Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film [Hardcover]

Peter Biskind (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 6, 2004

It wasn't so long ago that the Sundance Film Festival was an inconsequential event somewhere in Utah, and Miramax was a tiny distributor of music documentaries and soft-core trash. Today, of course, Sundance is the most important film festival this side of Cannes, and Miramax has become an industry giant, part of the huge Disney empire. Likewise, the directors who emerged from the independent movement, such as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, and David O. Russell -- who once had to max out their credit cards to realize their visions on the screen -- are now among the best-known directors in Hollywood. Not to mention the actors who emerged with them, like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Ethan Hawke, and Uma Thurman.

"Down and Dirty Pictures" chronicles the rise of independent filmmakers and of the twin engines -- Sundance and Miramax -- that have powered them. As he did in his acclaimed "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls," Peter Biskind profiles the people who took the independent movement from obscurity to the Oscars, most notably Sundance founder Robert Redford and Harvey Weinstein, who with his brother, Bob, made Miramax an indie powerhouse. Biskind follows Sundance as it grew from a regional film festival to the premier showcase of independent film, succeeding almost despite the mercurial Redford, whose visionary plans were nearly thwarted by his own quixotic personality. He charts in fascinating detail the meteoric rise of the controversial Harvey Weinstein, often described as the last mogul, who created an Oscar factory that became the envy of the studios, while leaving a trail of carnage in his wake. As in "Easy Riders," Biskind's incisive account is loaded with vibrant anecdotes andoutrageous stories, all of it blended into a fast-moving narrative. Redford, the Weinsteins, and the directors, producers, and actors Biskind profiles are the people who reinvented Hollywood, making independent films mainstream. But success invariably means compromise, and it remains to be seen whether the indie spirit can survive its corporate embrace.

Candid, mesmerizing, and penetrating, "Down and Dirty Pictures" is a must-read for anyone interested in the film world and where it's headed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You've heard the rumors. The film industry is filled with ruthless executives who think nothing of brow-beating their employees, of using creative accounting to cheat filmmakers, and re-cutting a director's vision into a soulless crowd-pleaser. Well, it turns out those rumors are often true--at least according to Peter Biskind's highly entertaining Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. Packed with industry anecdotes and history, the book chronicles the growth and eventual mainstreaming of independent films and offers the back-story to seminal works including sex, lies, and videotape and Pulp Fiction among others. Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, divides most of his time between Sundance Film Festival founder Robert Redford and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. Biskind simultaneously credits these two as fostering, though ultimately ruining, the purity of indpendent film. Other indies are largely left out, although the now-defunct October Films appears prominently in the role of noble failure. Biskind has serious points to make, but he's not stingy with the war stories, either. (One particularly amusing scene involves October executives chasing Robert Duvall's agent through a Sheraton Hotel in an attempt to stop him from making a deal with Miramax to distribute The Apostle.) Those who have only a passing interest in the movie business may tire of Biskind's oft-repeated themes (Weinstein is an evil genius! Redford is a passive-aggressive control freak!) but for those who truly love film industry gossip, Down and Dirty Pictures is a feast of insider stories--each tidbit juicier than the last. --Leah Weathersby

From Publishers Weekly

According to Biskind (Easy Riders, Raging Bulls), most people associate independent filmmaking with such noble concepts as integrity, vision and self-sacrifice. This gritty, ferocious, compulsively readable book proves that these characterizations are only partly true, and that indie conditions are "darker, dirtier, and a lot smaller" than major studios' gilded environments. The intimidating image of Miramax's Harvey Weinstein plows powerfully through Biskind's saga; the studio honcho emerges as a combination of blinding charm and raging excess, a boisterous bully who tears phones out of walls and overturns tables. Former Miramax exec Patrick McDarrah, in comparing Weinstein with his brother and partner, Bob Weinstein, concludes, "Harvey is ego, Bob is greed." These two volatile personalities directly-and fascinatingly-contrast with the book's other protagonist, Sundance creator Robert Redford. Biskind presents Redford as passive aggressive, an invariably polite conflict avoider, but also notorious for keeping people waiting and failing to follow through on commitments. Because of the actor/director's elusive persona and his artistic tastes0which Biskind describes alternately as puritanical, conservative and mushy-the Weinsteins dominate throughout. Biskind brilliantly covers their career hits, from the high-profile acquisition of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape through backstories for Cinema Paradiso, Good Will Hunting and Chicago to brutal clashes with Martin Scorsese over Gangs of New York. And Quentin Tarantino's lust for stardom, Billy Bob Thornton's "ornery, stick-to-your-guns" personality and Ben Affleck's frustration about being underpaid are just a few of the other mesmerizing elements Biskind includes. Above all, Biskind conveys a key truth: the Weinsteins and Redford, whatever their personal imperfections, possess courage and a deep, overwhelming love of film.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (January 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068486259X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684862590
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Biskind is the author of five previous books, including Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. He is a contributor to Vanity Fair and was formerly the executive editor of Premiere magazine. He lives with his family in Columbia County, New York.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Too much to live up to January 19, 2004

