Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film - Hardcover

Biskind, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068486259X ISBN 13: 9780684862590

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2004

Synopsis

A critical analysis of the rise of independent filmmakers examines Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival, the success of Miramax, and the careers of independent filmmakers whose work has transformed Hollywood and the film industry.

About this title

Review:

You've heard the rumors. The film industry is filled with ruthless executives who think nothing of brow-beating their employees, of using creative accounting to cheat filmmakers, and re-cutting a director's vision into a soulless crowd-pleaser. Well, it turns out those rumors are often true--at least according to Peter Biskind's highly entertaining Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. Packed with industry anecdotes and history, the book chronicles the growth and eventual mainstreaming of independent films and offers the back-story to seminal works including sex, lies, and videotape and Pulp Fiction among others. Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, divides most of his time between Sundance Film Festival founder Robert Redford and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein. Biskind simultaneously credits these two as fostering, though ultimately ruining, the purity of indpendent film. Other indies are largely left out, although the now-defunct October Films appears prominently in the role of noble failure. Biskind has serious points to make, but he's not stingy with the war stories, either. (One particularly amusing scene involves October executives chasing Robert Duvall's agent through a Sheraton Hotel in an attempt to stop him from making a deal with Miramax to distribute The Apostle.) Those who have only a passing interest in the movie business may tire of Biskind's oft-repeated themes (Weinstein is an evil genius! Redford is a passive-aggressive control freak!) but for those who truly love film industry gossip, Down and Dirty Pictures is a feast of insider stories--each tidbit juicier than the last. --Leah Weathersby

About the Author:

Peter Biskind is the author of three previous books, including Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. He is a contributor to Vanity Fair and formerly the executive editor of Premiere magazine. He lives with his family in Columbia County, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 068486259X
• ISBN 13: 9780684862590
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 560