Meet the characters of Babylon in these behind the scenes videos

Babylon arrives at Cineworld this week and exposes the festering, badly behaved side of early Hollywood. The movie begins in the mid-1920s when silent cinema is all the rage; however, a change is on the horizon with the release of The Jazz Singer, which precipitates the arrival of talking pictures.

Writer-director Damien Chazelle traces the crisscrossing destinies of several memorable characters. Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) is the silent movie star who has helped shape the early days of motion pictures; Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) is a whirling dervish of a newcomer who crashes onto the moviemaking scene by accident; and Manny (Diego Calva) is the ambitious, well-intentioned Mexican immigrant who finds himself making his way up the Hollywood ladder.

Also thrown into the mix: acid-tongued gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), cabaret singer Lady Fay (Li Jun Li) and jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo). It's a memorable ensemble that puts a human face on a jaw-dropping, quintessentially timeless tale of excess and hubris.

Discover more about each of the characters in the following videos. (Also don't forget to check out the real-life Hollywood influences behind Babylon.)