Book picks similar to
Simple Men and Trust Pa by Hal Hartley
cinema
film
collections
screenwrite
The Graduate
Terry Johnson - 2000
It premiered in April 2000 at the Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, starring Kathleen Turner as Mrs RobinsonCalifornia in the 60s. Benjamin's got excellent grades, very proud parents and, since he helped Mrs Robinson with her zipper, a fine future behind him… A cult novel, a classic film, a quintessential hit of the 60s, now Benjamin's disastrous sexual odyssey is brought vividly to life in this world stage premiere production."Terry Johnson is that rare creature: a moralist with wit. He writes with responsible gaiety" (Guardian)
The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film
Tricia Cooke - 1998
In addition to Jeff Bridges, whose portrayal of The Dude has become iconic, and John Goodman, his bowling buddy, the film stars Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Willem Dafoe, Sam Elliot, and Ben Gazzara. Not given to talking publicly about their work, the Coens gave access to Tricia Cooke and William Preston Robertson to interview the cast and crew. In a prose style that complements the Coens filmic one, the book discusses the Coens oeuvre, the themes of their films, their atypical brand of humor, their craft, and their artistic vision. Several scenes of The Big Lebowski are examined closely to see how the movie goes from idea to reality, making this an ideal book for fans, filmmakers, and filmmaking students."
Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: An Actor's Diary
Bob Balaban - 1978
Since all journalists and writers were barred from the shooting of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, actor Bob Balaban's diary is a rare on-the-spot account of the making of Steven Spielberg's classic sci-fi film.
A Life Less Ordinary
John Hodge - 1997
She's the spoiled, sharp-tongued boss's daughter, always looking for a creative way to spice up her boring life. Normally, these two would never meet, but a higher power has different plans for both of them. The major motion picture from 20th Century Fox starring Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz and Holly Hunter hits the box office in October.
Trier on Von Trier
Stig Björkman - 2000
His own brilliant directing career has been marked by similarly grand ambitions, and he is unique in having premiered all of his features - from the highly styled The Element of Crime to the digital-video-originated The Idiots - at the Cannes Film Festival. Trier is a rare item in contemporary cinema, a restless innovator and polemicist, as his participation in the back-to-basics Dogme95 movement attests; and these conversations with Stig Bjorkman, author of Bergman on Bergman and Woody Allen on Woody Allen, trace the evolution of his career and thought in a manner that is both astonishingly detailed and engagingly humorous.
Isn't it Romantic
Wendy Wasserstein - 1998
Both are struggling to escape from lingering parental domination and to establish their own lives and identities. In Janie's case this leads to an inconclusive involvement with a young Jewish doctor who calls her "Monkey"; while Harriet assails the world of big business and has an affair with her hard-driving (and married) boss. Told in a fast-moving series of inventive, alternately hilarious and touchingly revealing scenes, the play explores their parallel stories with uncommon wit and wisdom-resulting, ultimately, in a heightened awareness which, while not providing all the answers, goes a long way toward achieving the maturity and self-assuredness that both protagonists so desperately desire.
Dry Land
Ruby Rae Spiegel - 2015
Amy is curled up on the locker room floor. DRY LAND is a play about abortion, female friendship, and resiliency, and what happens in one high school locker room after everybody’s left.
Humble Boy
Charlotte Jones - 2001
Thirty-five-year-old Felix Humble is a Cambridge astro-physicist in search of a unified field theory. Following the sudden death of his father, Felix returns to his middle England home and his difficult and demanding mother, where he soon realises that his search for unity must include his own chaotic home life.Humble Boy premiered at the Royal National Theatre, London, in August 2001, and transferred to the Gielgud Theatre, London, in 2002. The play was the winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Award 2001, the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award 2002, and the People's Choice Best New Play Award 2002.
