ReFocus: The Films of Spike Jonze is the first collection of essays on this important and original contemporary filmmaker. It looks at his ground-breaking work in both features and short forms, exploring the impact of his filmmaking across a range of philosophical and cultural discussions. Each of Jonze's feature films, from Being John Malkovich (1999) to Her (2013), is discussed at length, focusing on issues of authorship, narration, genre and adaptation. As well as the textual aspects of Jonze's feature films, the contributors consider his work in music videos and shorts - investigating his position as a filmmaker on the blurred boundaries between studio and independent modes of production.

This new revised edition brings Mike Leigh's career up-to-date, including his film about J.M.W. Turner, MisterTurner, and his epic masterpiece, Peterloo. Five-time Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner, the only British director to have won the top prize at both Cannes (for Secrets & Lies) and Venice (for Vera Drake) - Mike Leigh is unquestionably one of world cinema's pre-eminent figures. Now, in this definitive career-length interview, he reflects on all that has gone into the making of his unique body of work. In their commingling of bleakness and humour, Leigh's films recreate the tragi-comic world of people whose everyday lives are far from glamorous: a world in which 'the done thing' usually prevails, contrary to our inner hopes, wants or needs. Leigh's work has always reflected its times and entered the vernacular, whether the harsh studies of Meantime and Naked or the humour of the now-legendary Abigail's Party and Nuts in May. Above all, Leigh is an accomplished storyteller, and these films deal with universal themes: births, marriages and deaths, parenthood and failed relationships, families and their secrets and lies. Within these pages Leigh speaks to Amy Raphael more openly than ever before of his life and inimitable working method, revealing himself as passionate, forthright, no sufferer of fools, but the owner of a dry and playful Mancunian wit.

Although best known as an Academy Award winning actor, Sean Penn's directorial works The Indian Runner (1991), The Crossing Guard (1995), The Pledge (2001), and Into the Wild (2007), consist of some of the most interesting and singular films made in the United States over the past twenty years. Each of Penn's directorial films and much of the cinema he has acted in are set in an immediate past in which a "stalled" time and a restricted locale apply narrative constraints. At the same time, these films all feature a sophisticated web of intertextual relations, involving actors, songs, books, films, and directors, and the political lineage to which Penn belongs, which reveal the deep cultural structures that concern each particular film.

The first book-length study of the career of the director of such classic films as "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "West Side Story," and "The Sound of Music," this volume combines thorough cast and crew credits, critical responses, awards and nominations, production notes, and comments from the director himself resulting in a unique overview of a remarkable career. In addition, a complete annotated bibliography of all books, articles, and interviews by or about Wise is included. An interesting feature is the examination of many of his unproduced projects.

Wise's career began with RKO as an editor for such films as" Citizen Kane" (1941) and "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942), when he then stepped in for director Gunther von Fritsch to complete "Curse of the Cat People" (1944). At 20th-Century Fox, Wise directed "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), "Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956), and "Run Silent, Run DeeP" (1958). "West Side Story" (1961), which Wise codirected with choreographer Jerome Robbins, marked the beginning of the third phase of his career, a period marked by mammoth productions that met with overwhelming approval commercially and critically. "West Side Story The Sound of Music" (1965), one of the highest grossing films in history, though Wise considers "The Haunting" (1963) his best film. Though Wise's films since 1965 have rarely been box-office successes, he has done intriguing and varied work such as "The Andromeda Strain" (1971), "The Hindenburg" (1975), and "Audrey Rose (1977).

Fargo is the most commercially and critically successful film of Ethan and Joel Coen. Immediately recognized as an important work, it was nominated for five Academy Awards and received two, an exceptional achievement for a low budget, independently produced film without major stars. Fargo is also a film that explores middle-American themes and settings from an original and unsettling perspective, challenging traditional genre structures. This volume explores Fargo from a variety of methodological perspectives. Providing a detailed account of the film's production, reception and place within the career of the Coen brothers, it explores issues and themes that are important to current film discourse, including genre, gender and sexuality, race, history, culture and myth.

Few directors have played such a prominent role as Francis Veber in shaping the cinematic identity of France over the past forty years, yet in many ways his chosen genre of comedy has relegated his work to the margins of Film Studies. Using an auterist lens to challenge the notions of taste, genre and aesthetics that are commonly used to form the cinematic canon, this book explores the twelve films Veber directed between 1976 and 2008. These include Le Jouet (1976), Les fugitifs (1986) and L'emmerdeur (2008). Considering also Veber's extensive work as a playwright, theatre director and screenwriter - as well as the numerous remakes and adaptations of his films in Hollywood - author Keith Corson focuses on issues of class, labour and politics to examine the ways in which Veber embeds serious social critiques in his mainstream films.

