Inspiring true stories about once-common folk who made their career dreams reality.
Candid, captivating interviews reveal how various filmmakers seized success.
Aspiring director Jarecki, a recent NYU Film School grad, gained access to 20 artists who run the gamut from mainstream Amy Heckerling (“I’m the world’s biggest Mean Streets fan, but because I did Look Who’s Talking, I have this house and my daughters go to a good school”) to quirky Abel Ferrara, creator of the violent exploitation flick Ms.45. As Jarecki and his animated subjects reveal, among the few ways to become a director are writing a script, making low-budget independent films, and working for a production company. After enduring a torturous interview at a stock brokerage house, Ben Younger took a job as a waiter so he’d have time to write Boiler Room, a film about Wall Street. When Younger served lunch to a studio executive, he had a screenplay ready to sell. To raise $25,000 for the production of In the Company of Men, Neil LaBute contacted car-accident survivors who had won large insurance settlements. Peter Farrelly delights with his tale of jumping into the industry with a marvelous script but no experience. Misleading New Line studio executives into believing that he could direct Dumb and Dumber, Farrelly suffered a panic attack on the first day of shooting when the truth came out. Although Jarecki asks each person the same routine questions, he reaps surprising answers every time. Kim Pierce, director of Boys Don't Cry (1999), was denied a college scholarship because her uneducated parents refused to sign admission forms. Pierce’s intimate account of filming the story of “sexual misfit” Teena Brandon reveals how some directors are driven to express their own personalities through their characters. We also gain insights into the talents of John Carpenter (Halloween, 1978), Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, 1998), John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, 1969), and many others.
Inspiring true stories about once-common folk who made their career dreams reality.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7679-0674-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Broadway
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2001
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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