Cold Mountain: The Journey from Book to Film (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook Series) [Hardcover]

Charles Frazier (Author), Anthony Minghella (Author), Phil Bray (Author), Demmie Todd (Author), Daniel Auiler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook | Publication Date: November 20, 2003

In the tradition of the Newmarket Moviebooks on Chicago, Frida and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—the fascinating, full-color companion of the new film from the director of The English Patient and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Coming from Miramax Films in December 2003, Cold Mountain stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Directed by Academy Award®-winner Anthony Minghella who also wrote the screenplay, Cold Mountain is based on Charles Frazier's best-selling Civil War novel of the same name and tells the story of Inman (Law), a wounded confederate soldier who is on a perilous journey home to his mountain community, hoping to reunite with his pre-war sweetheart, Ada (Kidman). In his absence, Ada struggles to survive, and revive her father's farm with the help of intrepid young drifter Ruby (Zellweger).

The Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook is annotated with illustrations, movie stills, production design sketches keyed to the screenplay, costume designs, sidebars, and commentary from the cast and crew.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Frazier's mythic novel about a wounded Confederate soldier's return to his sweetheart in the mountains of western North Carolina achieved critical and popular acclaim, and the film version of it promises to be one of this winter's biggest movies. This book explains how the film's directors, producers, actors, designers and other collaborators made the transition from page to screen, using period illustrations, movie stills, passages from the screenplay and interviews with the cast and crew. In his introduction, director Anthony Minghella describes how he and his crew struggled to replicate the novel's focus on nature while they were filming in Romania; he also deprecates the process of adaptation: "Beautiful stories are plundered, seemingly in the most perverse ways." Yet the filmmakers' painstaking attention to detail suggests that Frazier's novel has not been ravaged in its transposition to the silver screen. And fans of backstage stories will appreciate this book's insights into how the filmmakers depicted the intricate relationship between Ada (played by Nicole Kidman) and Ruby (played by Renée Zellweger) and how they shot the battle scene in which Inman (Jude Law) is severely injured. 185 illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The movie Cold Mountain, which opened Christmas Day 2003, was based, of course, on Charles Frazier's best-selling National Book Award-winning novel of the same name, published in 1997. The transformation of the novel from print to screen is documented in precise, lively detail in this oversize photos-and-text album that is, as Frazier himself says in the foreword, "about the process, not the product." Fascinating commentary on script adaptation, location scouting, set building, casting, shooting, and even editing are matched with stills and behind-the-scenes shots. The result is an easy-to-digest education in not simply how this particular movie was made but also, by example, how all movies on this grand scale are made. Consequently, one need not have seen the movie to appreciate the "process" so vividly explained here. For active movie collections. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Newmarket Press (November 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557045933
• ISBN-13: 978-1557045935
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,322,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey I'm Ready To Take, December 25, 2003

By 

Sebastien Pharand (Orléans, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cold Mountain: The Journey from Book to Film (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook Series) (Hardcover)

Anthony Minghella has become today's poet of images. His films are lyrical and very emotional. They are beautiful, always thoughtful and very touching. That's why I counted my lucky stars when I learned that Minghella would next adapt one of the best and most beautiful books I've ever read, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain.

Could Mountain: The Journey from Book to Film takes you on the road that everyone involved with this film walked down. First, we meet Minghella and Frazier, as they both discuss the writing of the book and of the script. Then, we meet the producers, the set desingers, the cinematographer, the costume desingers, the actors, the editor... Everyone who played a major role in the making of this film is presented in this book.

I haven't yet see the film and cannot say if the greatness of the book translated well when it was taken to the silver screen. But judging from the interviews and the pictures in this film, I have to say that I don't think I'll be disappointed. The pictures in this book are beautiful and very attractive; you can already tell that this will be one heck of a film to look at (the pictures alone are the kind of visual candy you can't pry yourself away from). And then, the book also reprinted parts of Minghella's screenplay. And like we saw in his other films, The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley, Minghella really has a knack for writing engaging and touching dialogue.

Reading this book only made me want to see the film even more. It's rare that you are allowed to partake in this kind of journey, following a film's progress from point A to point Z. But this book brings you right into the heart of the film's production, discussing all the problems the crew faced, and telling us little annecdotes about the making of this film. Cold Mountain might not end up being the greatest film ever made (although I do wish it is), but I can tell, judging by this book, that it will be a great and very important film.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great film book, December 31, 2003

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Mountain: The Journey from Book to Film (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook Series) (Hardcover)

This is a beatiful book on the making of my second favorite film of the year, the first being The Return of the King. The book expolres the novel's journey fromm book to srcipt to screen and has over 180 lavish pictures and illstrations. I have not bought any other of these books from Newsmarket becasuse it did not really not what to expect. What i got was a grand expolarartion of what it takes to make a grand film like this. The Music was great in the movie and there is extenisve pages on the making of the soundtrack as well as 32 pages of beatuiful black and white photos taken on the set. If you love movies buy this book, it doesn't even really matter if you have seen the movie or not the book well just make you want to see it a lot more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tracing the odyssey of the movie, September 15, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Mountain: The Journey from Book to Film (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebook Series) (Hardcover)

Avid fans of Charles Frazier's classic novel "Cold Mountain" novel who have followed its translation from book to film now have a keepsake coffee table edition celebrating the move, which is much more than a collection of movie photos. The novel "Cold Mountain" is the story of a pilgrimage, and in the same tone compliments Cold Mountain: The Journey From Book To Film, tracing the odyssey of the movie created by an English directory and his international team of filmmakers: a six-year odyssey. Yes, there are over 185 photos by a number of photographers - but there are also extensive references on pre-production, post-production, and analyses of how the film was created, adding a depth and dimension which elevates Cold Mountain: The Journey From Book To Film far beyond the status of mere coffee table embellishment.