The dead walk. Putrid corpses claw their way out of earthy graves and stumble towards civilisation. They are bloody, rotting, and hungry for human flesh - and it's all George Romero's fault. With 1968's Night of the Living Dead Romero unleashed the modern zombie onto cinemas, annihilating their voodoo roots and resurrecting them as passed away friends and dead loved ones. Its sequel, the zombies in a mall masterpiece Dawn of the Dead, took Romero's apocalyptic nightmare further. Its frank depiction of bloodshed changed horror cinema forever and paved the way for such recent offerings as Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later. But there is more to Romero than just the living dead. He reinvented the vampire in Martin, took on the American military in The Crazies and has collaborated with horror legend Stephen King on both Creepshow and The Dark Half. Even today films like Land of the Dead have proven Romero to be a fearless anti-establishment filmmaker. He's a maverick, a man who frequently directs outside of the Hollywood mainstream, allowing his films to work as both chilling frightfests and impassioned comments on the American psyche. This Pocket Essential examines Romero's work up to and including his latest Diary of the Dead and explains why filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese often refer to him as horror's greatest living director.

Richard Linklater is a popular American filmmaker who is widely celebrated for the breadth of his oeuvre. Over the past three decades, Linklater has directed more than twenty features, ranging from non-linear independent films to Hollywood genre entertainment. Despite the popularity of Linklater's rich and varied body of work--and perhaps also because of this generic diversity--he remains under-represented in critical and scholarly fora. ReFocus: The Films of Richard Linklater addresses this oversight, bringing together twelve original essays attending to Linklater as a filmmaker whose work engages with contemporary debates in American politics, gender, youth, and activism as well as significant concepts in film studies, including time and duration, rhythm, and movement. Together these essays form a dialogue on Linklater's ongoing role in contemporary American popular culture, and the impact his work has on discussions within (and beyond) film studies.

John McTiernan is one of the most influential American action filmmakers of his generation. Educated at the American Film Institute, influenced by European cinematic style, McTiernan hit the stratosphere as a director with a trio of groundbreaking action films: Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October. The rest of his career became a mixture of successes and epic, infamous failures, including Last Action Hero, one of the most colossal misfires in the history of Hollywood. As the 21st century arrived, McTiernan's career and personal life would come unraveled, as he would be indicted and briefly imprisoned for his involvement in a wiretapping scandal that shook Tinseltown. Through extensive research including news reports, biographies, commentaries, interviews, and behind-the-scenes details, the story of John McTiernan and his tumultuous life and career is mapped out from the beginning, through his successes, his failures, his incredibly extensive legal battles, all the way to his multiple attempts at a comeback.

Set in Calcutta in the immediate aftermath of the Partition, Ritwik Ghatak's Nagarik (released in 1977 after Ghatak's death in 1976) chronicles the struggles of a refugee family from East Bengal as they desperately strive to survive in a metropolis which is unable to address the necessities of thousands of people pouring in from across the border. The protagonist, Ramu, like hundreds of other young men, struggles to find that elusive job; unemployment, starvation, incessant dislocation, and the yearning for stability and a home mark the lives of the refugee families in this film. Ghatak was to return to the theme in three other films that have been known as the Partition Trilogy-Meghe Dhaka Tara, Komal Gandhar, and Subarnarekha. With this translation of the screenplay of Nagarik, it will be clear that Ghatak's Partition films, those that deal directly with the lives of refugees in Calcutta, form a quartet and not a trilogy. Nagarik also represents an enticing historiographical idea, the 'what if' of Indian film history: perhaps if it had been released in 1952 when it was made, and before Pather Panchali, the accounts of Indian art cinema that have privileged the Ray film would have been different, and Ghatak may have been accepted as an important Indian auteur in his lifetime.

An invaluable set of career-length interviews with the German genius hailed by Francois Truffaut as the most important film director alive. Most of what we've heard about Werner Herzog is untrue. The sheer number of false rumors and downright lies disseminated about the man and his films is truly astonishing. Yet Herzog's body of work is one of the most important in postwar European cinema. His international breakthrough came in 1973 with Aguirre, The Wrath of God, in which Klaus Kinski played a crazed Conquistador. For The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Herzog cast in the lead a man who had spent most of his life institutionalized, and two years later he hypnotized his entire cast to make Heart of Glass. He rushed to an explosive volcanic Caribbean island to film La Soufriere, paid homage to F. W. Murnau in a terrifying remake of Nosferatu, and in 1982 dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazon jungle for Fitzcarraldo. More recently, Herzog has made extraordinary documentary films such as Little Dieter Needs to Fly. His place in cinema history is assured, and Paul Cronin's volume of dialogues provides a forum for Herzog's fascinating views on the things, ideas, and people that have preoccupied him for so many years.