By Daniel Friedman

Format:Hardcover

Peter Biskind has in recent times become one of my favorite writers on the movies, alongside Roger Ebert, Peter Travers, and David Ansen. His latest, Down and Dirty Pictures, is good but it has a couple of things working against it from the outset. First, it will always be in the shadow of Easy Riders Raging Bulls, Biskind's seminal book on 70's Hollywood which was an excellent work from start to finish. Second, because most of what Biskind chronicles is fairly recent memory, it seems a bit like overload. Diehard film fans will simply be rehashing old news (for them), whereas the stories in Easy Riders were far enough in the past to be almost new again.

The book clearly has elements that are anti-Miramax and, to a lesser extent, anti-Sundance but it shouldn't change your opinion if you are, say, a big Robert Redford fan. That isn't to say that Redford and the Weinsteins don't deserve some criticism, but the intelligent reader should be able to read between the lines and understand that Biskind's perspective is not the last word on the subject. The movies are the thing, after all, and both Sundance and Miramax have produced great ones. What bothers me most is Biskind's grudging praise and all-too-easy condemnations. A few years ago he wrote a negative piece on Sundance for Premiere Magazine - now it seems he's trying to nail the coffin.

I enjoyed this book a lot and I do recommend it, although it is a bit dense and can take some time to get through.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy Redford & Raging Harvey December 18, 2004

By Westley VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Peter Biskind's last book, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls," was a tremendously fun read; "Down and Dirty Pictures" is a sequel of sorts. Whereas "Easy Riders" traced the rise and fall of 1970s film auteurs (Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman), "Down and Dirty" examines the next wave of potentially great filmmakers - the independents of the 1990s. After a fallow period in films during the 1980s where bloated epics ruled the Oscars and vapid blockbusters predominated, the indies of the 1990s were welcome relief, and the story is quite interesting.

Biskind commences his story in 1989 with "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" winning awards at Sundance and Cannes film festivals. Although a few indie movies scored some success earlier in the 1980s, "Sex, Lies" marked a turning point whereby general audiences started to take these films more seriously. Of perhaps greater interest, Biskind argues that these indie directors are the direct descendants of the 1970s auteurs in that they also wrote and directed their films from their own personal vision, albeit on a more modest scale. His thesis is seemingly valid and helps place the rise of indie film into historical context. The book traces the ups and downs of a number of these directors, including Steven Soderbergh ("Sex, Lies"), Todd Haynes ("Safe"), Todd Solondz ("Happiness"), and of course wunderkind Quentin Tarantino. Their accounts are quirky and often compelling.

However, the book focuses primarily on two figures - Mirimax and Sundance. Harvey and Bob Weinstein are the ostensible stars here - as they found Mirimax pictures, develop the career of Steven Soderbergh, and then make Tarantino the poster boy for indie film. Stories abound throughout the book about their egomaniacal and allegedly assaultive behavior - from editing movies without the consent of directors (earning Harvey the nickname "Harvey Scissorhands") to intimidating distributors. These segments are often entertaining in a voyeuristic manner, but the repetitiveness wears down the reader; reading a fraction of these episodes conveys adequately the message that the Weinsteins are bullies. The second star of the book is Robert Redford and his Sundance Institute. Redford is depicted as a distant despot - demanding full control of Sundance and its filmmaking processes but leaving for long periods of time to tinker endlessly on his own films. Again, the segments about Redford become somewhat repetitive and pointless.

All trends eventually end, and Biskind argues that the magnificent rise and fall of indie films can be attributed largely to Mirimax and Sundance. In particular, Biskind points the finger at attempts by Mirimax to become a major studio, which left little room at the table for indie films. Overall, Biskind makes some credible arguments, and his writing is always engaging. Unfortunately, the Weinsteins and Redford become caricatures and the stories become a bit tiresome. Film buffs will undoubtedly enjoy "Down & Dirty"; however, it could have used some editing - perhaps the Weinsteins could employee their infamous services here?

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dynamic and Fascinating View of "Indie" Films November 14, 2004

By Edsopinion.com

Format:Hardcover

This book was written by Peter Biskind who was the executive editor of Premiere Magazine and is also the author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. It is a very readable history of the independent film business from its beginnings as sub-titled foreign movies in art houses to the development of American films made outside of the studio system. Central to this story is the rise of Miramax and the Sundance Institute, Festival and Channel. Sundance was formed to help new talent develop their projects and give advice on script development, shooting and editing problems. Miramax began as a marketing company.

