Behind the Silver Screen
The Academy Awards celebrate films and the people who create them. Reading about the making of famous movies is almost as entertaining as watching the movies themselves.
These books give us a behind the scenes perspective on some notable movies.
 |
 |
Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson
• eAudiobook
• eBook
Based on interviews with key players, this book describes how the beloved film was made.
 |
 |
Hail, Hail, Euphoria: Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made by Roy Blount, Jr.
The longevity and significance of the Marx Brothers' movie Duck Soup is explored by humourist Blount.
Life of Pi
 |
 |
The Making of Life of Pi: a Film, a Journey by Jean-Christophe Castelli
• eBook
Castelli, associate producer of Life of Pi, describes the process of making the film.
 |
 |
Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller by Janet Leigh with Christopher Nickens
Janet Leigh, a star of the film, gives her unique perspective on its creation.
 |
 |
The Making of Slap Shot: Behind the Scenes of the Greatest Hockey Movie by Jonathon Jackson
Jackson conducted more than 50 interviews for this book describing the production of this cult classic.
 |
 |
The Making of Star Wars: the Definitive Story behind the Original Film by J.W. Rinzler
In 1977 George Lucas released Star Wars and the film quickly became a phenomenon with sequels, prequels, games, books, and toys. This book describes the long struggle to make and release the movie.
2 thoughts on “Behind the Silver Screen”
There’s a book about the making of Slap Shot? That’s awesome. One of my favourite “making of” books is Final Cut – about the disastrous making of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate. Sadly the book is unavailable but the movie, Heaven’s Gate is worth getting out from the library – it’s an underrated classic.
It’s a rich area.
There are a couple of documentaries that are worth watching as well:
Hearts of Darkness: a Filmmaker’s Apocalypse about the making of Apocalypse Now
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM2893355&R=2893355
Burden of Dreams–about the making of Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM594833&R=594833