Customer Reviews

The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks

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It's amazed me that Dreamworks hasn't spawned more books. The only one before was "The Dream Team" which was rather short. But this more than makes up for it as Nicole Laporte does an excellent job on the behind-the-scenes struggles of what seemed the perfect talent merger. She shows how right off the bat, Giffin was above things, only coming in to supply funds when needed while Spielberg's vision as a filmmaker didn't translate as well to the business side of things.

It's Katzenberg who's the real focus and Laporte does a great job showing the key problem: The man was far more interested in beating out Disney and sticking it to Michael Eisner than really doing his best to make Dreamworks successful. He became obsessed with "out Disneying Disney" in animation, backing flops like "Road to El Dorado" and the brilliant irony is that the one movie he didn't micromanage would be the company's biggest hit "Shrek." Laporte points at 2003's "Sinbad" as a turning point for the company as Katzenberg never really recovered from the animated movie he'd been championing becoming a total bomb.

While she can be a bit too in-depth (did we really need eight pages on "Mousehunt?") Laporte does a great job detailing the company's successes and failures. She moves from how "Gladiator" survived a chaotic production to become a huge hit to how the company poured millions into "Almost Famous" only to see it die at the box office. She nails their problems like Katzenberg producing way too many copies of "Shrek 2" on DVD among other spending items. And it's terrific reading her detailing the Dreamworks/Miramax feud that would become war at Oscar time.

The book details more of the final years of the company and how this once-powerhouse became a shell of itself sold to other studios right before the economic crunch. It's an incredibly detailed book that shines new light on the personalities involved and shows how even the biggest dreamers have a hard time dealing with the reality of Hollwyood. A must-have for any movie-making buff.

Nicole LaPorte has written the complete DreamsWorks account. It's the story of how director Steven Spielberg, studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, and billionaire music mogul David Geffen created DreamWorks, built the company on hype, and later sold the company to Paramount. LaPorte describes how these three kings were the last generation of the big Hollywood types like Goldwin and Mayer. Now Hollywood is mostly owned by New York conglomerates. This is the inside story of how these three partners with big egos ran the company and ran over people. LaPorte covers the war that Katzenberg declared on Disney, his former employer. It reveals the massive amount of money and talent as well as the failures and big spending that lead to the downfall. Nicole describes how the dream of being a huge multi-billion dollar, multimedia venture nearly came crashing down into bankruptcy with the financially disastrous animated film Sinbad. Sometimes there is so much detail you wonder whether Nicole was in the room with Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen. Sometimes the details make the story a little long.

Some of the stories are humorous. The initial DreamsWorks deals were for television shows. Yet Spielberg admitted his own track record in TV was lousy. His TV resume included shows such as Amazing Stories, Earth 2, and seaQuest DSV, an underwater series that critics called "Das Bomb." And Peacemaker, starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman was the first live-action film by DreamWorks. Filming in Eastern Europe had gone from bad to worse. People at DreamWorks had a saying for how Peacemaker was being made: "Fire, aim, ready!" Also, when Kidman was walking down the streets of Bratislava, people frequently mistook Clooney as Kidman's bodyguard--which really irritated Clooney. And in the movie Lemony Snicket, Jim Carrey had insisted on multiple takes--which amounted to nearly a mile of film wasted on one scene showing Carrey walking out a door.

For anyone interested in HOllywood, this book is an amazing look inside the insanity of the movie business. And for anyone who isnt interested in Hollywood, its a breathtaking look at hubris on an enormous scale. A trio of moguls who, in tthe style of baby boomers, thought their own specialness would make things different just because it was them..But in the end, there was less to the specialness than met the eye. A must read!

As a lifelong movie buff, I was very interested in reading the behind-the-scenes dirt of the rise and fall of Dreamworks......I thought I had a pretty good idea of just what went on at the studio, but Nicole LaPorte proved me wrong. The truth is, indeed stranger than the gossip. LaPorte spins a mind-boggling tale of three egos out of control (Steven Spielberg, a childish, easily wounded doofus with a short attention span; Jeffrey Katzenberg, a spiteful, vengeful lunatic; and David Geffen, the relentless enforcer of the group), a trio who thought they had Hollywood in the palm of their hands, and could do no wrong. The missteps and fatal judgments are all laid out by LaPorte, thanks to years of investigation, and there's enough backstage dirt to satisfy even the most hardcore movie junkie. She chronicles the Dreamworks saga from cradle to grave, and does so in a brisk, easy-to-read style.

This well written and impeccably researched book shows how even three of the biggest players in Hollywood have feet of clay.

When Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeff Katzenberg launched DreamWorks back in the nineties, the studio was intended to be a new multimedia mecca for film, music, and video game artists, sort of a United Artists for the new millennium.

In reality, DW turned out to be -- a pretty ordinary studio, enriching its founders and screwing its workers, while producing very few works of lasting quality or significance.

Of the three partners, David Geffen is shown to be a particularly nasty and vindictive piece of work, always looking for the next opponent with whom to pick a fight. At one point, he stamps his feet and proclaims, "I am the 32nd richest man in the world. I know what I'm doing."

Fortunately, we have it on good authority that all his riches won't buy him a spot in Heaven. Still I imagine that he's got a nice asbestos Armani suit already picked out for his permanent resting place.

There are so many twists and turns in the DW saga that the reader becomes dizzy after a while. It's rather like watching Chris Nolan's "Inception" for the first time (NOT a DW production!)

