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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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