Which lie did I tell: more adventures in the screen trade/ William Goldman
New York: Vintage, :c 2001 Description: 485 pages; 21cmContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volume001: 43518ISBN: 9780375703195Subject(s): screenwriting | Hollywood | Movies | Film historyDDC classification: 791.437 GOLItem type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
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Book | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 791.437 GOL (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 113239 |
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791.437 GAF On screenwriting / | 791.437 GAF On screenwriting / | 791.437 GAF On screenwriting / | 791.437 GOL Which lie did I tell: more adventures in the screen trade/ | 791.437 GOL Adventures in the screen trade. | 791.437 GRO Raindance writer's lab : write and sell the hot screenplay / | 791.437 GUL Screenwriting : the sequence approach / |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From the Oscar-winning screenwriter of All the President's Men , The Princess Bride , and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , here is essential reading for both the aspiring screenwriter and anyone who loves going to the movies.
If you want to know why a no-name like Kathy Bates was cast in Misery, it's in here. Or why Linda Hunt's brilliant work in Maverick didn't make the final cut, William Goldman gives you the straight truth. Why Clint Eastwood loves working with Gene Hackman and how MTV has changed movies for the worse,William Goldman, one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood today, tells all he knows. Devastatingly eye-opening and endlessly entertaining, Which Lie Did I Tell? is indispensable reading for anyone even slightly intrigued by the process of how a movie gets made.
includes index
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Introduction (p. ix)
- I. More Adventures (p. 1)
- The Leper [1980-85] (p. 3)
- Memoirs of an Invisible Man [1986] (p. 10)
- The Princess Bride [1987] (p. 22)
- Misery [1990] (p. 37)
- The Year of the Comet (Alas) [1992] (p. 50)
- Maverick [1994] (p. 59)
- The Ghost and the Darkness [1996] (p. 72)
- Absolute Power [1997] (p. 97)
- II. Heffalumps!!! (p. 129)
- There's Something About Mary (p. 139)
- When Harry Met Sally (p. 153)
- North by Northwest (p. 164)
- The Seventh Seal (p. 186)
- Chinatown and Fargo (p. 211)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (p. 238)
- III. Stories (p. 277)
- Story 1 The Old Guy (p. 282)
- Story 2 The Good Guy (p. 296)
- Story 3 The Mastermind (p. 310)
- Story 4 The Dolphin (p. 319)
- IV. The Big A (p. 335)
- Index (p. 463)
- Permissions Acknowledgments (p. 487)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
A famed screenwriter (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) and novelist (Boys and Girls Together), Goldman follows up Adventures in the Screen Trade (LJ 5/15/83) by ruminating on his own more recent efforts (The Princess Bride, Misery, Maverick, The Ghost and the Darkness, and Absolute Power) as well as past and present cinema. He discusses screenwriting perils, explains how successful movies like Charade and The Sound of Music wreaked havoc by siring copycat films, describes how Andre the Giant always paid for lunch, complains that MTV's impact on quick-cutting has helped make 1990s films awful, reveals that only Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery are tall, investigates how great comedy scenes worked in When Harry Met Sally and There's Something About Mary, debunks auteurs, and divulges why no big star would play Superman in 1978. How can you not admire a writer who consistently pictures Cary Grant and Jean Simmons as his protagonists and argues that Gunga Din is the best movie ever made? An engaging expos that is not mean-spirited; recommended for public and academic libraries and film collections.--Kim R. Holston, American Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
Two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter Goldman follows up his irreverent, gossipy and indispensable screenwriting bible, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), with this equally wise, tart and very funny account of the filmmaking process. He begins with the surprising admission that he was a "leper" in Hollywood between 1980 and 1985: after Magic (1978), he was unable to get any screenplays produced until The Princess Bride (1987). (Moviegoers' loss was readers' gain: during those years he wrote six novels.) Wildly opinionated ("Vertigo--for me, the most overrated movie of all time") but astute, Goldman is a 35-year industry veteran with lots of tales and a knack for spinning them. He knows how to captivate his audience, peppering his philosophical advice with star-studded anecdotes. Whether he's detailing why virtually every leading actor turned down the lead in Misery before James Caan offered to be drug-tested to get the part, or how Michael Douglas was the perfect producer but the wrong actor for The Ghost and the Darkness, Goldman offers keen observations in a chatty style. In the last section of the book, he gamely offers readers a rough first draft of an original screenplay. Even more bravely, he includes instructive, intuitive and sometimes scathing critiques by fellow screenwriters, including Peter and Bobby Farrelly (There's Something About Mary), Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) and John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck). Movie buffs of all stripes, even those with no interest in writing for the screen, will enjoy this sublimely entertaining adventure. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reservedSchool Library Journal Review
YA-In this sequel to Adventures in the Screen Trade (Warner, 1989), Goldman instructs his audience in the art and industry of screenwriting and filmmaking, while regaling them with stories from his career. From The Memoirs of an Invisible Man to Absolute Power, this master storyteller explains his role and his thought processes for each film, at the same time delivering an exposition on how stories are written and films are made. Sprinkled throughout is his advice for future screenwriters. In the second section, he analyzes classic film sequences, setting each scene, quoting excerpts from the screenplays, and then explaining what made them great. Finally, the author offers story ideas and examines their potential for the big screen. Students of films will find this book entertaining and informative.-Jane S. Drabkin, Potomac Community Library, Woodbridge, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Kirkus Book Review
Another entertaining hybrid of memoir and screenwriting advice from the two-time Academy Award'winning writer of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This sequel to Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983) picks up where the original left off, detailing his Hollywood experiences since the early 1980s and offering new insights into the screenwriter's art. The autobiographical first section (``More Adventures'') begins with his ``leper'' period (1980'85), when the ``phone stopped ringing'' and no studio would hire him, and goes on to describe his work on seven subsequent films, including both turkeys and hits, from Memoirs of an Invisible Man to The Princess Bride to Absolute Power. In the sections that follow, he turns screenwriting coach, analyzing favorite scenes from such films as Fargo and There's Something About Mary; weighing the merits of various unused story ideas (culled from newspapers, history, and his imagination); and offering an unfinished comedy-adventure script called The Big A, with ruthless critiques by several colleagues. Goldman derides cinematic sequels as ``whores' movies'' that never compare well to the original, and there is some reason to apply the same principle to this book. It doesn't offer the systematic guide to Hollywood madness that the original did, nor does it have new industry aphorisms on the level of the original's ``Nobody knows anything.'' The writing is flabbier, more prone to profanity and hyperbole. But the updating is valuable, and Goldman remains a virtuoso storyteller, expertly spinning yarns about movies that should never have been made, innocently egotistical stars, careers on the line (including his), and scripts miraculously salvaged. There are anecdotes about his early life, gossipy tidbits about celebrities (did you know Sylvester Stallone is only five-foot-seven?), and plenty of good advice for the would-be scenarist. A fun, instructive look into a veteran screenwriter's workshop.There are no comments on this title.