Joss Whedon's short-lived series Firefly developed a fierce following while it aired on FOX from 2002 to 2003. After its cancellation, fans cried foul and demanded more, which eventually led to the 2005 feature film follow-up Serenity. The series and film were celebrated for their mixing of science fiction and western iconography, dystopic settings, underdog storylines, and clever and fast-paced dialogue. Firefly and Serenity have inspired many books and essays, but despite this, relatively few publications have focused specifically on Serenity, with Firefly often standing at the forefront of critical and scholarly consideration. It is certainly difficult to divorce the film from the series, but numerous features of Serenity do set it apart. In the first collection of essays devoted specifically to Serenity, authors from around the world offer various perspectives on the film, treating it as a text worthy of consideration on its own terms and touching on everything from formal properties, to narrative completion, to genre, to race, to systems of power, and everything in between.

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, chosen by Tom Stoppard "A revelation."-Marc Weingarten, Washington Post Acclaimed film director Billy Wilder's early writings-brilliantly translated into English for the first time Before Billy Wilder became the screenwriter and director of iconic films like Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, he worked as a freelance reporter, first in Vienna and then in Weimar Berlin. Billy Wilder on Assignment brings together more than fifty articles, translated into English for the first time, that Wilder (then known as "Billie") published in magazines and newspapers between September 1925 and November 1930. From a humorous account of Wilder's stint as a hired dancing companion in a posh Berlin hotel and his dispatches from the international film scene, to his astute profiles of writers, performers, and political figures, the collection offers fresh insights into the creative mind of one of Hollywood's most revered writer-directors. Wilder's early writings-a heady mix of cultural essays, interviews, and reviews-contain the same sparkling wit and intelligence as his later Hollywood screenplays, while also casting light into the dark corners of Vienna and Berlin between the wars. Wilder covered everything: big-city sensations, jazz performances, film and theater openings, dance, photography, and all manner of mass entertainment. And he wrote about the most colorful figures of the day, including Charlie Chaplin, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Prince of Wales, actor Adolphe Menjou, director Erich von Stroheim, and the Tiller Girls dance troupe. Film historian Noah Isenberg's introduction and commentary place Wilder's pieces-brilliantly translated by Shelley Frisch-in historical and biographical context, and rare photos capture Wilder and his circle during these formative years. Filled with rich reportage and personal musings, Billy Wilder on Assignment showcases the burgeoning voice of a young journalist who would go on to become a great auteur.

The Wes Anderson Collection: Isle of Dogs is the only book to take readers behind the scenes of the beloved auteur's newest stop-motion animated film. ?Through the course of several in-depth interviews with film critic Lauren Wilford, writer and director Wes Anderson shares the story behind Isle of Dogs's conception and production, and Anderson and his collaborators reveal entertaining anecdotes about the making of the film, their sources of inspiration, the ins and outs of stop-motion animation, and many other insights into their moviemaking process. Previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photographs, concept artwork, and hand-written notes and storyboards accompany the text. The book also features an introduction by critics and collaborators Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou, and a foreword by critic Matt Zoller Seitz. The fourth volume of the New York Times bestselling Wes Anderson Collection, Isle of Dogs stays true to the series with its rich design and colorful illustrations, capturing Anderson's signature aesthetic vision and bringing the series's definitive study of Anderson's filmography up to date. Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture. The film features the voices of Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Tilda Swinton, Akira Ito, Yoko Ono, Mari Natsuko, Harvey Keitel, Courtney B. Vance, Ken Watanabe, Scarlett Johnasson, Fisher Stevens, Nijiro Murakami, and Liev Schreiber.

As an actor/director surviving five decades of live and episodic television, Broadway, the Actors Studio, iconic films, Emmy nominated Movies of the Week, as Lou Antonio holds onto his bucking bronco of a career and why it is worth the hard landings. With humor and candor he describes the people, the ever changing tastes, mores, technical evolvements and perplexity of the performing arts, plus facing the unknown challenges of coming out of the gate not knowing if your ass is going to stay on the beast or hit the dirt. His career also serves as a warning to the unwary hopefuls, and to the well-worn pros. Memory keeps the past present as he directs or acts with Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Heath Ledger, George C. Scott to the now of Michelle Williams, Jesse Eisenberg Michael J. Fox, and, yes, the ever-enduring William Shatner. With gratitude and respect Antonio embraces all of those brave souls who hope to make a living in the hard realities of make-believe.

