The Studio [Paperback]

John Gregory Dunne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 1998

In 1967, John Gregory Dunne asked for unlimited access to the inner workings of Twentieth Century Fox. Miraculously, he got it. For one year Dunne went everywhere there was to go and talked to everyone worth talking to within the studio. He tracked every step of the creation of pictures like "Dr. Dolittle," "Planet of the Apes," and "The Boston Strangler." The result is a work of reportage that, thirty years later, may still be our most minutely observed and therefore most uproariously funny portrait of the motion picture business.

Whether he is recounting a showdown between Fox's studio head and two suave shark-like agents, watching a producer's girlfriend steal a silver plate from a restaurant, or shielding his eyes against the glare of a Hollywood premiere where the guests include a chimp in a white tie and tails, Dunne captures his subject in all its showmanship, savvy, vulgarity, and hype. Not since F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West has anyone done Hollywood better.

"Reads as racily as a novel...(Dunne) has a novelist's ear for speech and eye for revealing detail...Anyone who has tiptoed along those corridors of power is bound to say that Dunne's impressionism rings true."--Los Angeles Times

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In 1967, John Gregory Dunne asked for unlimited access to the inner workings of Twentieth Century Fox. Miraculously, he got it. For one year Dunne went everywhere there was to go and talked to everyone worth talking to within the studio. He tracked every step of the creation of pictures like "Dr. Dolittle," "Planet of the Apes," and "The Boston Strangler." The result is a work of reportage that, thirty years later, may still be our most minutely observed and therefore most uproariously funny portrait of the motion picture business.

Whether he is recounting a showdown between Fox's studio head and two suave shark-like agents, watching a producer's girlfriend steal a silver plate from a restaurant, or shielding his eyes against the glare of a Hollywood premiere where the guests include a chimp in a white tie and tails, Dunne captures his subject in all its showmanship, savvy, vulgarity, and hype. Not since F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West has anyone done Hollywood better.

"Reads as racily as a novel...(Dunne) has a novelist's ear for speech and eye for revealing detail...Anyone who has tiptoed along those corridors of power is bound to say that Dunne's impressionism rings true."--Los Angeles Times

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (April 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375700080
• ISBN-13: 978-0375700088
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside the insider's view of a major Hollywood Studio, February 27, 2006

By 

David M. Berner (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Studio (Paperback)

This is a terribly funny and telling documentary. Mr. Dunne, who had a considerable reputation and experience as a screenwriter, somehow convinced the powers at Twentieth Century Fox to give him carte blanche and complete access to every peculiar nook and sneaky cranny at the studio. Sitting in on major meetings with the Zanucks,writers, producers, agents, stars, attending gala openings and hanging about sets, Dunne was the ultimate fly-on-the-wall. The movies in production during the year (1967)he spent soaking up this rarified atmosphere included "Dr. Doolittle," "Star," and "Hello Dolly," which means we get great dish on Rex Harrison, Barbra Streisand, Anthony Newley, Gene Kelly and Walter Matthau, to name only a few.

The stories are told in a droll, straight-ahead manner, which makes the gags even funnier. One can scarcely believe the kinds of things that Hollywood Heavies utter, apparently unashamed and on a fairly regular basis.

For the record, Mr. Dunne, also the author of a number of first-rate novels, was the late husband of writer Joan Didion, whose current memoir about dealing with his death - "The Year of Magical Thinking" - is deservedly at the top of the charts these days.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Classic Should Never Be Out Of Print..., April 14, 2004

By 

Edwin Graf Diemer (Red Bank, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Studio (Paperback)

Absolutely brilliant-people in Hollywood still refer to "AD" (After Dunne), and you know a book like this won't happen again. The attitude is "Where you find clowns there is usually a circus", and the level of amaturism on display here is astounding. The best section has to be the one on the making of the legendary flop "Dr. Dolittle"-you are there as they read the disastrous preview cards. A $18 million investment is on the line, and all the producer's girlfriend can think of is stealing a silver tray from a restaurant and what dress to wear for the premiere. Hilarious, and still required reading at film study courses today.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A tame look at the studios, January 3, 2011

By 

Jerry Wilt "JBW857" (Katy, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Studio (Paperback)

Unlike the other reviewers here, I thought the book (considering when it was written) is a bit of tame, high-level overview of the studio workings. I didn't find it boring, nor did I find it to be a great page-turner. I would have preferred a more in-depth review of the studio workings. However, it was interesting to read the names from the past and the TV shows that were described...Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea...and the movies...Dr. Doolittle, Planet of the Apes...and more. I did find the parts on how Richard Zanuck decided which movies would get made and which ones didn't to be interesting - pretty much a gut feeling and a whim. I think this book is only for diehard studio fans and not the casual reader of Hollywood history.