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.