Alfred Hitchcock was, despite his English origins and early career, an American master. Arriving on US shores in 1939, for the next three decades he created a series of masterpieces that redefined the nature and possibilities of cinema itself: Rebecca, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho, to name just a few. In this Companion, leading film scholars and critics of American culture and imagination trace Hitchcock's interplay with the Hollywood studio system, the Cold War, and new forms of sexuality, gender and desire over his American career. This Companion explores the way in which Hitchcock was transformed by the country where he made his home and did much of his greatest work. This book will be invaluable as a guide for both fans and students of Hitchcock and twentieth-century American culture, providing a set of new perspectives on a much-loved and hugely influential director.

Alfred Hitchcock was, despite his English origins and early career, an American master. Arriving on US shores in 1939, for the next three decades he created a series of masterpieces that redefined the nature and possibilities of cinema itself: Rebecca, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho, to name just a few. In this Companion, leading film scholars and critics of American culture and imagination trace Hitchcock's interplay with the Hollywood studio system, the Cold War, and new forms of sexuality, gender and desire over his American career. This Companion explores the way in which Hitchcock was transformed by the country where he made his home and did much of his greatest work. This book will be invaluable as a guide for both fans and students of Hitchcock and twentieth-century American culture, providing a set of new perspectives on a much-loved and hugely influential director.

Throughout his directorial career, Clint Eastwood's movies have presented sympathetic narratives of characters enduring personal trauma as they turn to violence to survive calamity or sustain social order-a choice that leaves them marginalized rather than redeemed. In this collection of new essays, contributors examine his films-from The Outlaw Josey Wales to Sully-as studies on PTSD that expose the social conditions that tolerate or trigger traumatization and (in his more recent work) imagine a way through individual and collective trauma.

The definitive oral history of the cult classic Dazed and Confused, featuring behind-the-scenes stories from the cast, crew, and Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater. Dazed and Confused not only heralded the arrival of filmmaker Richard Linklater, it introduced a cast of unknowns who would become the next generation of movie stars. Embraced as a cultural touchstone, the 1993 film would also make Matthew McConaughey's famous phrase-alright, alright, alright-ubiquitous. But it started with a simple idea: Linklater thought people might like to watch a movie about high school kids just hanging out and listening to music on the last day of school in 1976. To some, that might not even sound like a movie. But to a few studio executives, it sounded enough like the next American Graffiti to justify the risk. Dazed and Confused underperformed at the box office and seemed destined to disappear. Then something weird happened: Linklater turned out to be right. This wasn't the kind of movie everybody liked, but it was the kind of movie certain people loved, with an intensity that felt personal. No matter what their high school experience was like, they thought Dazed and Confused was about them. Alright, Alright, Alright is the story of how this iconic film came together and why it worked. Combining behind-the-scenes photos and insights from nearly the entire cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and many others, and with full access to Linklater's Dazed archives, it offers an inside look at how a budding filmmaker and a cast of newcomers made a period piece that would feel timeless for decades to come.

This is the first sustained critical collection on Albert Brooks, one of the key but under-examined figures in American stand-up, television comedy and Hollywood film comedy. Analysing every film written and directed by Albert Brooks, including Real Life (1979), Modern Romance (1981) and Lost in America (1985), as well as a number of his acting and voice-over roles, his stand-up comedy albums, talk show appearances and writing, the book argues that Albert Brooks not only merits a wider viewership, both critical and popular, but also that his career offers a useful lens through which to understand American film and culture since the late 1960s.

In The Construction of Testimony: Claude Lanzmann's Shoah and Its Outtakes, editors Erin McGlothlin, Brad Prager, and Markus Zisselsberger gather contributions on how Shoah (1985) fundamentally changed the nature and use of filmed testimony and laid the groundwork for how historians and documentarians regard and understand the history of the Holocaust. Critics have taken long note of Shoah's innovative style and its place in the history of documentary film and in cultural memory, but few scholars have touched on its extensive outtakes and the reams of documentation archived at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and at Yad Vashem, or the release of five feature-length documentaries based on the material in those outtakes. The Construction of Testimony, which contains thirteen essays by some of the most notable scholars in Holocaust film studies, reexamines Lanzmann's body of work, his film, and the impact of Shoah through this trove-over 220 hours-of previously unavailable and unexplored footage. Responding to the need for a sustained examination of Lanzmann's impact on historical and filmic approaches to testimony, this volume inaugurates a new era of scholarship, one that takes a critical position vis-a-vis the filmmaker's posturing, stylization, and editorial sleight-of-hand. The volume's contributors engage with a range of dimensions central to Lanzmann's filmography and the outtakes, including the dynamics of gender in his work, his representation of Nazi perpetrators, and complex issues of language and translation. In light of Lanzmann's invention of a radically new form of witnessing and remembrance, Shoah laid the framework for the ways in which subsequent filmmakers have represented the Holocaust cinematically; at the same time, the outtakes complicate this framework by revealing new details about the filmmaker's complex editorial choices. Scholars and students of film studies and Holocaust studies will value this close analysis.