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Steve Shagan ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
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Steve Shagan A Cast of Thousands
Pocket 1994 0671741330 / 9780671741334 Mass Market Paperback
0671741330 From The Critics Publishers Weekly A sort of cinematic souffle, the latest offering from the author of Pillars of Fire and The Formula is a tasty treat that readers may want to devour in one sitting. This behind-the-scenes view of skulduggery in La-La Land fades in on a group of Hollywood power players who are plotting ``the greatest scam in the history of the business.'' To succeed in their venture (a phony corporate takeover and a major studio's stock devaluation are but two of the nasty ingredients), the partners in crime set out to make an epic--and to ensure its failure. With considerable panache and an insider's view, Shagan chronicles the pulling together of The Volunteers , a seemingly can't-win film dramatization of the Spanish Civil War. The myriad characters and details prove hilarious and appalling, as when a Method actor playing Moses claims insufficient motivation for his character to break the stone tablets. Confirming what many already think of filmdom, a dropout director notes, ``They're dealing from the bottom of the deck to the bottom of the audience.'' Real and fictitious movies--starring real and fictitious luminaries--add considerable punch, as do such vividly evoked locations as New York, Beverly Hills, Rome, Jamaica, Madrid and St. Moritz. While many of these elements are de rigeur for Hollywood sagas, and the plot is reminiscent of the film The Producers , Shagan always manages a fillip that lifts his elements above the madding crowd. (Feb.) Library Journal In Shagan's eighth novel, the major executive players of Gemstone Pictures set up a bogus studio takeover plot in order to make a killing on their stock holding. To ensure the success of their scam, they greenlight a doomed-to-fail David Lean-type epic about the Spanish Civil War, to be made on location by a cast and crew of emotional misfits. Of course, anyone who's seen Mel Brooks's The Producers will guess what happens: the filmmakers pull it off and make a masterpiece. Unfortunately, this is far from Shagan's best work; the numerous characters are all walking cliches, with dialog to match. Shagan is at his best in describing the film's tumultuous shooting adventures, fully displaying his solid experience in the industry. Only intermittently inventive, this is really a ``novel'' waiting to be retyped as a screenplay. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/92.-- David Bartholomew, NYPL
Price:
1.49 USD
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2 |
Steve Shagan A Cast of Thousands
Pocket 1994 0671741330 / 9780671741334 Mass Market Paperback
0671741330 From The Critics Publishers Weekly A sort of cinematic souffle, the latest offering from the author of Pillars of Fire and The Formula is a tasty treat that readers may want to devour in one sitting. This behind-the-scenes view of skulduggery in La-La Land fades in on a group of Hollywood power players who are plotting ``the greatest scam in the history of the business.'' To succeed in their venture (a phony corporate takeover and a major studio's stock devaluation are but two of the nasty ingredients), the partners in crime set out to make an epic--and to ensure its failure. With considerable panache and an insider's view, Shagan chronicles the pulling together of The Volunteers , a seemingly can't-win film dramatization of the Spanish Civil War. The myriad characters and details prove hilarious and appalling, as when a Method actor playing Moses claims insufficient motivation for his character to break the stone tablets. Confirming what many already think of filmdom, a dropout director notes, ``They're dealing from the bottom of the deck to the bottom of the audience.'' Real and fictitious movies--starring real and fictitious luminaries--add considerable punch, as do such vividly evoked locations as New York, Beverly Hills, Rome, Jamaica, Madrid and St. Moritz. While many of these elements are de rigeur for Hollywood sagas, and the plot is reminiscent of the film The Producers , Shagan always manages a fillip that lifts his elements above the madding crowd. (Feb.) Library Journal In Shagan's eighth novel, the major executive players of Gemstone Pictures set up a bogus studio takeover plot in order to make a killing on their stock holding. To ensure the success of their scam, they greenlight a doomed-to-fail David Lean-type epic about the Spanish Civil War, to be made on location by a cast and crew of emotional misfits. Of course, anyone who's seen Mel Brooks's The Producers will guess what happens: the filmmakers pull it off and make a masterpiece. Unfortunately, this is far from Shagan's best work; the numerous characters are all walking cliches, with dialog to match. Shagan is at his best in describing the film's tumultuous shooting adventures, fully displaying his solid experience in the industry. Only intermittently inventive, this is really a ``novel'' waiting to be retyped as a screenplay. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/92.-- David Bartholomew, NYPL
Price:
1.99 USD
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Steve Shagan The Discovery
Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. William Morrow & Company 1984 0688034853 / 9780688034856 First Edition Hardcover Fine Near Fine
0688034853 Tiny nick to front fold of dust jacket.
Price:
10.00 USD
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