The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir - Hardcover

Friedkin, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061775126 ISBN 13: 9780061775123

Publisher: Harper, 2013

Synopsis

"[This book] captures the gut-wrenching shifts of a filmmaker’s life—the bizarre whipsaw from success to disaster.” —Variety

An acclaimed memoir from William Friedkin, a maverick of American cinema and Academy Award–winning director of such legendary films as The French Connection, The Exorcist, and To Live and Die in LA. The Friedkin Connection takes readers from the streets of Chicago to the suites of Hollywood and from the sixties to today, with autobiographical storytelling as fast-paced and intense as any of the auteur's films.

In this book, William Friedkin, offers a candid look at a thrilling era of Hollywood cinema, when traditional storytelling gave way to the rebellious and alternative; when filmmakers like him captured the paranoia and fear of a nation undergoing a cultural nervous breakdown.

The Friedkin Connection includes 16 pages of black-and-white photographs.

About this title

About the Author

William Friedkin (1935 - 2023) was the Academy Award–winning director of such iconic films as The Exorcist and The French Connection.

From the Back Cover

With such seminal movies as The Exorcist and The French Connection, Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin secured his place as a great filmmaker. A maverick from the start, Friedkin joined other young directors who ushered in Hollywood's second Golden Age during the 1970s. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, Friedkin provides a candid portrait of an extraordinary life and career.

His own success story has the makings of classic American film. He was born in Chicago, the son of Russian immigrants. Immediately after high school, he found work in the mailroom of a local television station, and patiently worked his way into the directing booth during the heyday of live TV. An award-winning documentary brought him attention as a talented new filmmaker, as well as an advocate for justice, and it caught the eye of producer David L. Wolper, who brought Friedkin to Los Angeles. There he moved from television (one of the last episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour) to film (The Birthday Party, The Boys in the Band), displaying a versatile stylistic range. Released in 1971, The French Connection won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and two years later, The Exorcist received ten Oscar nominations and catapulted Friedkin's career to stardom.

Penned by the director himself, The Friedkin Connection takes readers on a journey through the numerous chance encounters and unplanned occurrences that led a young man from a poor urban neighborhood to success in one of the most competitive industries and art forms in the world.

From the streets of Chicago to the executive suites of Hollywood, from star-studded movie sets to the precision of the editing room, from a pas-sionate new artistic life as a renowned director of operas to his most recent tour de force, Killer Joe, William Friedkin has much to say about the world of moviemaking and his place within it.

Written with the narrative drive of one of his finest films, The Friedkin Connection is a wonderfully engaging look at an artist and an industry that has transformed who we are—and how we see ourselves.

Reviews

Much has been written about the second golden age of Hollywood during the 1970s. Friedkin, who got his start in Chicago directing documentaries and live television, rocketed to the head of the class alongside such heavyweights as Scorsese, Coppola, and Polanski after the success and acclaim he received (including the Academy Award for Best Director) for helming the 1971 classic The French Connection. As Friedkin recalls in this durable and intermittently enthralling memoir, such universal praise came too soon, and he became deeply concerned that his career had peaked after only his fifth film. He never could have predicted the frenzied reaction to his 1973 follow-up, The Exorcist, which broke box-office records and redefined the horror genre. On the page, Friedkin never comes across as arrogant, and although he shares candid anecdotes about working with Sonny and Cher, Gene Hackman, and Al Pacino, this is no venomous tell-all. The reflective chapters devoted to his critical and commercial failures are the most insightful. Hardcore film geeks will salivate over this time capsule from a grateful and still-­brilliant legend. --Chris Keech

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061775126
• ISBN 13: 9780061775123
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512