Customer Reviews

A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In an honest, engaging, and pithy memoir, Art Linson manages to convey not only what a producer is and does in modern Hollywood, but also why that individual is so important both in the creation and final success of the product. If American film stands at the nexus of creativity and enterprise, the producer is the individual who must mediate the inevitable clash between these immutable forces, and Linson openly recalls his successes as well as his failures. It's not always pretty, but it's always good.

In fact,the book's great strength is Linson's success in divorcing himself - or his ego - from his topic, allowing the reader to learn with the author, rather than from him. The entire process of the creation of a film, from pitch to production to premiere, including unpleasant diversions like Turnaround Hell and rites like Test Screenings, is laid before us through Linson's formative years as a producer.

What the reader ends with is an understanding of the filmmaking process that no textbook could convey, and that few insiders would be willing to impart to a tyro.

This is truly a primer on movie production that belongs on the shelf of everyone from development executive to film student to movie-lover.

This book is about 100X better than Lydia Obst's egotisticalpiece. Indeed, Linson is remarkably ego-free - and he's worked with DeNiro, De Palma, Mamet, and others. His tales are entertaining, at times harrowing, and best of all, he describes the process of assembling all the elements to produce a picture. Not a knockout, but a solid, informative piece of work. I'd like to meet Linson one day.

I have read this book and one by Lydia Obst ("Hello, He Lied"). I preferred the Linson by a mile - Obst is too full of herself (she even disses Linson!). Linson discusses the role of producer and his contribution to films such as "Car Wash" and "The Untouchables". There's a revelatory look at a film he worked on the DIDN'T get made, called "Arrive Alive". Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the process of motion picture production.

Very smart, funny, astute book by a top line Hollywood producer. This is the book I give to people who want to understand what a producer does. Linson produced The Untouchables as well as succesful junk like Car Wash, and unsuccesful junk as well, and he uses his experiance to elucidate rather than to inflate his own importance. An anti-dote to "Hollywood Producer" books by the likes of Linda Obst and Julianna Phillips -- no sex, no drugs, just the business.

The first thing anyone should know is that this book was copyrighted in 1993. Amazon says it was published in 1998. That might be true. Either way, this is an insider's book on what was happening in Hollywood at that time. The names of the stars being bandied about are the names of the stars that were big at that time (some of them are still big, but nonetheless, the book is about then, not now.) So, is there any value for you, the fledgling producer?

As someone who has produced five short films and has aspirations of moving into the feature film arena, there was some value. Art Linson has obviously ridden the roller coaster of producing major films with major stars in Hollywood and he does have some knowledge to impart. The main thing I got out of the book was: Don't try to make a movie about something that is currently popular (i.e. vampires), because by the time the whole thing comes together, the thing that was so popular won't be anymore. I think this is invaluable and would be of benefit to anyone who is trying to do something truly unique, artistic or original, if in fact those adjectives can be applied to anything these days.

Otherwise, there are moments of humor and shock and surprise as you follow Art through some of his adventures with the big wigs. The problem is he will ramble a bit and it's hard to understand what the point or purpose is of some of his passages. In this way, the book is not helpful and the Amazon review sums it up best by saying it is "chummy," "chatty" and a "travelogue" as opposed to a "how-to-do-it" type of book, which would be much more helpful.

The bottom line: If you have a strong interest in a short list of films that Art was involved with and an interest in how Robert DeNiro transformed himself into Al Capone for "The Untouchables" (the book seems to spend a lot of time on this film and Bob DeNiro, maybe because it was the pinnacle of Art's success), and if you don't mind wading through some rambling prose to get to some entertaining bits about a world that doesn't really exist anymore, then this can be an entertaining read.

I own the first printing of the first edition (hardcover, 1993).

I often enjoy flipping through this book (it's not necessary to read in order). Despite the Author's Note at the outset, I think its best value is not so much as a "How To" primer but rather as a collection of anecdotes about the industry. A funny (sometimes darkly funny) book about making movies in Hollywood.

A Great read. As entertaining as is is informative, this is one of the better books on producing that I have read. The book is broken down in the same way a producer goes about putting together a project. From conception to birth, this covers it all. Many great stories and personalities are covered (esp. good is the section on the Untouchables and not being able to get David Mamet to write anymore because he was off working on his own film House of Games). Pick this one up and enjoy.

I found this book in the proverbial discount rack, for 60% off. Those of us who are fascinated by the backrooms of the movie making industry will find that this book does a good job addressing what goes on behind the scenes. Some portions are very interesting, such as Bobby Deniro's preparation for the Untouchables. Others are sorta self-serving and boring. The book should take you and hour or two to zip through.