From Kirk Douglas, Hollywood royalty and bestselling author of The
Ragman's Son and My Stroke of Luck, comes the candid story of the
making of Spartacus, the blockbuster film that broke the blacklist
One of the world's most iconic movie stars, Kirk Douglas has
distinguished himself as a producer, philanthropist, and author of ten
works of fiction and memoir. Now, more than fifty years after the
release of his enduring epic Spartacus, Douglas reveals the riveting
drama behind the making of the legendary gladiator film. Douglas began
producing the movie in the midst of the politically charged era when
Hollywood's moguls refused to hire anyone accused of Communist
sympathies. In a risky move, Douglas chose Dalton Trumbo, a blacklisted
screenwriter, to write Spartacus*.*** Trumbo was one of the
"Unfriendly Ten," men who had gone to prison rather than testify before
the House Un-American Activities Committee about their political
affiliations. Douglas's source material was already a hot property, as
the novel Spartacus was written by Howard Fast while he was in jail
for defying HUAC. With the financial future of his young family at
stake, Douglas plunged into a tumultuous production both on- and
off-screen. As both producer and star of the film, he faced explosive
moments with young director Stanley Kubrick, struggles with a leading
lady, and negotiations with giant personalities, including Sir Laurence
Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Lew Wasserman. Writing
from his heart and from his own meticulously researched archives, Kirk
Douglas, at ninety-five, looks back at his audacious decisions. He made
the most expensive film of its era--but more importantly, his moral
courage in giving public credit to Trumbo effectively ended the
notorious Hollywood blacklist. A master storyteller, Douglas paints a
vivid and often humorous portrait in I Am Spartacus! The book is
enhanced by newly discovered period photography of the stars and
filmmakers both on and off the set.
