ABOUT
THE BOOK |
Author: Tom Shone
Paperback: 352 Pages
Publisher: Scribner (July 2005)
ISBN: 0743239911
Price: S$19.95 (Available in Borders)
Links:
www.simonandschuster.com
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BOOK REVIEW:
How much do you know about the origins of the summer blockbuster
phenomenon? To the average moviegoer, summertime is when huge
Hollywood tentpole projects are released. But not everyone
knew how it all began. It’s origins according to Tom
Shone start from a film called “Jaws”.
What kept this book so fascinating are Shone’s interviews
with the industry big names including Spielberg, George Lucas
and Ridley Scott. Names that are synonymously linked to the
biggest hits of motion picture history. “Alien”,
“Star Wars” and “Titanic” are dissected
by Shone and how huge sums of greenback are splurged on marketing
and merchandising by the major studios. Familiarised yourself
with figures such as $100 million and $50 million because
there’s lots of interesting box-office results from
the past years. There are also brutally honest snippets into
Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg’s childhood.
CHOICE XCERPT:
“When Jim (Cameron) makes a movie he writes two",
says friend Scott Ross. What he does is he sleeps during the
day and he wakes up in the night and from 8:00 PM until 1:00AM
he'll write one movie and from two o'clock until seven he'll
write the other movie. He cocoons himself and nobody ever
sees him and then he comes out and now he's got these screenplays
and now he wants a close group of his personal friends to
read the screenplays and give him feedback. He wants lots
of feedback and if you don't give it to him, he gets very
upset because he needs to know if he's good. Once he's made
a decision and decides this is the way to go then he will
just go and all hell breaks loose."
VERDICT:
Shone’s
first book is an easy read especially for the diehard movie
fans. Glide through the pages at ease and have a behind-the-scenes
look at the ever-changing trend of summer blockbusters.
Review
by Linus Tee
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This book review is made possible with the kind sponsor of
BORDERS
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