Plot: 1951 Hollywood. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the head of property protection at Capitol Pictures. In other words, he shields the studio's stars from any scandal and ensures that their public persona is what the studio wants. This job takes him to his Catholic church confessional more often than the church would probably like. At the urging of his wife, he is trying to quit smoking, it not an easy day for him to do so, as the day is going worse than usual, and "usual" is bad to begin with. DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), the studio's wholesome and single screen "mermaid", is pregnant, and will soon be showing. Who DeeAnna thinks the father is, does not help matters, which means no marriage on the horizon to legitimize the pregnancy. Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes), the director of urbane drawing room comedies, is balking to Eddie about the casting of Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), the studio's singing cowboy, in a role as a sophisticate in his latest movie, especially as Hobie truly was only a good ol' southern cowboy before getting into movies. But what may be worst of all for Eddie this day, is that Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), arguably the studio's biggest star and notorious womanizer and boozer, has gone missing during the filming of his latest movie, a gladiator biblical epic. Eddie learns that he has been kidnapped by voices of the "future" who have requested a one hundred thousand dollar ransom. Eddie has to get Baird back while holding off the snooping of twin gossip columnists Thora Thacker (Tilda Swinton) and Thessaly Thacker (Tilda Swinton), the former who plans to dredge up a quashed past scandal about Baird if she can't dig up new gossip. What Eddie is unaware of is that easily swayed Baird is in no real danger from his kidnappers, except in the eyes of people like Senator Joseph McCarthy. What may be the studio's only problem-free production is the latest sailors on leave musical starring song-and-dance man, Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum)... or is it problem-free? Eddie could escape this life if he decides to accept the lucrative management job offer by the Lockheed Corporation, which could be the secure future of America through their secret atomic bomb testing.
Alternative Plot: In the early 1950s, Eddie Mannix is busy at work trying to solve all the problems of the actors and filmmakers at Capitol Pictures. His latest assignments involve a disgruntled director, a singing cowboy, a beautiful swimmer and a handsome dancer. As if all this wasn't enough, Mannix faces his biggest challenge when Baird Whitlock gets kidnapped while in costume for the swords-and-sandals epic "Hail, Caesar!" If the studio doesn't pay $100,000, it's the end of the line for the movie star.
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