|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
Elia Kazan's varied life and career is related here in his
autobiography. He reveals his working relationships with his many
collabourators, including Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Clifford
Odets, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon
Brando, James Dean, John Steinbeck and Darryl Zanuck, and describes
his directing "style" as he sees it, in terms of position,
movement, pace, rhythm and his own limitations. Kazan also retraces
his own decision to inform for the House Un-American Activities
Committee, illuminating much of what may be obscured in McCarthy
literature.
Elia Kazan was the mid-twentieth century's most celebrated director
of both stage and screen, and this book shows us the master at
work.
Kazan directed virtually back to back the greatest American dramas
of the era--by Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams--and
revolutionized theatre and film with dynamic action, poetic
staging, and rigorous naturalism. His list of Broadway and
Hollywood successes--"A Streetcar Named Desire" (stage and screen),
"All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, On the
Waterfront, East of Eden, Baby Doll, America America, "to name only
a few--is a testament to his profound impact on the art of
directing. Kazan's insights into these and other classic stage
works shaped their subsequent productions--and continue to do so.
There is no directorial achievement in America equal to his.
This remarkable book, drawn from his notebooks, letters,
interviews, and autobiography, reveals Kazan's method: how he
uncovered for himself the "spine" or core of each script and each
character; how he analyzed each piece in terms of his own
experience; how he determined the specifics of his production, from
casting and costuming to set design and cinematography. And we see
how he worked with writers on scripts and with actors on
interpretation.
The final section, "The Pleasures of Directing"--essays Kazan was
writing in his last decade--is informal, provocative, candid, and
passionate; a wise old pro sharing the secrets of his craft,
advising us how to search for ourselves in each project, how to
fight the system, and how to have fun doing it.
Published in Kazan's centenary year, this monumental, revelatory
book, edited by Robert Cornfield, is essential reading for everyone
interested in American movies and theatre.
"From the Hardcover edition."
|
|