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"A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond" Christine Vachon w/Austin Bunn

Vachon's book was published in 2006 so it does not deal with her recent successes "First Reformed", "Wonderstruck" and "Beatriz at Dinner". Those titles do, however, give an idea about the kind of film that Vachon is passionate about making. She says, "I love the fact that a movie can still come out of left field...I'm convinced audiences will continue to meet me out there, along with bold, compelling directors and writers and actors." Vachon gives detailed info regarding independent production and the day-to-day tasks required to bring a story to the screen. Vachon has worked with directors Todd Haynes, Mary Harron, and Todd Solondz on numerous occasions, as well as actress Julianne Moore. Insights into their careers and Vachon's experiences at film festivals like Cannes and Sundance are interspersed with her advice to aspiring filmmakers. Anyone interested in independent film will find this book a rewarding read.


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Actor Gabriel Byrne published a new memoir last week titled "Walking with Ghosts". I think it ranks with Sterling Hayden's "Wanderer" as one of the best books by an actor. I review "Walking with Ghosts" in my January 23rd newsletter. Here is the link.Walking with Ghosts Book Review


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In 2011, actor James Garner published his memoir "The Garner Files". Garner's early life is the most startling: his mother died when he was four, his stepmother physically abused him for years, his father abandoned the family when Garner was just fourteen. He did odd jobs, slept at friends' houses, and generally drifted without purpose until he was drafted during the Korean War.

Garner never took acting classes or attended film school. He says his life experiences were the best training for his screen performances - an insight with which I agree.

Garner isn't a writer and doesn't pretend to be. Jon Winokur is credited as the co-writer and the style is conversational - Garner just riffing on his life. Along the way, he does reveal some fun film trivia. Part of his costume for the television series "Maverick" came from Errol Flynn's old wardrobe. The book is a quick read and recommended for any Garner fan.


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"Dark Lady of the Silents: My Life in Early Hollywood" by Miriam Cooper (1973)


Miriam Cooper's autobiography is a breezy read told in a very conversational style. Cooper entered the acting profession in 1911 strictly for financial reasons. Her father abandoned her mother and three siblings while the children were very young. As a teenager, Miriam started earning $35 a week as an actress and supported her entire family. A member of D.W. Griffith's troupe, she played important roles in two of America's most influential silents: "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) and "Intolerance" (1916).

She married actor/director Raoul Walsh and here is where she displays some less admirable qualities. Walsh was a womanizer and Miriam was the jealous type. She relates the tale of inviting one of her romantic rivals to her home. Miriam mixes the woman a cocktail and throws in some cleaning fluid. Hmmmm. The unstable couple adopted two boys although the idea was Miriam's and Raoul was not an engaged parent. Miriam essentially abandons the boys when they reach the age of sixteen. She writes she had no further contact with them and has no idea whether they are dead or alive. In a rare moment of introspection, she writes of her son Jack "I had thought I was giving him something good when I took him out of the orphanage, but as a motion picture star I hadn't been able to give him what he needed most: a stable home life with a mother and father around all the time. Now that I was divorced, Theresa (her cook) and I tried to do the job, but the damage had already been done."

Cooper's accounts of family life are confirmation that the nuclear family was often not the norm in America, even in the early part of the 20th Century. Along with the sociological aspects, the book is worth reading for Cooper's anecdotes regarding Hollywood's A-listers, including Charlie Chaplin, Pola Negri, Lillian Gish, Theda Bara, and Douglas Fairbanks.


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