“How did you get my number?”
Robert Altman: The Oral Biography is 500 pages of stories told by actors, producers and film crew about their experiences working with Robert Altman, legendary director of such landmark films as M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts and Gosford Park, among many others.
Mitchell Zuckoff interviewed Altman himself and over 200 of Atlman's colleagues and has assembled the stories to loosely follow the story of Altman's life and the movies he made.
The result is like being at a very large party and being entertained by stories told by the likes of Meryl Streep, Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, Cher, Leonard Cohen, Lauren Bacall, Martin Scorsese, Paul Newman and Sam Shepard among many others.
One of the most addictive things about this excellent, absorbing, biography is that you can open it anywhere and be guaranteed an interesting snippit or anecdote.
After the triumphant success of The Player, Altman's film about contemporary Hollywood — a film that A-List actors lined up to be in — Altman called Julianne Moore, at home, to offer her a part in his next movie.
Moore recalls her astonishment, "I was standing in my kitchen….And just, I was shattered. I just didn't — I said first, 'How did you get my number?'"
2 thoughts on ““How did you get my number?””
Altman + gossip = yummy. Thanks for this recommendation – I’ve put a hold on this.
Hey, V. You’re welcome! You won’t be disappointed.