Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon -- The Case Against Celebrity (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author) "Why do Hollywood stars, the most attractive, admired, and highly compensated citizens of the world, have families more screwed up than even the notoriety-driven mongrels..." (more)
Key Phrases: insanity chic, pan men, ethics officers, Los Angeles, New York, Courtney Love (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Not since Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons have two journalists (Breitbart feeds stories to Internet scandalmonger Matt Drudge and Ebner wrote for Spy) gathered more mean-spirited gossip about celebrities they condemn as sick and depraved. This diatribe is so unrelentingly negative that it loses all power to persuade. Breitbart and Ebner cover a variety of subjects they stand against, among them celebrities voicing their political views, a woman's right to choose, single motherhood and celebrities adopting children. In a chapter devoted to anonymous nannies discussing disrespectful kids of anonymous movie stars, the authors suggest mandatory Norplant and vasectomies for Hollywood parents. Hugh Hefner can't win for being wild or conservative; the authors blast the "fossilized relic embalmed in nostalgia and Viagra" for watching a bestiality video 30 years ago, and then condemn him for his intolerance of illegal drugs. Peculiarly, the authors adore gay porn director Paul Barresi, who paid off the "she-males of the night" that Eddie Murphy frequented so they'd change their stories. But when Murphy's lawyers didn't compensate Barresi, he turned all his records over to the authors. Barresi went on to warn Michael Jackson that his latest videographer was also a gay porn director. But when Jackson wouldn't pay for the information, Barresi leaked the story to the tabloids. Instead of calling Barresi a blackmailer, the authors announce that "he has a code of ethics emphasizing loyalty and respect." Most of the gossip isn't new (e.g., Greg Allman was an uninterested father; Whitney Houston, Nick Nolte and Robert Downey Jr. have had drug problems), and without any illuminating backstories, this is a sour and joyless read.
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Review

"...a wildly... entertaining jeremiad against the entertainment industry...against the perverts, flakes, egomaniacs, junkies, bullies and criminals..." -- Rick McGinnis/Metro Toronto

"...the industry has never been without a scandal, as this jaw-dropping book reveals..." -- Hot Stars, 3 April 2004

"Shockingly delicious!" -- Star magazine

"The next best thing to a Los Angeles friend with a nose for juicy gossip." -- The Wall Street Journal

"has appeal and certainly it has shock value" -- The New York Post, Liz Smith, March 15th, 2004

"terrific book, both snappy and snappish...."  -- The Wall Street Journal

“Literary assassinations don’t come any more vitriolic than Hollywood Interrupted…fascinating stories and explosive revelations…” (Daily Record, 24 April 2004)

“… capitalises on our base interest in the more scandalous antics of the showbusiness elite…” (Birmingham Post, 17 April 2004)

“…makes for a riveting read.” (Hotdog, May 2004)

"...a wildly... entertaining jeremiad against the entertainment industry...against the perverts, flakes, egomaniacs, junkies, bullies and criminals..." (Rick McGinnis/Metro Toronto)

“…lifts the lid on some of Tinseltown’s weirdest and most notorious celebrities…” (Western Daily Press, 3 April 2004)

"...the industry has never been without a scandal, as this jaw-dropping book reveals..." (Hot Stars, 3 April 2004)

ANY ENTERTAINMENT hack worth his saltpeter understands that he is compromised - effectively neutered from word one . . . in toto, entertainment journalists are disgruntled; they are professionally castrated. And to top it off, these masochists are in turn, castigated and hated by the stars they've just fluffed up."
So write Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner in "Hollywood Interrupted." Hmmm . . . interesting point. As a lowly gossip columnist myself, I'd say the authors hit the nail on the head.
This book, which will land on the best-seller list next week, is an unabashedly right-wing, conservative one-note samba on celebrity culture. Is it the truth? Sure - from the authors' point of view, but with no balance. All stars are the devil here. I can't say I enjoyed this one; it's tone is often nasty and even petty - "the aging actress" . . . "the portly actor . . . " But as an antidote to much of what passes for entertainment coverage - or even this column - "Hollywood Interrupted" has appeal and certainly it has shock value. After a while, however, shocks lose impact. Chapter after chapter on those bad people in show biz! And it's not as if anybody's going to stop attending the movies, buying records or being fascinated with celebrity just because these writers are able to reveal clay feet under every heavenly Hollywood body. (The New York Post, Liz Smith, March 15^th)

Not since Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons have two journalists (Breitbart feeds stories to Internet scandalmonger Matt Drudge and Ebner wrote for Spy) gathered more mean-spirited gossip about celebrities they condemn as sick and depraved. (Publishers Weekly, February 2, 2004)

CELEBRITIES are skewered like shish kabobs in Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner's upcoming book, Hollywood Interrupted (Wiley). The veteran journalists air embarrassing anecdotes about everyone from egomaniacal producer Robert Evans to Tinseltown train wreck Courtney Love to fallen power agent Michael Ovitz. The authors disclose a previously unheard 1993 wiretap of Evans chatting with Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss in which Evans seems to be ordering up a 17-year-old girl he calls "the little one." A chapter titled "Heroine: Love Means Never to Have to Say You're Courtney" was so damning in its details of Love's many meltdowns that her agents at Vigliano & Associates demanded that it be cut from the book (it wasn't). The tome also recounts how, after being terrorized by Ovitz's spoiled b rat childre n, the power agent's nanny quit and was subsequently blacklisted from working in Hollywood households. (The New York Post, Page Six, February 5, 2004)

