smith, Lilly Collins, Jack Quaid and Zoey Deutch (look ‘em up), performers for whom show business careers weren’t a dream but a mundane reality—a reality enhanced greatly by industry connections.
A major point of curiosity in the early 2010s ascension of Jennifer Lawrence was the mere fact that she had no famous relatives, which was quite an unusual factor in the 2010s. More standard was the cast of Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019), which was so packed with nepo babies—Margaret Qualley (birthed by Andie McDowell), Maya Hawke (daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), Rumer Willis (sired by Bruce Willis), Harley Quinn Smith (Kevin Smith’s offspring), etc.—that it caused a mini-outcry. Ms. Hawke has asserted that she was cast purely for nepotistic reasons, and claims to be okay with that fact (she’s not alone, as Jeff Bridges freely admits his Hollywood career came about due to the fame accrued by his father Lloyd, while Jennifer Aniston likewise credits her father, a soap opera actor, with her big break, which was apparently “nepotism all the way”).
Sofia Coppola, Quentin Tarantino
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD wasn’t Tarantino’s first nepotism scandal. Back in 2010, when he presided over the Venice Film Festival jury, Tarantino’s ex Sophia Coppola (a nepo baby if ever there was one) was given the Best Picture award for SOMEWHERE, his longtime pal Alex de la Iglesia won Best Director for A SAD TRUMPET BALLAD (BALADE TRISTE DE TROMPETA) and his mentor Monte Hellman was given a career achievement trophy on the occasion of the premiere of his final film ROAD TO NOWHERE. Clearly, Tarantino takes care of his friends.
But the nepo-related news isn’t nearly as dire as so many people like to claim. The biggest films to come out of the 2010 Venice Film Festival, let’s not forget, weren’t the award winners but, rather, BLACK SWAN and the out-of-competition entries MACHETE and THE TOWN. Furthermore, the most prominent young actors to emerge from ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD have been the non-nepo’d likes of Sydney Sweeney, Austin Butler and Mikey Madison.
There’s also the fact that the biggest name associated with ORANGE COUNTY happens to be Jack Black (who was cast not because he had famous relatives but because he lived next door to the film’s screenwriter Mike White). Yes, the spread of Hollywood nepotism is a glaring issue, but it’s one that, for the moment at least, does appear to be improving.