Kazan: The Master Director Discusses His Films. Interviews with Elia Kazan

Kazan, Elia and Young, Jeff

ISBN 10: 1557043388 / ISBN 13: 9781557043382

Published by Newmarket Press, New York, 1999

About this Item

368 pages. Illus., index, front DJ flap price clipped. Inscribed by the author (Jeff Young). In 1970, acclaimed director Elia Kazan agreed to be interviewed by filmmaker Jeff Young for this book, under the condition that Young would not publish it until Kazan wrote his autobiography (which was not released until 1988). Based on interviews over an 18-month period, the book collects Kazan's thoughts on his membership in the Communist party, his feelings about the blacklist, and his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, when he gave the committee names of former Party members, many of whose careers were subsequently destroyed. Kazan was the 1997 Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' (special lifetime achievement) Oscar recipient and the director of, among other titles, "A Streetcar Named Desire, " "The Last Tycoon, " "Viva Zapata! " and "Gentleman's Agreement. ". Bookseller Inventory # 45699

Bibliographic Details

Title: Kazan: The Master Director Discusses His ...

Publisher: Newmarket Press, New York

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Very good

Dust Jacket Condition: very good

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition. First Printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

In this collection of interviews, renowned Academy Award-winning director Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, Baby Doll, The Last Tycoon, A Face in the Crowd, and others) reveals with brutal honesty the joys and complications of production and his unique insights on acting, directing, and producing. 60 black & white movie stills and posters, Index, Filmography.

Review:

The presentation of a lifetime achievement award to Elia Kazan at the 1999 Oscar ceremony was one of the most controversial events in American movie history. Kazan's theatrical résumé includes the original productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, Death of a Salesman, and four of Tennessee Williams's best dramas. For the screen, he created Pinky, A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, Baby Doll, A Face in the Crowd, On the Waterfront, Wild River, and America, America. But during the red scare, the master director named names before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, ruining the careers of several of his contemporaries.

How could the man behind such thoughtful and sensitive masterpieces betray his friends? What is the relationship between an artist's personal life and his public vision? While Kazan spoke to these questions in his stunning, epic autobiography, Elia Kazan: A Life, this interview-based book offers new insight by focusing the conversation on the director's professional life. As Kazan responds to Jeff Young's probing queries, we vividly experience his uncompromising independence, determination, and strength of will.

Regarding the success of his most legendary film, Kazan says:

When I started On the Waterfront, I was what they call unbankable. Nobody would put up money for me because I had had a series of box office failures.... I had a hell of a time raising money, but I respond very well to difficulty. If somebody makes trouble for me, I come flailing out in every direction. One of my happiest moments was when I got the Academy Award for On the Waterfront.... It was especially rewarding because we had made something out of nothing.... All of a sudden no one cared what my politics were, that I was controversial, or difficult or that people were slamming me all the time. After On the Waterfront, I could do anything I wanted. That's Hollywood.

This volume provides readers with an exquisite opportunity to examine the mind and work of a major artist--including details about Kazan's collaborations with Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, John Steinbeck, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, and many others--as well as the chance to experience the creation of some of the century's most indelible works of art. --Raphael Shargel