Brian De Palma: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series) (Paperback)

~ Laurence F. Knapp (Editor) "RICHARD RUBINSTEIN: How did you get the idea for Sisters?..." (more)
Key Phrases: antiporn movement, visual stylist, steadicam shot, Brian De Palma, New York, The Untouchables (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Although he will probably forever be most closely associated with the horror movies Carrie and The Fury, which put him on Hollywood's map, DePalma started out as a Godard-wanna-be in Greetings and Hi Mom, low-budget, politically conscious films starring a young Robert DeNiro, and has since directed everything from by-the-numbers blockbusters (Mission: Impossible) to bloated gangster flicks (Scarface, The Untouchables). Despite his eclecticism, he remains tainted by his reputation for violent misogyny (he cast his then-wife, Nancy Allen, as a prostitute in three consecutive films), the blatant Hitchcock rip-offs that characterized his early work, and the notorious megaflop Bonfire of the Vanities, which derailed his career in the early '90s. These 19 interviews, drawn from major publications such as the New York Times and Esquire, specialty film publications, and even Web sites, don't shy away from the controversies surrounding DePalma's work. By turns evasive and confessional, the director voices his bitterness about Hollywood despite the fact that he has played the system cannily, making commercial blockbusters to get the green light for smaller, self-written efforts. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Brian De Palma (b. 1940) isn't your average Hollywood director.

For years he reigned as the "master of the macabre," the man who massacred the class of '76 in Carrie and stalked Angie Dickinson in Dressed to Kill. By the mid-1980s De Palma found himself assaulting his audience and critics, daring them to watch a chainsaw enter a man's skull in Scarface and a power drill disembowel a defenseless woman in Body Double.

What drove De Palma to such extremes? In the late 1960s, he wanted to be the next Jean-Luc Godard and revolutionize American cinema. Instead, he found himself ostracized when Warner Bros. removed him from Get to Know Your Rabbit, his first Hollywood feature. De Palma sought the refuge of Alfred Hitchcock until the late 1970s (Sisters, Obsession), when his surreal approach to horror became a genre unto itself (Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill). Ironically, just as De Palma achieved the success that his fellow Movie Brats George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg had enjoyed since the mid-1970s, he could not hide his resentment toward Hollywood. After battling with the MPAA in the 1980s, he gradually became part of the mainstream with the success of The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible, although he never suppressed his desire to make audiences aware of his camera-eye and his dark, penetrating worldview.

Brian De Palma: Interviews follows De Palma's fortunes as he makes the difficult transition from underground filmmaker to celebrity auteur. In profiles and q&a interviews, he emerges as a fascinating figure of excess and ambivalence. De Palma is not afraid to share his opinions about censorship, violence, feminism, American culture, and the fate of cinema in the twenty-first century.

Laurence F. Knapp, an instructor of film studies at Northwestern University, is the author of Directed by Clint Eastwood.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (January 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157806516X
• ISBN-13: 978-1578065165
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #883,935 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST for De Palma fans!, April 21, 2004

By	Captain (Pickering, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

There aren't too many books out there on De Palma, so when I saw this one I was very excited. I must say, I wasn't disappointed when I got it. Great interviews that are very informative, covering the majority of his films throughout his fascinating career. De Palma comes off as a very intelligent, humourous man, and his thoughts on films and directing are refreshingly frank and wise. A must-own companion to "The Devil's Candy" and "Double De Palma", this book should be on every film buff's nightstand. Except the ones who suck.