Sean Penn: His Life and Times
Richard T. Kelly - 2004
Throughout his remarkable career in the dramatic arts, as well as his occasionally explosive personal life, Sean Penn has proved he rarely plays by the rules. A tumultuous marriage to Madonna, stints in jail, and other forms of hell-raising marked Penn's younger years, along with some stunning performances on film. Later, Penn emerged as a brilliant director, devoted father, contentious political activist…and reluctant actor, capable nevertheless of breathtaking performances (Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown, Mystic River, and 21 Grams). Illustrated with over seventy-five black and white photographs and drawing on exclusive interviews with Penn and his family, friends and colleagues (Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Woody Allen, Susan Sarandon, Bono, Christopher Walken, Angelica Huston, and many more), Kelly creates an engaging, richly detailed and multi-faceted portrait of an uncompromising American artist in this exclusive and engrossing authorized biography.
Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How "The Graduate" Became the Touchstone of a Generation
Beverly Gray - 2017
. . The book as a whole offers a fascinating look at how this movie tells a timeless story.” —The Washington PostMrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you? When The Graduate premiered in December 1967, its filmmakers had only modest expectations for what seemed to be a small, sexy art-house comedy adapted from an obscure first novel by an eccentric twenty-four-year-old. There was little indication that this offbeat story—a young man just out of college has an affair with one of his parents’ friends and then runs off with her daughter—would turn out to be a monster hit, with an extended run in theaters and seven Academy Award nominations. The film catapulted an unknown actor, Dustin Hoffman, to stardom with a role that is now permanently engraved in our collective memory. While turning the word plastics into shorthand for soulless work and a corporate, consumer culture, The Graduate sparked a national debate about what was starting to be called “the generation gap.” Now, in time for this iconic film’s fiftieth birthday, author Beverly Gray offers up a smart close reading of the film itself as well as vivid, never-before-revealed details from behind the scenes of the production—including all the drama and decision-making of the cast and crew. For movie buffs and pop culture fanatics, Seduced by Mrs. Robinson brings to light The Graduate’s huge influence on the future of filmmaking. And it explores how this unconventional movie rocked the late-sixties world, both reflecting and changing the era’s views of sex, work, and marriage.
Making Movies
Sidney Lumet - 1995
Drawing on 40 years of experience on movies ranging from Long Day's Journey Into Night to The Verdict, Lumet explains the painstaking labor that results in two hours of screen magic.
Brooklyn Boy
Donald Margulies - 2005
He explores the queasy relationships between life and art, love and estrangement, and the bane that is American identity drift, with unsparing but compassionate candor.” –Misha Berson, Seattle Times“Margulies’s remarkable gift of building characterization through realistic dialogue is undiminished. Full of aching ruefulness that underlies the comedy, Brooklyn Boy’s scenes are written with precision and humor. The play isn’t about Brooklyn, nor is it about a boy—it’s about a man without a home.” –Don Shirley, Los Angeles TimesThis new play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Dinner with Friends follows the career of Eric Weiss, a writer whose novel hits the bestseller list the same time his life begins to unravel. His wife is out the door, his father is in the hospital, and his childhood friend thinks he has sold himself to the devil. A funny and emotionally rich look at family, friends and fame.Donald Margulies received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Dinner with Friends. The play received numerous awards, including the American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, the Dramatists Guild/Hull-Warriner Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama Desk nomination, and has been produced all over the United States and around the world. In addition to his adaptation of God of Vengeance, his many plays include Collected Stories, The Country House, Sight Unseen, The Model Apartment, The Loman Family Picnic, What’s Wrong with This Picture? and Time Stands Still. Mr. Margulies currently lives with his wife and their son in New Haven, Connecticut, where he teaches playwriting at Yale University.
The Book of Alien
Paul Scanlon - 1979
Alien.This exciting book takes you right behind the scenes of Alien and talks to the key people involved, including H. R Giger and director Ridley Scott. It shows every creative stage, through designs and sketches, models and costumes, that went into such a unique vision of the future, and graphically demonstrates why the movie won an Oscar for its visual effects.
Fish in the Dark: A Play
Larry David - 2015
This sidesplitting play, a testimony to David’s great writing talent, is also his first time on Broadway—in fact, his first time acting on stage since eighth grade. In Fish in the Dark Larry David stars as Norman Drexel, a man in his fifties who is average in most respects except for his hyperactive libido. As Norman and his family try to navigate the death of a loved one, old acquaintances and unsettled arguments resurface with hilarious consequences.Fish in the Dark has its world premiere at the Cort Theatre on Broadway on March 5, 2015, starring Larry David.