Surely You Can't Be Serious
The True Story of Airplane!
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- ¥2,000
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- ¥2,000
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NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COMEDY BOOKS OF 2023 AT VULTURE
Surely You Can't Be Serious is an in-depth and hysterical look at the making of 1980's comedy classic Airplane! by the legendary writers and directors of the hit film.
Airplane! premiered on July 2nd, 1980. With a budget of $3.5 million it went on to make nearly $200 million in sales and has influenced a multitude of comedians on both sides of the camera.
Surely You Can’t Be Serious is the first-ever oral history of the making of Airplane! by the creators, and of the beginnings of the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker) – charting the rise of their comedy troupe Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison, Wisconsin all the way to premiere night. The directors explain what drew them to filmmaking and in particular, comedy. With anecdotes, behind the scenes trivia, and never-before-revealed factoids – these titans of comedy filmmaking unpack everything from how they persuaded Peter Graves to be in the movie after he thought the script was a piece of garbage, how Lorna Patterson auditioned for the stewardess role in the back seat of Jerry’s Volvo, and how Leslie Nielsen’s pranks got the entire crew into trouble, to who really wrote the jive talk. The book also features testimonials and personal anecdotes from well-known faces in the film, television, and comedy sphere – proving how influential Airplane! has been from day one.
Four decades after its release, Airplane! continues to make new generations laugh. Its many one-liners and visual gags have worked their way into the mainstream culture. This fully organic expansion of the ZAZ trio’s fan-base, prompted solely by word-of-mouth, comes as no surprise to longtime fans. When all around us is in flux – laughter is priceless.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Zucker brothers and Abrahams debut with a rollicking oral history unpacking how their 1980 comedy Airplane! was made. In 1971, the trio, who had known one another since attending the same Wisconsin high school, formed the Kentucky Fried Theater, a live comedy troupe that built a reputation for itself around Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. Their success led them to seek financing for a screenplay spoofing a melodramatic and "obscure" 1957 airplane disaster movie about a PTSD-afflicted army pilot who has to "land a passenger plane whose pilots had been stricken with food poisoning." The Zuckers and Abrahams recall their uphill battle to persuade Paramount to let them direct and their struggle to cast the film, with its "unconventional" humor going over the heads of many of the actors they approached. The authors are as quick-witted as one would expect (Jack Webb "came in for a meeting, but he turned down the role," David Zucker says, to which Abrahams replies, "Probably because we let him read the script"), and brief reflections from the major players involved will intrigue fans (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recalls joining the film to lighten his serious public image). This is a must-read for anyone who loves the film. Photos.