Suffice it to say that there are unprecedented levels of arrogance, hubris, and ego on display in this Clash of the Titans, and precious little common sense, good judgment, humility, or concern for others. Where are the Kraken when you need them?

Though DreamWorks shoulders on as a much diminished entity of a movie studio, it is shocking how few great films it has produced to date, for all the money its funders threw around. For every "American Beauty," "Gladiator," or "Shrek" on the company's roster, there are scores of films I don't even recall hearing about and have absolutely no intention of ever seeing, even on loan from the public library.

At any rate, this is as good a book about the excesses of Hollywood as I can recall reading, and a cautionary tale about the blinding power of ego and money. Highly recommended.

In Hollywood, where ego rules the day and perception is reality--there were (and are) few bigger names than wonderkind director Steven Spielberg, mogul David Geffin, and the polarizing yet savvy Jeffrey Katzenberg. When the three combined forces to form DreamWorks Studios in the nineties, the promise of a modern media revolution (and empire) captivated LaLaLand. However, the idea of a contemporary entertainment utopia never quite developed into a reality. With no real business plan in place and clashing priorities, DreamWorks became the most expensive start-up of all time and one of the most public displays of hype unrealized. Nicole Laporte's exhaustive chronicle "The Men Who Would Be King" expertly details the folly and foibles in a cautionary tale that absolutely captures the essence of the current film industry. It is THE must read of the year for anyone with a passing interest in the movie business.

The rise and fall of DreamWorks provides incredible highs and devastating lows, so Laporte's expose is as dramatic and colorful as it is informative. But you might expect that drama with the huge personalities involved! Katzenberg, in particular, is so compelling as a character--he is, alternately, an incredibly savvy businessman and utterly pigheaded. Spielberg, the center of this particular universe, is an undeniable creative genius--but with his limited attention span and free spirit, he never leveraged his power to propel DreamWorks into a successful business model. For every film success ("Saving Private Ryan," "American Beauty," "Gladiator," and "Shrek"), there were many more failures or missed opportunities. A studio compound that never got built (and angered environmentalists to boot), a television division that never took off, an Internet company before its time, a music group that courted more individualistic talent, a unwavering commitment to 2-D animation even with advances in technology, and a gaming sideline that was sold before its biggest moneymaker was released--these are just a few aspects of the DreamWorks empire with more fizzle than sizzle.

"The Men Who Would Be King" is an incredibly entertaining read. It probably helps to have a passing knowledge of the subject matter, but I found it fascinating to get a behind-the-scenes look at things that played out very publicly. Of personal interest, in terms of subject matter, I think Laporte excellently depicts the Oscar campaigning for certain films as modern warfare--which having lived in the periphery of that world, I found to be very true to life. A definite recommendation to cinephiles, the book also has cross-over appeal to the business set (a how-not-to, so to speak). For all its grandiose aspirations, Laporte showcases DreamWorks as a magnificent display of hype over substance and has, in "The Men Who Would Be King," created a new essential in the library of books about the film industry.

In "The Men Who Would Be King," author Nicole LaPorte puts together a great history of a specific business entity, DreamWorks. But it's also a portrait of how Hollywood deal-making works in general.

Although the book has some gossipy aspects -- what book about real Hollywood titans wouldn't? -- it's primarily a business book, but one that is no snore to read because of the powerful personalities involved.

I really liked DisneyWar, which, like "The Men Who Would Be King," was a book that dealt with creative egos and cutthroat corporations equally well. And like "Disney War," LaPorte's book probably should have been about 100 pages shorter.

Nevertheless, it's a great read for those curious about the business side of show business.

Reading this book is like being one of the vultures circling over a dying, oh, say, a dying lion. I chose to read it because it was about Spielberg and other names we see on the director credits on our favorite movies, and I wanted to know the story behind the genius. Nicole Laporte does an excellent job of portraying each man as a living, breathing, believable character. She shows the reader the dream that was Dreamworks. I was almost sad to see the film geniuses' fall from glory. I felt that Laporte lacked sympathy in her retelling of the story, but maybe it was her interpretation that gave me sympathy for them.

The author did a good job in detailing the rise and fall of Dreamworks. S,K, &G are just like everyone else. Some good, some bad. I started to like Geffen toward the end of the book. It seemed to me that Spielberg was probably the main person at fault. How do you own a company, take OPM (Other Peoples Money) for investment in your company and then work for other companies making profits for them and not your own investors? The book needed photos of all these players (more than 30 in all). I had to Google them to find out what they looked like so I could keep track. Otherwise I recommend this book, as I do Disney Wars.

it was very easy to read this book which read more like a novel. it's about how three headstrong individuals united to attempt creating a studio whose priorities were on quality and talent. (note: "attempted") written by an entertainment reporter, the book pulls from various tales of dreamworks, the three founders and other involved parties from the author's own reporting, other people's writing and interviews. (yes, some sources are anonymous, but that's fine.) it does skip a few years here and there, but laporte managed to pull together a coherent, entertaining book from all the research - i can't imagine how massive her notes must have been.

it's an insight into how some movies got made, how office dramas played out, how academy awards are influenced, etc... and wow, do these people deal with insane amount of money!!

you don't have to be in showbiz to enjoy this. even if you're one of the most powerful people in your industry, the struggle to accomplish something never disappears.

ps. shouldn't the book be titled, "the men who would be KINGS"?