The Cinema of Tom DiCillo: Include Me Out

by Wayne Byrne, Steve Buscemi (Foreword)

This volume considers for the first time in a single collection this acclaimed, award-winning director's entire oeuvre, addressing and analyzing themes such as identity, family, and masculinity, supported by in-depth coverage of the generic and aesthetic aspects of DiCillo's distinctive and influential film style. Through detailed chapters on each of DiCillo's feature films, presented here is a candid look behind-the-scenes of both the American independent film industry - from the No Wave movement of the 1980s, through the Indie boom of the 1990s, to the contemporary milieu - and the Hollywood studio system. This study documents the writing, production, and release of every DiCillo picture, each followed by an extensive Q&A with the director. Also featured are exclusive interviews and commentary with many cast members and collaborators, and members of legendary rock group, The Doors. Films covered include Johnny Suede , Living In Oblivion , Box of Moonlight , The Real Blonde , Double Whammy , Delirious , When You're Strange , and Down in Shadowland .

208 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2017

About the author

Wayne Byrne is an author, film historian, and educator. He is published by Bloomsbury, Columbia University Press, Wallflower Press, McFarland, and Equinox. He has written on Cinema, Music, Food, and Culture for major publications including Hot Press Magazine, The Irish Times, Film Ireland, The Dark Side, Click, Books Ireland, and has appeared on national radio discussing his work. He has lectured on Film History in various schools and colleges.

Testimonials...

"Working with Wayne Byrne was an incredible experience. Seldom have I met a person so dedicated to the arts of film and music. I discovered how good Wayne is when I read his Burt Reynolds book. Burt was a good friend and colleague of mine for forty years and yet Wayne knew more about Burt and his career than I did. Wayne is dedicated to the research on his subjects and he makes it a pleasurable experience for his subjects and co-writers. His books are so easy to read because he sees his work as accessible to everybody. I’m blessed to have met him and even more blessed that he was the co-author of my book." - Nick McLean (The Goonies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Sharky's Machine, Friends)

"I have worked in the film and television business for over fifty years. I have made movies with the greatest directors, writers, and stars, but in that time I have never met anyone with as much of a keen understanding of Cinema as Wayne Byrne. He might be writing about my fellow artists and their work, but Wayne is a master storyteller in his own right. He sees beyond the image and into the lives on screen, into the themes beneath the surface, and into the heart of the artists. He has taught me things about people I’ve known my whole life. After only several conversations I felt like I knew Wayne forever, because he makes you feel like that, and he makes you feel that the work you have accomplished is important and worth writing about. His books on Tom DiCillo, Burt Reynolds, and Nick McLean are masterpieces of the form. I recommend them and him to everybody." – Michael D. O’Shea, Cinematographer/Camera Operator (M*A*S*H., The Lost Boys, Extreme Prejudice, The ‘Burbs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights)

Reviews

[Christine Bode · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I admit that I can’t review The Cinema of Tom DiCillo: Include Me Out by Wayne Byrne without bias, but I can say that my bias is formed by a deep appreciation of Tom DiCillo’s films and Tom DiCillo, the man. I was fortunate to receive a review copy of the book from Columbia University Press’ Wallflower division and am pleased to give you my honest opinion about it.

I believe that the first of DiCillo’s films that I ever saw was Living in Oblivion, when I rented it on DVD soon after it was released - likely in 1996. As a life-long film fan, Living in Oblivion, a humourous, heartfelt film about the making of an independent film, was an absolute treasure to discover and has since become DiCillo’s seminal masterpiece. It wasn’t long after that when I also rented and enjoyed watching Johnny Suede, the now cult film with a cool surf music score that helped to launch Brad Pitt and Catherine Keener’s careers. Because I’ve always enjoyed Keener’s work and because she was in four of DiCillo’s films, I kept watching them and had seen at least four of them before I got to know a lot more about the filmmaker.

