Proper Hollywood Gossip

A fantastic new book

So many Hollywood memoirs promise to dish and then offer bland anecdotes that only serve to burnish the subject’s image.

Hits, Flops and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick is a properly dishy and utterly compelling memoir. Zwick was the director of Legends of the Fall, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai as well as the executive producer of My So Called Life (Jordan Catalano 4eva).

Zwick shares stories and insights from his four decades working in Hollywood. He tells fascinating anecdotes about actors like Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt Tom Cruise, Anne Hathaway and many more but also offers a real inside baseball account of the machinations of the industry and what it takes to get a project made.

He’s disarmingly honest about his own professional failures so you feel confident you’re in the safe hands of an actual human being and not a dreadful Hollywood hack crafting their legacy.

Even when he’s criticising an actor’s appalling behaviour, he’s gracious and sympathetic about why they might have conducted themselves that way so his revelations never feel snarky or in bad taste. But don’t get me wrong, he really goes there.

Each chapter tells the story of one of his projects and ends with a list of advice, tips and lessons he’s learnt along the way. They’re brilliant too.

I really can’t overstate how much fun this book is. Zwick deftly negotiates the line between skewering Hollywood narcism and celebrating the the magic of the preternatural talent he’s witnessed in so many of the actors he’s worked with. And, unsurprisingly for someone who tells stories for a living, brings it all to life with such charm and humour.

I don’t want to give away the good stuff but some notable moments include a transatlantic flight nose to nose in first class beds with Julia Roberts at the height of her 90s fame, some very funny encounters with Tom Cruise’s inimitable manic energy and a vile confrontation with Harvey Weinstein that truly foreshadows what we all now know.

It’s fantastic. Do check it out.

Other business

A few more things I’ve enjoyed recently:

Reading - Wellness by Nathan Hill, Funny Story by Emily Henry

Watching (belatedly) - The Gold on iPlayer, Feel Good on Netflix.

Listening to - Helen Lewis Has Left The Chat on BBC Sounds, The Titanic mini series on The Rest is History.

What’s keeping you entertained at the moment? Do share in the comments.

See you next time!

Hannah