Sam Wasson – författare

Sight & Sound's #1 Film Book of 2020Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making. In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of its most colorful characters. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage murder of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here is the fevered deal-making of "The Kid" Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation. Looming over the story of this classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the '70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today.

Don't dance for the audience. Dance for yourself.The basis for a lavish new drama series from Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Fosse is the definitive book on one of Broadway's and Hollywood's most complex and dynamic icons.The only person ever to win Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards in the same year, Bob Fosse revolutionised almost every facet of American entertainment. A ground-breaking dancer, choreographer, and theatre and film director, his innumerable achievements include Cabaret, All That Jazz and Chicago, one of the longest-running Broadway musicals ever. Yet his offstage life was equally dramatic, marked by deep psychological wounds and insatiable appetites.In this richly detailed and beautifully written biography, Sam Wasson draws on a wealth of unpublished material and over 300 interviews with Fosse's family, friends, enemies, lovers and collaborators, many of them speaking publicly about Fosse for the first time. Fosse is a book bursting with energy and style, pleasure and pain - much like the man himself.

“So smart and entertaining it should come with its own popcorn”—PeopleCoinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the film version of Truman Capote’s Breakast at Tiffany’s, the acclaimed, New York Times bestseller that is the definitive account of Audrey Hepburn and the making of the cultural landmark film—now updated with a new introduction by the author.In Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., Sam Wasson goes beyond the legend to explore the woman inside the little black dress and the film that captured the imagination of the nation  in 1961—when the staid propriety of the Eisenhower years gave way to the glamorous modernity of the Kennedys. With a colorful cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, Givenchy, Moon River composer Henry Mancini, and, of course, the iconic Audrey Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties and early sixties before Woodstock and birth control, when an alluring, not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly melted hearts, raised eyebrows, and forever transformed Americans’ notions of fashion, film, sex, and culture.Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. includes an 8-page black-and-white photo insert.This page-turning work of film history reveals the stories behind the legend: The Making of a Classic: Go inside the tumultuous production, from Truman Capote’s controversial source material to the casting decision that changed Hollywood forever.Audrey Hepburn’s Toughest Role: Discover why the star, known for her grace and charm, was terrified to play the "not-so-virginal" Holly Golightly and how the role redefined her career.The Little Black Dress: Learn the story of Hubert de Givenchy’s revolutionary design and how it, along with the film, transformed American notions of fashion, sex, and independence.A Cultural History: Immerse yourself in the shift from the staid 1950s to the glamorous modernity of the Kennedy era, with a colorful cast of characters from Edith Head to Henry Mancini.

Hollywood: The Oral History covers the history of Hollywood from the Silent era up to the 21st century.What makes this book unique from any other survey of Hollywood's history is that it is the history of an art form through the words of those people who created it - from Harold Lloyd to Katharine Hepburn to Warren Beatty to Jane Fonda and beyond, including directors, writers, producers, editors, designers of sets and costumes.As such, the authenticity of the text is irrefutable.The material in the book - gathered over the decades by the American Film Institute - has never been published before, has never been heard before.It is comprehensive - a monument that will never age nor be surpassed.

'Essential . . . thrilling . . . invaluable.' Irish Times'Absorbing . . . rippling with fun and atmosphere.' Sight & Sound'Hollywood's ultimate oral history.' New YorkerThe greatest conversation in the history of Hollywood.From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader 'listen in' on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera - Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda, Harold Lloyd - the biggest behind it - Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the musicians, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists who shaped what was heard and seen on screen.Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson have undertaken the monumental task of weaving these thousands of hours of talk into a conversation that is lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and authentically honest in its portrait of workaday Hollywood.

The definitive account of the legendary Francis Ford Coppola's decades-long dream to reinvent American film-making, if not the entire world.'Supremely entertaining.' New York Times'Mouth-watering . . . Sizzingly vivid and compulsive.' Daily TelegraphAcclaimed writer Sam Wasson weaves together an extraordinary portrait of Coppola, having conducted hundreds of interviews with the director and those who have worked closely with him. A man who is charming, brilliant, but also plagued by restlessness, recklessness and a desire to operate perpetually at the extremes. It is a story inextricably bound up in the making of one of the greatest quixotic masterpieces ever attempted, Apocalypse Now. That story, already the stuff of legend, has never been fully told until this extraordinary book..

It was the sight of the Statue of Liberty that caused the 6-year-old Sicilian immigrant boy to change his name from Franco to Frank Capra and become one of the great chroniclers of America - how Americans love, govern, dream, and fight for their individuality.Capra went on to create a body of work that extends from boisterous comedies (It Happened One Night) through social films such as Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Mr Deeds Goes to Town, and culminated in his masterpiece, It's a Wonderful Life.For James Stewart, "the best Frank Capra story is the story of his own life. It's got more highs and lows than a rollercoaster." His films are as complex and rich as his life - characterized by a deep humanity, which, Wasson argues, elevates him above all other Hollywood film-makers. And it is this humanity that ensures they still speak to us today. This extraordinary book, making full use of Capra's own archives for the first time - including deeply personal writings from his later years - brings this seminal artist into urgent life for the first time. At the same time, in its epic richness, it offers a dazzling portrait, both of a lost America and an enduring one.