Then, in a strange, albeit serendipitous twist of fate, I became friends with Tom DiCillo when I discovered his blog as he was writing about the process of releasing and trying to find a distributor for When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors (which won a Grammy in 2011), over seven years ago. The Doors are on my Top 5 Favourite Bands of All Time list and as such they formed the basis for our original conversation. However, we have continued to stay in touch ever since, because Tom is a very accessible, generous man with a kind heart and genuine appreciation for his fans. Not only am I a fan of his body of work, but I admire and respect him as an artist and a human being. I’m equally enamored with Tom’s music project, The Black and Blue Orkestre, because I love his singing voice and the combination of Spaghetti Western, Surf and Cinematic Gothic Rockabilly grooves that form the music.

But back to the book. This volume by Irish author and Film Studies lecturer / education consultant Wayne Byrne is an extremely well-written, intelligent, enthralling addition to the Directors' Cuts series published by Wallflower Press and a must-read for any cineaste or film student. It took Byrne five years to complete, but during that time he interviewed not only Tom DiCillo, at length, but also many of the actors in his films, including Steve Buscemi who wrote the foreword.

“In short, this wonderful book details the ultimate triumphant journey of one of independent cinema’s smartest, funniest, and fiercest warriors.” ~ Steve Buscemi

Byrne’s book is an interesting in-depth look at all of DiCillo's eight independent films (seven of which premiered at Sundance) the agony and the ecstasy of birthing them, as well as an honest, insider's view into the independent film industry and the machinations of the Hollywood system.
In his book, Byrne analyzes the themes of identity, family, and masculinity in DiCillo’s work and supports it with “in-depth coverage of the generic and aesthetic aspects of DiCillo’s distinctive and influential film style.” Through detailed chapters on each of his feature films, readers receive “…a candid look behind-the-scenes of both the American independent film industry – from the No Wave movement of the 1980s, through the Indie boom of the 1990s, to the contemporary milieu – and the Hollywood studio system.”

Byrne studied the writing, production, and release of each of DiCillo’s films and followed them with an extensive and intriguing Q&A with him, as well as exclusive interviews with many actors and collaborators including Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell, John Turturro, Chris Noth, Maxwell Caulfield, Matthew Modine, Gina Gershon, Kevin Corrigan, Alison Lohman and John Densmore and Robby Krieger of The Doors.

Johnny Suede (1991)
Living in Oblivion (1995)
Box of Moonlight (1996)
The Real Blonde (1997)
Double Whammy (2001)
Delirious (2006)
When You’re Strange (2009)
Down in Shadowland (2014)

I own all DiCillo's films and have watched them all again with new eyes after reading Byrne's book, getting something new from each of them even though I’ve seen six of them previously, at least a couple of times. Perhaps that is what allows DiCillo’s work to endure throughout the years. It is clever, often subversive and upon first viewing you may think, “Well, what was that all about? That was a bit bizarre…”, but upon further viewing, you really get a feel for the director’s unique style and voice, use of colour, choice of music (often created by composer Jim Farmer) as well as the themes that inspire him. It is DiCillo’s way of viewing and expressing humanity in his work with his distinct sense of humour and pathos that makes these films stand out in the crowd of slick, violent, comic-book infested, often soulless, unoriginal movies from Hollywood that we’re seeing today. Give me the work of Jim Jarmusch, Richard Linklater, The Coen Brothers, Michael Winterbottom, Tim Burton and Tom DiCillo any day. If you agree, read this book.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book about an incredibly underrated filmmaker. This man gave Brad Pitt his first starring role not to forget Sam Rockwell. To many his masterpiece is Living in Oblivion a film about film-making that I personally think is a s good if not better than Truffaut's Day for Night.

Anyone who truly loves American indie cinema should read this. Wayne Byrne's style and regard for his subject shine through providing great access to DeCillo's life story and methodology as a filmmaker. Filled with great anecdotes and insights, a genuine page turner that really gets under the skin of its subject.