The greatest conversation in the history of Hollywood.

From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader ‘listen in’ on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera – Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda, Harold Lloyd – the biggest behind it – Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the musicians, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists who shaped what was heard and seen on screen.

Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson have undertaken the monumental task of weaving these thousands of hours of talk into a conversation that is lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and authentically honest in its portrait of workaday Hollywood.

Hollywood: The Oral History covers the history of Hollywood from the Silent era up to the 21st century. What makes this book unique from any other survey of Hollywood's history is that it is the history of an art form through the words of those people who created it - from Harold Lloyd to Katharine Hepburn to Warren Beatty to Jane Fonda and beyond, including directors, writers, producers, editors, designers of sets and costumes. As such, the authenticity of the text is irrefutable. The material in the book - gathered over the decades by the American Film Institute - has never been published before, has never been heard before. It is comprehensive - a monument that will never age nor be surpassed.

Sight & Sound's #1 Film Book of 2020 Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making. In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of its most colorful characters. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage murder of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here is the fevered deal-making of "The Kid" Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation. Looming over the story of this classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the '70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today.

"So smart and entertaining it should come with its own popcorn"-People Coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the film version of Truman Capote's Breakast at Tiffany's, the acclaimed, New York Times bestseller that is the definitive account of Audrey Hepburn and the making of the cultural landmark film-now updated with a new introduction by the author. In Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., Sam Wasson goes beyond the legend to explore the woman inside the little black dress and the film that captured the imagination of the nation in 1961-when the staid propriety of the Eisenhower years gave way to the glamorous modernity of the Kennedys. With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, Moon River composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, the iconic Audrey Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties and early sixties before Woodstock and birth control, when an alluring, not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly melted hearts, raised eyebrows, and forever transformed Americans' notions of fashion, film, sex, and culture. Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. includes an 8-page black-and-white photo insert.

The real story of Hollywood as told by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Harold Lloyd, and nearly four hundred others, assembled from the American Film Institute's treasure trove of interviews, reveals a fresh history of the American movie industry from its beginnings to today. From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Gleaned from nearly three thousand interviews, involving four hundred voices from the industry, Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader "listen in" on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera--Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloyd--to the biggest behind it--Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the lesser known individuals that shaped what was heard and seen on screen: musicians, costumers, art directors, cinematographers, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of Hollywood. It's the insider's story. Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson, both acclaimed storytellers in their own right, have undertaken the monumental task of digesting these tens of thousands of hours of talk and weaving it into a definitive portrait of workaday Hollywood.

Say 'Coppola' and The Godfather immediately comes to mind. But Coppola isn't Corleone -- he's more than that. He's a visionary who predicted that digital cameras - no larger than one's hand - would allow anyone to make movies. And then set up a studio, Zeotrope, to make his dreams a reality. The book presents the highs and lows of both his personal and professional life, as Coppola sets out to transform the process of making movies. Sam Wasson masterly captures the larger-than-life figure of a man who pursued a vision of the world of movies and all the wonder of what that would be.

Don't dance for the audience. Dance for yourself. The basis for a lavish new drama series from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Fosse is the definitive book on one of Broadway's and Hollywood's most complex and dynamic icons. The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards in the same year, Bob Fosse revolutionised almost every facet of American entertainment. A ground-breaking dancer, choreographer, and theatre and film director, his innumerable achievements include Cabaret, All That Jazz and Chicago, one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever. Yet his offstage life was equally dramatic, marked by deep psychological wounds and insatiable appetites. In this richly detailed and beautifully written biography, Sam Wasson draws on a wealth of unpublished material and over 300 interviews with Fosse's family, friends, enemies, lovers and collaborators, many of them speaking publicly about Fosse for the first time. Fosse is a book bursting with energy and style, pleasure and pain - much like the man himself.

More than a quarter-century after his death, Bob Fosse's fingerprints on popular culture remain indelible. The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy, and Tony awards in the same year, Fosse revolutionized nearly every facet of American entertainment, forever marking Broadway and Hollywood with his iconic style -- hat tilted, fingers splayed -- that would influence generations of performing artists. Yet in spite of Fosse's innumerable achievements, no accomplishment ever seemed to satisfy him, and offstage his life was shadowed in turmoil and anxiety. Now, bestselling author Sam Wasson unveils the man behind the swaggering sex appeal, tracing Fosse's untold reinventions of himself over a career that would spawn "The Pajama Game," "Cabaret," "Pippin," "All That Jazz," and "Chicago," one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material and hundreds of sources -- friends, enemies, lovers, and collaborators, many of whom have never spoken publicly about Fosse before -- Wasson illuminates not only Fosse's prodigious professional life, but also his close and conflicted relationships with everyone from Liza Minnelli to Ann Reinking to Jessica Lange and Dustin Hoffman. Wasson also uncovers the deep wounds that propelled Fosse's insatiable appetites -- for spotlights, women, and life itself. In this sweeping, richly detailed account, Wasson's stylish, effervescent prose proves the ideal vehicle for revealing Bob Fosse as he truly was -- after hours, close up, and in vibrant color.