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LIFE OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL NICKDAWSON DAWSON KENTUCKY BEING HAL ASHBY LIFE OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL FILM/BIOGRAPHY “Finally, a book—and a very good one indeed—on Hal Ashby, the neglected, least appreciated director of the 1970s. Hopefully, Dawson’s excellent volume will revive Ashby’s reputation and get him the attention he deserves.” —Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ’N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood “Ashby’s quiet genius brought us some of the best American films of the 1970s—Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Coming Home, and Being There—movies that have not lost their compassion, relevance, or unforced artfulness with the passage of time. Dawson’s biography provides a thorough and insightful overview of why Ashby was so highly regarded by friends and colleagues, not just as a filmmaker, but as a remarkable human being.” —Lee Hill, author of A Grand Guy: The Art and Life of Terry Southern “Film scholars have frequently lamented the lack of a Hal Ashby biography. Now there is one, and it will long remain the definitive study.” —David Parkinson, author of History of Film “Scrupulously researched and sensitively rendered, Being Hal Ashby is the definitive biography of a protean, gone-too-soon talent.” —David Stenn, author of Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow BEING HAL ASHBY LIFE OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL NICK DAWSON Hal Ashby (1929–1988) was always an outsider, and as a director he brought an outsider’s perspective to Hollywood cinema. After moving to California from a Mormon household in Utah, he created eccentric films that reflected the uncertain social climate of the 1970s. Whether it is his enduring cult classic Harold and Maude (1971) or the iconic Being There (1979), Ashby’s artistry is unmistakable. His skill for blending intense drama with off-kilter comedy attracted A-list actors and elicited powerful performances from Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (1973), Warren Beatty and Julie Christie in Shampoo (1975), and Jon Voight and Jane Fonda in Coming Home (1979). Yet the man behind these films is still something of a mystery. In Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel, author Nick Dawson for the first time tells the story of a man whose thoughtful and challenging body of work continues to influence modern filmmakers and whose life was as dramatic and unconventional as his films. Ashby began his career as an editor, and it did not take long for his talents to be recognized. He won an Academy Award in 1967 for editing In the Heat of the Night and leveraged his success as an editor to pursue his true passion: directing. Crafting seminal films that steered clear of mainstream conventions yet attracted both popular and critical praise, Ashby became one of the quintessential directors of the 1970s New Hollywood movement. No matter how much success Ashby achieved, he was never able to escape the ghosts of his troubled childhood. The divorce of his parents, his father’s suicide, and his own marriage and divorce—all before the age of nineteen—led to a lifelong struggle with drugs, for which he became infamous in Hollywood. And yet, contrary to mythology, it was not Ashby’s drug abuse that destroyed his career but a fundamental mismatch between the director and the stifling climate of 1980s studio filmmaking. Although his name may not be recognized by many of today’s filmgoers, Hal Ashby is certainly familiar to filmmakers. Despite his untimely death in 1988, his legacy of innovation and individuality continues to influence a generation of independent directors, including Wes Anderson, Sean Penn, and the Coen brothers, who place substance and style above the pursuit of box-office success. In this groundbreaking and exhaustively researched biography, Nick Dawson draws on firsthand interviews and personal papers from Ashby’s estate to offer an intimate look at the tumultuous life of an artist unwilling to conform or compromise. Nick Dawson is an editor at FilmInFocus and a regular contributor to Filmmaker magazine. He has written on film for numerous publications, including Empire, Uncut, and the London Times. Originally from the United Kingdom, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two cats. Jacket photo courtesy Larry Reynolds Jacket design by Richard Rossiter SCREEN CLASSICS Series Editor: Patrick McGilligan The University Press of Kentucky Continued from front flap Continued on back flap ...
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