One of the earliest books I have is THE MAKING OF SPACE:1999, which is far more interesting than the show itself - fascinating because the period it details is the start of the second season, when Fred Frieberger was brought in to 'Americanize' the show.
THE BATTLE FOR BRAZIL, LOSING THE LIGHT - about making Baron Munchausen are great reads, as is the book on the making of THE BROTHERS GRIMM (title escapes me for the moment).
This was quite a popular book in its day, and answered a lot of 'how did they do that gravity stuff?' questions for me. The set/ship model explanations were fascinating too, being so far ahead of their time. And it was its own nice keepsake to have, because back then when a movie left the theaters... you didn't get to see it again for awhile.
The published screenplays to Alien and Aliens, UK only editions , do feature some good behind the scenes information not usually found elsewhere. Paul Sammon edited these as well.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Speilberg's Classic Film AUTHOR: Ray Morton
By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of "Malcolm X" AUTHOR: Spike Lee with Ralph Wiley
The Making of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World AUTHOR: Tom McGregor
A Star Is Born: The Making of the 1954 Movie and Its 1983 Restoration AUTHOR: Ronald Haver
Also, every animated film produced in the last 15 years seems to have spawned a huge picture/making of book. One example: Disney's Aladdin: The Making of an Animated Film AUTHOR: John Culhane
And, try putting these series titles into Amazon for lists of books about individual films. These books usually have background on the film and its production, a critical analysis, profiles of the filmmakers, and sometimes a screenplay.
Cambridge Film Handbooks (26 Amazon listings) Rutgers Films in Print (29 Amazon listings) BFI Film Classics (209 Amazon listings)
Enlightened self interest compels me to cast aside modesty and mention the award-winning "Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER."
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A great film like HUNTER deserves two great books, and I also recommend "THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER: A Biography of a Film," by Jeffrey Couchman.
Enlightened self interest compels me to cast aside modesty and mention the award-winning "Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER."
Dang. Only one library in the inter-library loan system has a copy and won't lend it out.
I've got loads of these, including some of the ones mentioned. I have a Making of Ghostbusters that I picked up many years after the film came out in Foyles in London which has lots of interesting stuff on deleted/unfilmed sequences.
The making of Jurassic Park and The Lost world books are pretty interesting technically as well.
I have the illustrated screenplays for Raiders & TOD but I've never been able to find one for Last Crusade (apart from the Premiere magazine series that came out some years later) which was rumoured at the time.
I've got others from Congo(!), Judge Dredd, the Burton Batman movies, Planet of the Apes saga, loads on various King Kong incarnations, Terminator Salvation, one unauthorized one on the Alien/Predator sagas, and of course loads of Star Wars books!
GWTW by Gavin Lambert FUTURE NOIR (making of BLADE RUNNER) some book about the making of SUPERMAN by a guy who was an actor in the Smallville scenes Bob Balaban's diary about making CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Are there any other "making of..." books about movies that you can recommend?
So after reading all these lists, are there any you're going to try seeking out?
I have the illustrated screenplays for Raiders & TOD but I've never been able to find one for Last Crusade (apart from the Premiere magazine series that came out some years later) which was rumoured at the time.
Argh! I never did find Last Crusade from the Premiere line. It's always driven me crazy seeing them on the shelf incomplete, right next to Star Wars and Return of the Jedi missing The Empire Strikes Back. LOL!!
I just read Nicholas Meyer's "A View from the Bridge" which features candid accounts of the making of all his films. He mentioned that his first published work, when he was a kid starting out in Paramount's publicity department, was also a making-of book, "The Love Story Story," which is about the making of . . . "Love Story" (1970).
Enlightened self interest compels me to cast aside modesty and mention the award-winning "Heaven and Hell to Play With: The Filming of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER."
***
A great film like HUNTER deserves two great books, and I also recommend "THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER: A Biography of a Film," by Jeffrey Couchman.
The above is a delightfully phrased post but it puts me in a bit of a conundrum.
I love the film and woud like to read as much detail as possible about the production. Do I need both books?
