Movies and TvShows featuring "lust-for-fame" theme.

In 1918 Texas, Pearl, a young woman living on her parents' farm, is captivated by movies and dreams of becoming a chorus girl. As she spirals into madness, she indulges in abusing morphine and commits a series of murders, including her parents and a projectionist. Pearl's ultimate goal is to create a comfortable home for her husband who returns unexpectedly from war.

A passionate yet unsuccessful comedian named Rupert Pupkin stalks and kidnaps his idol, Jerry Langford, to take the spotlight for himself. Set in New York City, Rupert navigates through his delusional fantasies and ruthlessly embarrassing situations in his pursuit of fame. He will stop at nothing to become a TV talk show host and surpass Jerry, but he fails to distinguish fantasy from reality. The movie follows Rupert's committed fantasy and our detached onlooker perception, showcasing the extreme lengths he is willing to go to achieve his ambition.

Beautiful Aliana Love moves to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a star, but quickly realizes that, in Hollywood, you are either on the plate or in front of it. Financial woes force a reluctant but desperate Aliana into the seedy world of adult films, and porn king John Goldman is only too happy to exploit her looks and innocence - turning her into the biggest, X-rated contract star in years.

The American Meme is a documentary that delves into the lives of social media influencers and explores the dark side of attaining celebrity status. It examines the lengths people go to attract attention and become famous, touching on themes of shallowness, objectification, and the pursuit of fame. The film also highlights the challenges and consequences that come with sudden fame and the soul-selling nature of the industry.

After an unlikely casting onto a reality television show, 47-year old suburban telemarketer Ed Popil leaves his job to pursue a full-time entertainment industry career as his drag queen alter ego, 1960’s era housewife Mrs. Kasha Davis.

Small town girl Marcy comes to LA with stars in her eyes, thinking she can make it big on Search for a Star. Instead, with little money and no friends, she finds herself sleeping in her car. Things dramatically change when she meets Rose, living in a cardboard box, and Mort, a wheelchair-bound Gulf War veteran. After first fighting over territory, these three lost souls bond in friendship, protecting and supporting each other in a story that is at once profoundly funny, heart-warming and poignant.

A young go-go dancer dreams of stardom and moves to Los Angeles, where she gets involved with gangsters and dangerous situations. She must navigate through love, betrayal, and the pursuit of her dreams while trying to stay alive.

Hollywood After Dark is a 1961 drama film that explores the dark side of Hollywood and the pursuit of fame. The story revolves around a young, aspiring actress who moves to Los Angeles in hopes of achieving stardom. However, she soon discovers the seedy underbelly of the industry as she encounters exploitation, casting couch culture, and the broken dreams of those around her. The film delves into the lust for fame and the sacrifices people are willing to make to achieve it.

Bread is a socially engaged drama which follows the fate of a woman struggling to pull herself out of poverty as she’s ruthlessly exploited by a string of men.

A humble Milanese window-cleaner with dreams of magazine and TV fame accuses himself of the murder of a soprano from La Scala.

A naive young woman arrives in Hollywood to become a star, but after she gets drugged and raped during a shoot, she hardens quickly and catches the eye of a popular womanizing comedian who introduces her to his shady powerful agent.

Behind the scenes of Hollywood's low-budget movie industry. It is a powerful portrait of the fragility of fame and the cost of stardom. B-pictures have long been the spawning ground of today's and tomorrow's stars. They started the careers of Jack Nicholson and Sylvester Stallone among many others, as well as now super star directors Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Howard and James Cameron. The film examines the evolution of starry-eyed newcomers arriving in Hollywood and discovering the harsh reality of getting into pictures.

A young woman moves to Hollywood to find fame and fails badly.

Ever since he was a kid, Johnny Castle had a dream: to become a movie star. Driven by his obsession, Johnny moved to Los Angeles, and the corner of Hollywood and Vine Boulevards became his natural stage on which to promote himself. Johnny is absolutely convinced that some day a producer or a director will sign him for their next movie. Even though Johnny has this optimistic way of looking at life, in the three years since his move to Los Angeles he has only been able to get a small part in a science fiction B-movie. Very soon the movie will debut in the theaters, and Johnny wants to show the result of his work to his father, who lives in Chicago. He obtains a preview DVD copy of the movie from the director so that he'll be able to present it to his dad as a wonderful birthday surprise.

A beauty queen called Sheila Anderson wins a part in a Hollywood motion picture. The film turns out to be a cheap nudie film, she is then shunned by the theatrical community and ends up working as a nude model. Soon she is old news and struggles to get work, resulting in abject poverty.

A comic moonlights as a serial killer.