Synopses & Reviews
Art Linson's riotous journey through the making of five major motion pictures.
Whether he's trying to persuade an executive that Gwyneth Paltrow has enough chin to carry the lead in a movie, forcing an enraged Alec Baldwin to shave off his mountain-man beard, or sitting through an excruciating reading of a David Mamet script as Bob de Niro toys with the notion of heading up the cast, Art Linson gives us a brutally honest, funny, and comprehensive tour through the horrors of Hollywood, from script to screen.
In What Just Happened? we get to explore, at close range, finicky directors, clueless executives, shameless marketers, famous actors, battered screenwriters, and hapless producers crossing paths in such calamitous ways that it's a miracle these films get made at all. Linson is the ideal guide through this heavily land-mined, high-stakes industry, pausing for a moment here or there to explain some aspect or pitfall of the business, to wax nostalgic about film days past, or to serve up a compelling inside Hollywood tale of woe. Whether you love the movies or not, you won't be able to resist the stories behind them.
Review
"Art Linson puts a film freak exactly where he or she wants to be....Linson gives readers a glimpse into a bizarro world where 'It's good' is the absolute worst thing you can say about a movie. (Grade: A-)" Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)
Review
"Wickedly funny and sardonic....It is the best user's manual to Hollywood I know." Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Review
"A breezy anatomy of ritual humiliation, Hollywood-style....Linson takes not quite potshots, but humorous nibbles at Hollywood's culture of self-importance." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Art Linson sings of Hollywood in a low, guttural, animal wail, alternately hysterical, biting, humiliating, and wise." Sean Penn
Review
"A fun read. The tone raw, wounded, sarcastic is lively, and the story is seasoned with anecdotes about the stupid or bizarre behavior of suits and stars." People
Review
"Linson's insights into why some movies fail are revealing....[A] decent bird's-eye view on what a producer actually does and the pressures it involves." Publishers Weekly
Review
"It's a hoot....Linson observes all with a keen, critical eye." The Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"[A] juicy tell-all memoir." US Weekly
Review
"Every bit as caustic, funny and humble as the title suggests. It's required reading for anyone with an interest in how good movies go bad." Empire (U.K.)
Review
"The chief virtue of this book...is that it makes one feel a smidgen of sympathy for the producer. This is actually quite an achievement..." Nicholas Lezard, Guardian (U.K.)
Synopsis
Producer Art Linson gives readers a brutally honest, funny, and comprehensivetour through the horrors of Hollywood, from script to screen.
Synopsis
A Hollywood producer explores, at close range, finicky directors, clueless executives, shameless marketers, famous actors, battered screenwriters, and hapless producers crossing paths in such calamitous ways that it's a miracle films get made at all.
About the Author
Art Linson was born in Chicago and grew up in Hollywood. He has been producing movies for twenty-four years, and his credits include The Untouchables, Heat, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Fight Club, and Scrooged. In 1995, he published his first book, A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Hollywood.