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I
Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History
Walter
Mirisch
Forewords by Sidney Poitier and Elmore Leonard
Wisconsin
Film Series, Patrick McGilligan, Series Editor
“Legendary
producer, visionary filmmaker, courageous seeker of truth,
especially in troubling times.”—Sidney
Poitier, from his foreword
"I
love learning things I didn't know about the movie business.
That's why I enjoyed Walter Mirisch's memoir so much; it's full
of insights and revelations drawn from his long and storied
career. . . . I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History is
a panoramic look at the film industry from the 1940s to the
1990s, with all its highs and lows. I would call it a
must-read."-Leonard
Maltin, leonardmaltin.com
“Mirisch's
new memoir, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History, is a
detailed, precise record of a working producer. It's not about
the accumulation of power or money, nor is it about making movies
as an excuse to snag women. It is, rather, a comprehensive
account of how movies get made - their creative and financial
organization."-Scott
Eyman, Palm Beach Post
"The
book is jammed with nifty behind-the-scenes tales and anecdotes
he has collected on and off the set."
-Robert Osborne, the Hollywood Reporter“Mirisch's
engaging memoir, I thought We Were Making Movies, Not History
is exactly the kind of book anyone who has had the privilege of
knowing Mirisch over the decades would have expected of him. It is
unpretentious, straightforward and is suffused with a sustaining
love of family and of filmmaking." - Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles
Times
This is a moving, star-filled
account of one of Hollywood’s true golden ages as told by a man
in the middle of it all. Walter Mirisch’s company has produced
some of the most entertaining and enduring classics in film
history, including West
Side Story, Some Like It Hot, In the Heat of the Night, and
The
Magnificent Seven.
His work has led to 87 Academy Award nominations and 28 Oscars.
Richly illustrated with rare photographs from his personal
collection,
I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History
reveals Mirisch’s own experience of Hollywood in its golden
days and tells the stories of the stars—emerging and
established—who appeared in his films, including Natalie Wood,
John Wayne, Peter Sellers, Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Sidney
Poitier, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, and many others.
With
hard-won insight and gentle humor, Mirisch recounts how he
witnessed the end of the studio system, the development of
independent production, and the rise and fall of some of
Hollywood’s most gifted (and notorious) cultural icons. A
producer with a passion for creative excellence, he offers
insights into his innovative filmmaking process, revealing a rare
ingenuity for placating the demands of auteur directors,
weak-kneed studio executives, and troubled screen sirens.
From
his early start as a movie theater usher to the presentation of
such masterpieces as The
Apartment, Fiddler on the Roof,
and The
Great Escape,
Mirisch tells the inspiring life story of his climb to the
highest echelon of the American film industry. This book assures
Mirisch’s legacy—as Elmore Leonard puts it—as “one of the
good guys.”
Walter
Mirisch
is the producer, in whole or in part, of more than one hundred
films. Among the Mirisch Company’s honors are three Oscars for
best picture—The
Apartment (1960),
West Side
Story
(1961), and In
the Heat of the Night
(1967). Mirisch has also received two honorary Academy Awards,
the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (1977) and the Jean
Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1983); and has been honored with the
Cecil B. DeMille Award (1977) presented by the Hollywood Foreign
Press Association and the David O. Selznick Lifetime Achievement
Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures (1995) presented by the
Producers Guild of America. He has been decorated by the Republic
of France with its Order of Arts and Letters, has received an
honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of
Wisconsin–Madison, and is a recipient of the UCLA Medal, that
university’s highest award. Mirisch served three terms as
president of the Producers Guild of America and four terms as
president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences.
“From Bomba,
the Jungle Boy
to Some Like
It Hot and
In the Heat of the Night .
. . Walter Mirisch produced many of the films which dazzled and
inspired me (and I’m not kidding about Bomba.
I loved those movies as a kid.) When I later acted in one of his
(lesser) productions,
The Spikes Gang,
I learned that a prolific and brilliant producer could also be a
terrific guy and a wonderful teacher. No surprise then that
Walter has given us a wise and utterly engrossing look at his
life . . . and extraordinary experiences in this film
business.”—Ron Howard
“Walter Mirisch’s
love of movies led him to make some of the best films\ that the
industry has produced. Whether as producer or as an executive of
one of the best production companies in town, he has seen it all
and now can tell it all to you from his own fiercely independent
perspective.”—Steven Spielberg
“Walter Mirisch
has written the quintessential behind-the-scenes book on the
glory days of Hollywood. If you ever wanted to know everything
there was to know, this will surely be touted as a ‘bible’ of
our industry—for Walter tells it as it really was, with the
integrity for which he is known and loved. It is an engaging
story; insightful and entertaining, poignant with personal
anecdotes.”
—Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards
Produced
by the Mirisch Company :
Some
Like It Hot
West Side Story
In the Heat of the Night
The
Great Escape
The Magnificent Seven
The Apartment
The
Pink Panther
Fiddler on the Roof
Hawaii
The Horse
Soldiers
One, Two, Three
Man of the West
The Children’s
Hour
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
Toys
in the Attic
Two for the Seesaw
The Thomas Crown
Affair
Midway
How to Succeed in Business without Really
Trying
Same Time, Next Year
The Landlord
Wichita
Mr.
Majestyk
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
The
Organization
The Party
A Shot in the Dark
Irma La Douce
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April
2008
408
pp. 6 x 9 59 b/w photos
ISBN-13:
978-0-299-22640-4
Cloth $29.95
I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History
Click
here to purchase book at amazon.com.
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