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Michael Douglas: A Biography (2012)

by Marc Eliot(Favorite Author)

3.17 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0307952363 (ISBN13: 9780307952363)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Crown Archetype

review 1: I was expecting something else...it felt like I was reading someone's resume,CV or an encyclopedia. A lot of unnecessary details about how a movie got made and why it did or did not do well (maybe helpful if you are planning a career in film). I skipped the last section that listed work history, awards etc.... Maybe this book was meant to be a reference for future generations because the majority of people today already know that he is a talented artist and so the book seems unnecessary to anyone already familiar with who he is.
review 2: I found this to be a fascinating look at Hollywood, a sort of wheels-within-wheels story about how movies really get made and the role of power-brokers. For example, when he finally got the rights to One Flew Over The Cuckoo... more's Nest, everyone turned Douglas down (some turned him down twice). He finally co-produced this film with Saul Zaentz, who was the controlling partner at Fantasy Records, in 1967 the largest independent jazz label in the world. Fantasy then signed Creedence Clearwater Revival to an exclusive contract, his profits became astronomical, with the result that Zaentz was actively looking for movie projects to provide tax shelters. So Zaentz and Douglas co-produced a movie that everyone in Hollywood had already rejected (Zaentz put up $2 million in production costs), and Cuckoo's Nest went on to sweep the Oscars in 1975, the first time this had been done since 1934. less

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