They and others helped some filmmakers complete and market a feature length movie. Also at this time other people from film schools developed feature length pictures using their own resources. Usually these pictures were made with the film makers own funds or funds borrowed from their friends or parents

Miramax a distributing company that bought films and released them in the United States began buying these pictures usually at the cost of production with a promise of back end participation if the film made money. Harvey and Bob Weinstein ran the company. Harvey would take a budding auteur's artistic vision and recut it to make it more commercial. This usually was done after first screening it before a preview audience and a sometimes bitter consultation with the artist. The result was that suddenly pictures which had no chance of recovering their production expenses began to turn a profit after Miramax bought the picture and bore the expense of post production, publicity and advertising. Miramax then took on the awards ceremonies spending the money and time to get nominations and awards for their most worthy actors, directors and pictures. This became possible when every Academy member was sent a videotape (later the DVDs we've heard so much about) of the films in contention. This meant that independent pictures that only got a limited play or no play in some cities could be seen and voted on by all the academy members. A second aspect to this was that the press also received a videotape or DVD and they could be lobbied to publicize the independent pictures nominated. Also of course the Golden Globes Awards voted on by the Foreign Press Association became a tracking award for the Academy Awards because of the distribution of tapes and later DVDS. One thing that wasn't clear in the book was how a film gets nominated in the first place. Also hinted at is the fact that many Academy members are older than the typical moviegoer, but the book does not tell us what this means as far it effects the films and talent voted on.

The Sundance Film Festival also became an important showcase for new filmmakers to market their films. Soon the studios took notice that a small film could be a significant profit center and started or bought their own independent film subsidiaries. Sony Classics, Focus Films (Universal), Fox Searchlight, October Films and others all became studio subsidiaries. Of course the biggest fish of the group, Miramax, was bought by Disney and given an acquisitions budget of Eight Hundred Million Dollars !!! This turned the business on its head. In the beginning most independent films were made for less than a million dollars. The indie movement came of age and pictures that would have had only limited release in art houses located in the big cities started to have wider releases into the malls across the country. Acting stars like Gwenth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Billy Bob Thornton were created almost overnight and so were star directors like Quentin Tarrentino and Steven Soderberg. Under the studio system it would have taken these people twenty years, if ever, to reach the status they did in a few years under the independent film system powered by Miramax and to some extent Sundance.

However the system changed when Miramax began to produce films on its own instead of buying the offerings of new talent and marketing them. The expenditures for production were ten or twenty times the cost of a true independent film and acting stars and star directors were needed to guarantee box office return. Miramax boxed itself into the same financial straitjacket the studios are in. It became more and more of a producer than a marketing organization which could take a new filmmakers first film and market it profitably thus giving the nascent filmmaker a chance at a second film and a career. Also established talents were less likely to work for scale as bigger profits were realized. However the possibility of doing more serious work and achieving artistic recognition through the awards has kept established actors and directors interested in doing independent films which have more creative freedom and are thus more likely to generate awards than the studio genre fare.

Briskind's thesis is that the studio subsidiaries production costs and marketing budgets have become so swollen that what was once an industry giving new talent a chance has become a miniature studio system with its own stars and directors. It is no longer concerned with the small budget personal films of first time directors but driven to make commercial films which need greater and greater returns to sustain the overhead. The result; the first time filmmaker is being squeezed off even the art house screens or his or her work is not given long enough runs to gather an audience.

Even Sundance became commercially minded shifting its orientation from helping new talent to sometimes looking for properties to produce. It also became a market place for the commercial interests to scout new talent for their systems.

Briskind makes the point that independent films where once artistic vision was the primary focus have now been so commercialized that money considerations dominate what gets made to the detriment of the artists vision. The studio subsidiaries now scoop up anyone that makes a successful first film but there are no second chances, in terms of financing, for those who show promise but tried and failed. Briskind has documented his thesis with fact after fact and quote after quote. However this book is not just a fact tomb. He has profiled and analyzed many of the players large and small praising and skewering the most dedicated (those that refuse to commercialize their artistic instincts) to the mightiest like Harvey Weinstein and Robert Redford. However all this said, Briskend dosen't say with enought force that the independent film subsidiaries have greater subject matter diversity and creative freedom than the major studios who are constrained by the demands of a mass audience and that things are better now for new talent because of Miramax and Sundance.

This was a fascinating and insightful book on the subject matter, well written and well documented. Any one interested in films should read this book.Edsopinion.com