Barry Diller had a very successful run as president of Paramount. His great biographical book, “Who Knew” describes his professional and private life, detailing what went behind many successes and a few disasters. Get the book if you can. It’s…
Pictures at a Revolution: A Brilliant Exploration of a Key Year in American Movies through 5 Oscar-Nominated Films
This great work is 5 Making Of books into one. In Pictures at a Revolution, Mark Harris offers a thorough exploration of a significant transformative period in American cinema through five influential films released in 1967: Bonnie and Clyde, Doctor…
Take it from the Great Film Director Sidney Lumet
I need one hit so I can get the money for three more flops. —SIDNEY LUMET, 1973 Sidney Lumet‘s name is not usually found in “top directors ever” lists, but he was very, very talented (and very, very productive). He…
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Cinema Speculation: Tarantino Explores the Films that Made him as a Young Man
All good books are about something. But in most good books, the theme is not evident at first sight. There’s the obvious “something”, the story that shows, and then there’s the not-so-obvious “something”, the one that is really the soul…
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Writing American TV fiction: An ironic look at the process
During the 2023 screenwriters’ strike, The Hollywood Reporter is publishing an account of the situation through the eyes of an anonymous film writer. It’s a delightful and very ironic take. In one of the pieces, the writer describes, with a…
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Barry Sonnenfeld: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker
There are not many filmmakers’ biographies as entertaining and engaging (and sometimes crude) as Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker. Before becoming a director of successful films like the Men in Black series and The Addams…
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BREAKING BAD’s Bryan Cranston on the Casting Process
Before Bryan Cranston became a star, he was already an established actor, thanks to his work mainly in Malcolm in the Middle and Seinfeld. One day he got a call from some Vince Gilligan. Gilligan was a writer he had…
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Spielberg further discusses JAWS
Steven Spielberg conceded a few years ago a very interesting interview in which he explained a lot about his career, in special about the making of Jaws. In this chat, he gives specifics about how they filmed the death of…
David Lynch: Thoughts from a Unique Filmmaker
The book Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age: At the American Film Institute, by George Stevens Jr., was so successful that a sequel about (mostly) younger filmmakers was made, Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers:…
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Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age: Pearls from Walsh, Vidor, Capra, and Hitchcock
Second post about the wonderful book Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age: At the American Film Institute, by George Stevens Jr., which summarises a series of encounters at the AFI with legendary filmmakers. Martin Scorsese described the…
Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age: Harold Lloyd.
Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age: At the American Film Institute is a unique book by George Stevens Jr., son of celebrated film director George Stevens. The volume summarises a series of encounters at the AFI with…
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The Big Goodbye: CHINATOWN and the Last Years of Hollywood
From the end of the 60s until the mid-70s: a fascinating period in American movies. The wonderful book The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood is in a way the story of this period. Mainly centered on…
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