Looking for good books about the movies to read?
We’ve got a bumper selection of recommendations right here…
This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.
As such, what youre getting is a very personal list of recommendations.
Also, I should note, Ive also avoided books that tend to be more academic.
None of these are for a film studies course.
All are designed for mortals like me to read.
Others are widely available, none of them should break the bank.
Theyre listed in alphabetical order, by authors surname.
Yet I still enjoyed it, and Armstrong offers an angle on the movies thats not often discussed.
Youll learn lots from the book, even if its not always the easiest to read.
Here, I defer to my colleagues.Final Cutcharts to the story of the infamous production ofHeavens Gate.
And Aliya penned a piece about this book specificallyhere.
Funny, wildly entertaining, and one of the most wonderful journeys through 1970s cinema in print form.
First piece of advice: get the audiobook.
Blessed reads it himself.
The film stuff is strong enough to earn it a place on this list, though.
Best not to readAbsolute Pandemoniumwhile sipping a drink would be my strong advice.
The number of laugh-out-loud moments in here is high.
For Brillstein was instrumental in the careers of people such as Jim Henson, John Belushi and Gilda Radner.
He has interesting stories to tell, and tells them very, very well.
A warm, witty collection of essays from actor, writer, director, comedian and Oscar-host Billy Crystal.
Just one youre aware that you might not be getting the full picture from.
What differentiates some film books is the enviable access theyd had to the right people.
Thats certainly the case with Helen de Winters comprehensiveWhat I Really Want To Do Is Produce.
His stories of visiting Trumbo, living in Hollywood exile, are expertly told.
But then so is the story of changing directors onSpartacus, and coming to work with Stanley Kubrick.
It wont take too long to readI Am Spartacus, but its very much worth the effort.
A very long, sometimes rambling, but very often utterly gripping autobiography of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.
Across two books, he both tells it very well, and in a very tired way.
So stick with the first, the engrossingThe Kid Stays In The Picture.
Robert Evans is clearly a man in love with himself, by the tone of his prose.
Plus you wont be left in much doubt that hes led something of a sleazy life.
Yet for some reason, books about 70s Hollywood rarely fail to deliver.
This is no exception.
Palace Pictures was, at one stage, the biggest force in UK cinema.
Angus Finneys book captures some of that.
This doesnt feel like the definitive telling of uber-producer Don Simpsons life.
Still, Fleming does a solid job charting the rise and premature death ofTop GunandDays Of Thunderproducer Don Simpson.
But its hard not to get something out ofHigh Concept.
Foxs voice is engrained throughLucky Man, and its a rounded, moving and very human piece of work.
Her choices are fiercely mainstream too.
A pity, as many of the tales of the first film are already well known.
Yet the pages are dripping with stories that are gold dust for self-respecting movie nerds.
Superbly written, as youd expect, decades on, Goldmans book is still hard to beat.
Published in 2001, it covers Goldmans work on films such asThe Chamber,Maverick,andMisery.
A spiky, terrifically-written look at when Peter Guber and Jon Peters ran Columbia Pictures in the early 1990s.
And yet, it seems, it was all true.
One of the best books out there about 1990s Hollywood.
Harris is an excellent guide, from the tittle-tattle behind the scenes of the bloatedDr.
Dolittle, to the struggles just to get Warner Bros to fully backBonnie & Clyde.
Wonderfully researched and a joy to read, HarrisFive Came Backalso comes strongly recommended.
The films?Terminator 3, DreamWorksSinbad, andLegally Blonde 2.
Oh, andGrease 2.
The structure of the book makes it one to easily dip and out of, too.
I found myself breezing through this one, and enjoying it, in next to no time.
Then theres the sheer ambition inThe Muppet MovieandLabyrinth.
Its an exhaustive biography, but crucially not a rose-tinted one.
Its a richly rewarding read, too.
Ive a real soft spot for books that go into forensic detail about the making of just one film.
But even without that, David Itzkoffs superb dissection about the making of Sidney Lumets classicNetworkwould be a must-read.
Credit, too, for focusing so heavily on screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky.
Still, Keegan absolutely doesnt short-change you when it comes to anecdotes about the man himself.
Ive enjoyed the other two Hatchet JobandThe Good, The Bad & The Multiplex a lot.
ButIts Only A Moviejust about edges them for me.
Ostensibly an autobiography, its actually Kermode talking about his upbringing through films.
Its a witty, immensely readable piece of work.
Still, over 20 years on, DreamWorks is a different beast to the one it once was.
Dear John Leguizamo: yo write more books.
The Steven Seagal anecdote from the set ofExecutive Decisionalone justifies the books existence.
As you might expect, thats the proverbial tip of a quite wonderful proverbial iceberg.
Its not an easy book to read in one sitting, giving that Linson jumps around an awful lot.
It was worth it, though.
The book also features the directors cut of the screenplay.
An astonishing story, excellently told by Matthews.
Films greenlighted on his watch includeThe Terminator,The Silence Of The Lambs,Cliffhanger,andSleepless In Seattle.
A book that noBack To The Futurefan should be without.
The star of the show is North, though, thanks to his breathlessly funny writing style.
Rarely has such a factual dissection induced such mirth.
Its more aimed at those wanting to work in the business, or get advice on surviving it.
But for outsides, Obst still has interesting tales to tell.
Her insight into how, for instance, the movieCrisis In The Hot Zonefailed to materialize is eye-opening.
In particular, Lasseters drive to make massive, film-changing breakthroughs in digital animation.
How far would you go to get your first feature funded?
Rebel With A Crewcharts Rodriguez trying to get his first full feature the micro-budgetEl Mariachi funded and made.
Its a captivating, outstanding read.
We then get theSuperman IIIandSupermanIVproblems dissected.
Less a great book perhaps, more a really, really interesting one.
All from the writers perspective.
Its not a textbook, though, rather that Rubins puts a very human perspective on what happened.
The Devils Candyhas been described as the greatest book on the making of a film ever written.
I couldnt personally call that.
The hugely expensive blockbuster had a muddled released, and the film certainly had problems.
Yet few people have got to the heart of quite what happened as effectively as Michael Sellers.
Sellers takes the project from its early stages, through to the botched marketing campaign and its eventual release.
Thats not to sell them short.
Sellers is clearly fascinated with his subjects, and that cant help but come across on the page.
Well, Im going for two.
Firstly, the rise of Handmade Films is charted inVery Naughty Boys.
Steel died tragically young, at just 51 years old.
Her excellent book is a fitting tribute to her work.
But its surprisingly entertaining, and would also set the scene for a film in its own right.
The filmmakers cover David O Russell, Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher and Spike Jonze, amongst others.
That said, his book isnt one of a man with scores to settle.
Mara Wilson Where Am I Now?
Its very much worth the effort to track this one down.
Expect to see that on the main list soon…
Lead image: BigStock
