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79th out of 100 books
—
5 voters
What Just Happened?
by
Art Linson
Art Linson's riotous journey through the making of five major motion pictures.
Whether he's trying to persuade an executive that Gwyneth Paltrow has enough chin to carry the lead in a movie, forcing an enraged Alec Baldwin to shave off his mountain-man beard, or sitting through an excruciating reading of a David Mamet script as Bob de Niro toys with the notion of heading u...more
Whether he's trying to persuade an executive that Gwyneth Paltrow has enough chin to carry the lead in a movie, forcing an enraged Alec Baldwin to shave off his mountain-man beard, or sitting through an excruciating reading of a David Mamet script as Bob de Niro toys with the notion of heading u...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
May 5th 2003
by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
(first published 2002)
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I didn't finish this book. I was just so furious with it. The writing isn't just bad and annoying, it's absolutely appalling. I'ts like an old guy using his grandchildren's slang, a wine snob describing a vintage, a rap artist that's-what-I'm fuckin'-sayin' at the end of every phrase, know what I mean, like. Just shut up, stop trying to sound cool and tell the story.
I have no idea if the book is any good or not and I really couldn't care less. If a book can't hook me in fifty pages it's failed i...more
I have no idea if the book is any good or not and I really couldn't care less. If a book can't hook me in fifty pages it's failed i...more
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The best Hollywood biography since Julia Phillips gave us You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again
Art Linson has written a smart, funny, honest and brutal portrait of his life within the Hollywood production line. As he admits in the foreword this didn't make him Mr Popular amongst his peers.
If you've read the Julia Phillips book or any other 'tell all' tale from Hollywood you won't be surprised at the behaviour contained within this volume BUT Linson still has the ability to shock with his ca...more
Art Linson has written a smart, funny, honest and brutal portrait of his life within the Hollywood production line. As he admits in the foreword this didn't make him Mr Popular amongst his peers.
If you've read the Julia Phillips book or any other 'tell all' tale from Hollywood you won't be surprised at the behaviour contained within this volume BUT Linson still has the ability to shock with his ca...more
Meh. Interesting little insider stories of Hollywood, but somehow did not hold my interest. I'm glad half the book was the screenplay, I finished that much sooner than I expected. Mostly, I just didn't like how Linson framed his stories in conversation with his "retired" exec acquaintance. Yawn.
This was a pretty good account of the inner-workings and and all-out bullshit that goes into making a big-budget hollywood movie in our current studio system. It is told from the first-person berspective of Art Linson the author. It deals with his time at Fox for five years producing such films as "The Edge" and "Fight Club". Interesting book. A very quick read. Because it is rather on the short side, they've included the screenplay for the book, which I want to see. The film stars Robert DeNiro...more
Art Linson produced such movies as Heat, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Fight Club, and The Untouchables. The subtitle of this book is not sarcastic or funny; like many in Hollywood, he is truly bitter about the egos and work involved in getting movies made. The chapters about his experience working on specific movies were fascinating and informative, especially for someone trying to understand the movie business. But the chapters in which he wrote dialogue between himself and "Jerry" were painfu...more
In this book, Hollywood producer Art Linson recounts some of his successes and failures as a producer and how his projects came together. It's one data point on how Hollywood movies get made, and the book gives one producer's perspective on what makes a project successful. I especially enjoyed Linson's perspective on producing Fight Club, and his thoughts on working with Fox's marketing department.
Feb 17, 2010
Sarah
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who were really into that Alec Baldwin bear movie
Shelves:
read-in-2010
In the clusterfuck of Hollywood Linson describes, I can't believe any movie gets made, ever. The framing device of conversations was annoying and not effective. But if you really want the inside scoop on The Edge or Great Expectations, you're in luck.
In this slim but highly readable volume, producer Art Linson, who has been behind such notable titles as "Melvin and Howard", "The Untouchables' and the regrettably neglected "American Hot Wax", recounts his brief tenure with 20th Century Fox, where he made 5 films, all of them considered failures. (The films were "The Edge", "Great Expectations", "Pushing Tin", "Fight Club" - which actually turned out to be profitable - and the more or less unreleased "Sunset Strip"). In the book, Linson comes...more
BITTER HOLLYWOOD TALES FROM THE FRONT LINE
Molto divertente, incredibilmente vero.
A tratti sembra di essere in pieno Catch 22.
Il nome di Linson è Art: forse se si chiamava Money avrebbe scritto un libro diverso.
Molto divertente, incredibilmente vero.
A tratti sembra di essere in pieno Catch 22.
Il nome di Linson è Art: forse se si chiamava Money avrebbe scritto un libro diverso.
Behind the scenes look at hollywood and production of movies like you have never seen before. Mr. Linston tells stories so masterfully, one imagines sitting in the malibu restaurant and talking to hollywood regulars with him.
Feb 08, 2012
Mark Moran
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
aspiring producers, anyone interested in Hollywood gossip
Shelves:
non-fiction,
hollywood
Art Linson's humorous follow-up to A Pound of Flesh, this book has a new decade's worth of anecdotes and stories from the Hollywood trenches.
Sounded interesting (inside look into the life of a producer), but I couldn't get through it.
More anecdotes and gossip that illustrate why so many movies are so bad today.
Wry vignettes from the tinsel town trenches
good, but left me wanting to read more.
A brief, inside look at the inner workings of 20th Century Fox at the end of the 20th Century through the eyes of a producer who worked for them and who put out 5 films that were largely deemed unsuccessful: The Edge, Great Expectations, Fight Club, Pushing Tin and Sunset Strip (a movie that was overshadowed by the similar Almost Famous). I really liked it and if you're interested in what goes on in the world of movie producing, you'll enjoy it.
Discovered this gem while looking up the IMDB page for The Edge, one of my favorite movies. An entertaining but profanity-laden view of the movie business; there's some People Magazine-ish insights of the stars, but the author insists they are given in the context of conveying the authentic movie-producer experience. It does make it more interesting than a pseudonym-laden tome would have been... but makes it a guilty pleasure, too.
Proof that more often than not, film producers, executives, and marketers have no idea what they're doing. And they have the power to write multi-million dollar checks.
if you like reading about the ins and outs of the life of a modern day movie producer than this book is for you. Its funny and reads very quickly
I just saw the movie version of this book. I thought De Niro was great but the movie was not. I hope the book is better...
Quick read of true stories from a film producer in Hollywood. Gives insight to the craziness that goes into making a film.
Oh wow, so Hollywood is superficial and stupid????? I never knew!
Hilarious, razor-sharp, and insider-savvy.
Great Hollywood story!!!
Apr 29, 2013
Heba
marked it as to-read
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