A Life in Movies

Arollicking autobiography from the legendary producer of Goodfellas, Rocky,and Raging Bull, and an insider’s account of making movies inHollywood over half a century

 

The list of films Irwin Winkler has produced in his more-than-fifty-year careeris extraordinary: Rocky, Goodfellas, RagingBull, De-Lovely, The Right Stuff, Creed, andThe Irishman. His films have been nominated for fifty-two AcademyAwards, including five movies for Best Picture, and have won twelve.

In A Life in Movies, his charming and insightful memoir, Winklertells the stories of his career through his many films as a producer and thenas a writer and director, charting the changes in Hollywood over the pastdecades. Winkler started in the famous William Morris mailroom and made hisfirst film—starring Elvis—in the last days of the old studio system. Beginningin the late 1960s, and then for decades to come, he produced a string ofprovocative and influential films, making him one of the most criticallylauded, prolific, and commercially successful producers of his era.

This is an engrossing and candid book, a beguiling exploration of what itmeans to be a producer, including purchasing rights, developing scripts,casting actors, managing directors, editing film, and winning awards.Filledwith tales of legendary and beloved films, as well as some not-so-legendary andforgotten ones, A Life in Movies takes readers behind thescenes and into the history of Hollywood.