Which Lie Did I Tell?

William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade was a classic for moviephiles, revealing all the secrets behind the business of the big screen. Now, screenwriter extraordinaire Goldman returns to give us the latest lowdown on Hollywood moviemaking. He dishes the dirt, adventure by adventure, from his most recent films -- the successes and the failures --  with inside anecdotes from such star-studded sets as The Princess Bride, Misery, and Absulote Power. We find out what it's like to work with Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas, Richard Donner, Rob Reiner, Clint Eastwood, and all the rest of Hollywood's major power players.


But this is much more than just a tourist's guide to the backlot. Goldman conducts a virtual writer's clinic: he tells us exactly what works on film and why, dissecting classic moments in great screenplays ranging from the crop-dusting scene in North by Northwest to the zipper scene in There's Something about Mary. He gives us insider tips on everything from good storytelling to effective pitch-making, and he shows us where his ideas come from and what he does with them when they get there. Finally, he brings together some of today's top screenwriters to analyze, doctor, or destroy a screenplay he created just for this book.


Enlightening as well as entertaining, Which Lie Did I Tell? is certain to follow its predeccesor as the definitive guide to the real workings behind the glitzy facade of contemporary Hollywood.


"Bill Goldman has proven, once again, that he is the most observant, knowledgeable and intuitive screenwriter in the business today."
-- Joe Roth, Producer and former Chairman, Walt Disney Studios


"Almost as great as an evening with the irrepressible, brilliant, sometimes infuriating, always original -- one and only Bill."
-- Joel Schumacher, Director

William Goldman has been writing books and movies for forty-five years. He has won three Lifetime Achievement awards for screenwriting, two Screenwriter of the Year awards, two Academy Awards (for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men), and one English Academy Award. His novels include Marathon Man, which has made him very famous in dentists' offices around the world, Boys and Girls Together, The Temple of Gold, and The Princess Bride. He lives in New York City.