Celebrity excess is being skewered in a pointed new book about the alleged bad behavior of some of Tinseltown's bigger names.
Hollywood Interrupted is the work of writers *Mark Ebner* and *Andrew Breitbart.* While writing the book, the authors parted ways with their literary agent, *David Vigliano,* over a less-than-glowing chapter they penned on another of his clients, *Courtney Love.*
Some examples: *Barbra Streisand*'s ex, *Elliott Gould,* is criticized as an absent parent.
*Cher* gets praised as "a wonderful mother."
*Suzanne Hansen,* a nanny who worked for power agent *Michael Ovitz,* claims Ovitz and his wife, *Judy,* spent so little time together that they communicated via notes sent through the office mail of Ovitz's Creative Artists Agency, where Judy also worked.
The authors recommend mandatory sterilizations for aspiring celebrities. (Daily News, Rush & Molloy, February 5, 2004)

"The perfect Oscar-Night side dish...Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner's Hollywood, Interrupted is a terrific book, both snappy and snappish.... The next best thing to a Los Angeles friend with a nose for juicy gossip. (The Wall Street Journal

"A Hollywood horror-fest. Celebrities are skewered like shish kabobs in Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner's... Hollywood, Interrupted." (Page Six, New York Post)

"Entertainment journalism has become a stampede of a-list a**-kissing. The authors of this bracingly impudent expose, however, have declined to pucker up." (Penthouse, February 2004)

"In this juicy Hollywood exposé, a pair of investigative journalists talks to the hired help, including former butlers and nannies, to peer inside the bad behavior of stars like John Travolta, Liz Hurley and Winona Ryder. Shockingly delicious!" (Star magazine, March 1, 2004)

The entertainment industry ...takes a beating in [this] scathing collection of revelations about ... scores of luminous entertainment media personalities. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

"This is a fun book!" (Jon Stewart, The Daily Show)

The entertainment industry ...takes a beating in [this] scathing collection of revelations about ... scores of luminous entertainment med ia personalities. -- Fort Worth Star-Telegram

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471450510
• ISBN-13: 978-0471450511
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #454,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consequence of their Free Speech, February 26, 2004

By	Cambel "cambel" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

I find it facinating thta Publishers Weekly wrote a bad reivew of this book...I wonder if that is because their bread and butter comes from articles kissing the behindes of the very people that this book takes to task for bad behavior?

Hollywood has been full of mean, childish hypocrites for as long as it's existed. The only reason that Lawyers, Politicians, and Used Car salesmen get a bad rap and actors don't is because none of those other folks get to constantly go on the tonight show to tell us how wonderful they are.

About time somebody writes a book that takes people to task, such as a certain Million dollar an episode actress harrassing an unpaid intern at her management company and bragging about it. This is just one of the tid-bits in this book. Hollywood can blame middle america all it wants but the real meanspirited childish homophobic etc.. behavior lies much closer to it's own doorstep.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the case AGAINSTcelebrity, June 19, 2004

By	Karen (Scottsdale, AZ) - See all my reviews

Wow. This book is like nothing I've ever read on Hollywood, certainly not anything from Entertainment Weekly. Reading Hollywood, Interrupted was like entering a no-spin zone when it came to the headline stories we're fed on a daily basis. From Michael Jackson, to Eddie Murphy, to Courtney and Winona, we get the behind the scenes stuff that never ever makes the news reports. Then there's the stories from the mouths of Hollywood nannies that would make a child molester seem like an upright citizen, and a classic briefing on the elite Hollywood educational system called, appropriately, "Hollyweird High." Breitbart and Ebner systematically prove that the Hollywood machine is set up for failure by the nature of the upbringing of those who work there. They either wind up dead, on trial,in jail, in the loony bin or in an executive suite making creative decisions. HELLO? The creative output from Hollywood is dismal at best these days! I enjoyed every page of this book because each turn of the page led to the strengthening of the authors' argument against celebrity.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best, June 21, 2004

By	Nikki Heath (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Hollywood, Interrupted is the best book on celebrity, the media and Hollywood that I have ever read. In fact, it's the only entertainment industry book ever written by true rebel outsiders from completely different political standpoints. Ebner is a left wing journalist from Venice and his co-writer (Breitbart) is a right wing Drudge guy. Yet, the authors share strong opinions about an industry that is ripe for criticism. Maybe that was putting it mildly. These authors are absolutely ruthless with their approach.

Breitbart and Ebner build a convincing argument for the sterilization of actors based on testimony direct from celebrity nannies. Then they attack religion. Egads! Are these guys fascists? Hardly. But they are politically incorrect to the extreme. And funny. The media mocks fruity faiths like Kaballah daily, but Breitbart and Ebner not only mock, they deconstruct these cults with academic expertise, with special emphasis on the most dangerous Scientology.

Spoiler: "the heterosexual Tom Cruise!"

Hollywood, Interrupted is no-holds-barred nonfiction at its best. The authors have bravely jumped right into the cribs of celebrity offspring. They have stalked the children into high school and desecrated their belief systems. Sounds awful, doesn't it? It is. I definitely sense that the writing of this book took the authors down roads they would rather not tread, but to build their case against Hollywood, they had to go to the root of the problem to help us understand why celebrities-on-trial has become a growth industry in America.

I have recommended this book to everyone on I know.