Eddie Mannix of Hail, Caesar! was a real, ruthless guy

The new Coen Brothers movie Hail, Caesar! stars George Clooney as a hapless actor, and Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix — the bullish head of production at the fictional Capitol Pictures.

The movie may be fiction, but there was a real life Eddie Mannix.

Film historian Karina Longworth, host of the podcast You Must Remember This, joins Shad to tell the true story of the star wrangler who inspired the character. Mannix, who started working for MGM in 1924, was known for cleaning up scandals and keeping stars out of the gossip columns — but he was also the subject of several dark rumours. 

"You'd never see a studio guy today doing the kinds of things Mannix did," says Longworth.

WEB EXTRA | The fictional Eddie Mannix threatens a chatty Hollywood celebrity in a scene from Hail, Caesar! 

Plus, here's Longworth's full episode on the New Jersey-born Hollywood fixer.