"How Coppola Became Cage chronicles Nicolas Cage's early career and rise to fame, examining the formative performances that made him an icon of independent cinema in the 1980s and early 1990s. Drawing on more than 100 new interviews with Cage's collaborators-including filmmakers David Lynch, John Patrick Shanley, Mike Figgis, Martha Coolidge, and Amy Heckerling-this book offers a revealing portrait of Cage's origin story as a member of the Coppola family, his early roles in low-budget teen films, and his rise to stardom with memorable performances in cult films like Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, and Wild at Heart. The book examines how Cage drew on influences as eclectic as silent cinema and German Expressionism while displaying an intense commitment to his performances both on- and off-screen. The book demystifies the actor's onscreen eccentricities and argues that his commercial failures are as interesting as his successes. How Coppola Became Cage meticulously traces Cage's career from 1981, when he was a young drama student at Beverly Hills High, to 1995, when he gave an Oscar-winning performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas."--

An NPR "Books We Love" 2022 “Age of Cage might be the closest we will get to understanding the singular beauty of each of Nic Cage’s always electric performances. You are holding the Rosetta Stone for Cage. Enjoy it.” —Paul Scheer, actor, writer and host of the How Did This Get Made? and Unspooled podcasts Icon. Celebrity. Artist. Madman. Genius. Nicolas Cage is many things, but love him, or laugh at him, there's no denying two things: you’ve seen one of his many films, and you certainly know his name. But who is he, really, and why has his career endured for over forty years, with more than a hundred films, and birthed a million memes? Age of Cage is a smart, beguiling book about the films of Nicolas Cage and the actor himself, as well as a sharp-eyed examination of the changes that have taken place in Hollywood over the course of his career. Critic and journalist Keith Phipps draws a portrait of the enigmatic icon by looking at—what else?—Cage’s expansive filmography. As Phipps delights in charting Cage’s films, Age of Cage also chronicles the transformation of film, as Cage’s journey takes him through the world of 1980s comedies (Valley Girl, Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck), to the indie films and blockbuster juggernauts of the 1990s (Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Con Air), through the wild and unpredictable video-on-demand world of today. Sweeping in scope and intimate in its profile of a fiercely passionate artist, Age of Cage is, like the man himself, surprising, insightful, funny, and one of a kind. So, snap out of it, and enjoy this appreciation of Nicolas Cage, national treasure.

In 1973, the musical collective 24-Carat Black released an unheralded masterpiece on Stax Records-and then disappeared. Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth, a soul-funk concept album primarily written by the ex-Motown arranger Dale Warren, was too bleak, ambitious, or just outright bizarre to reach mainstream audiences. 24-Carat Black collapsed when Stax went bankrupt, and the group's only completed album sank into cultural obscurity. With deep reporting elucidating an untold story full of cinematic details, this book traces how Ghetto went from commercial flop to enigmatic underground classic embraced by the hip-hop community. It also chronicles, in infuriating detail, how the music industry of the 1970s systematically exploited soul musicians and then left them struggling to get paid-and where 24-Carat Black fits into this broader injustice. This is a fascinating and multilayered story about a remarkable album nearly lost to history. It's also a rare glimpse into what it's like to have your music resurrected by rap samples decades after your career fell apart.

Beginning with his birth in 1939 to Italian-American parents, through his early years as a maverick director and screenwriter, right up to his legal victory over Warner Bros in 1998, this book explores Coppola's professional development into one of the finest directors of his generation.

THE PUBLISHING SENSATION OF THE YEAR FOR EVERY FILM FAN The never-before-published edition of Francis Ford Coppola’s notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo reveals the story behind one of the world’s most iconic films. The most important unpublished work on one of the greatest films of all time, The Godfather, written before filming, by the man who wrote and directed it—Francis Ford Coppola, then only thirty-two years old—reveals the intense creative process that went into making this seminal film. With his meticulous notes and impressions of Mario Puzo’s novel, the notebook was referred to by Coppola daily on set while he directed the movie. The Godfather Notebook pulls back the curtain on the legendary filmmaker and the film that launched his illustrious career. Complete with an introduction by Francis Ford Coppola and exclusive photographs from on and off the set, this is a unique, beautiful, and faithful reproduction of Coppola’s original notebook. This publication will change the way the world views the iconic film—and the process of filmmaking at large. A must-have book of the season. Nothing like it has ever been published before

This critical biography by the acclaimed film historian is “certainly the definitive work on the director” behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now (Publishers Weekly). Gene Phillips blends biography, studio history, and film criticism to complete the most comprehensive work on Coppola ever written. The force behind such popular and critically acclaimed films as Rumble Fish and the Godfather trilogy, Coppola has imprinted his distinct style on each of his movies and on the landscape of American popular culture. In Godfather, Phillips argues that Coppola has repeatedly bucked the Hollywood "factory system" in an attempt to create distinct films that reflect his own artistic vision—often to the detriment of his career and finances. Phillips conducted interviews with the director and his colleagues and examined Coppola's production journals and screenplays. Phillips also reviewed rare copies of Coppola's student films, his early excursions into soft-core pornography, and his less celebrated productions such as One from the Heart and Tucker: The Man and His Dream. The result is the definitive assessment of one of Hollywood's most enduring and misunderstood mavericks.

The 10th anniversary edition, now with a new preface by the author "A wonderfully smart, lively, and culturally astute survey." - The New York Times Book Review "Grand entertainment...fascinating for anyone curious about the perplexing miracles of how great television comes to be." - The Wall Street Journal "I love this book...It's the kind of thing I wish I'd been able to read in film school, back before such books existed." - Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad and co-creator of Better Call Saul In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows on cable channels dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and creative ambition. Combining deep reportage with critical analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of this artistic watershed - a golden age of TV that continues to transform America's cultural landscape. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players - including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) - and reveals how television became a truly significant and influential part of our culture.