A rollicking autobiography from the legendary producer of
Goodfellas, Rocky, and Raging Bull, and an insider's account of
making movies in Hollywood over half a century
The list of films Irwin Winkler has produced in his more-than-fifty-year
career is extraordinary: Rocky, Goodfellas, Raging Bull,
De-Lovely, The Right Stuff, Creed, and The Irishman. His films
have been nominated for fifty-two Academy Awards, including five movies
for Best Picture, and have won twelve.
In A Life in Movies, his charming and insightful memoir, Winkler tells
the stories of his career through his many films as a producer and then
as a writer and director, charting the changes in Hollywood over the
past decades. Winkler started in the famous William Morris mailroom and
made his first film--starring Elvis--in the last days of the old studio
system. Beginning in the late 1960s, and then for decades to come, he
produced a string of provocative and influential films, making him one
of the most critically lauded, prolific, and commercially successful
producers of his era.
This is an engrossing and candid book, a beguiling exploration of what
it means to be a producer, including purchasing rights, developing
scripts, casting actors, managing directors, editing film, and winning
awards. Filled with tales of legendary and beloved films, as well as
some not-so-legendary and forgotten ones, A Life in Movies takes
readers behind the scenes and into the history of Hollywood.
