Scene
A Memoir
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A kaleidoscopic memoir by acclaimed filmmaker Abel Ferrara, director of the cult classic films Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, and Dangerous Game, offering an unflinching look at his life, career, and the gritty world of independent cinema.
Throughout his five-decade career, film director Abel Ferrara—now in his seventies—has been one of cinema’s most provocative and critically revered figures. Since beginning as an independent filmmaker in Manhattan in the early 1970s—before “indie films” were a genre—and refining his craft as a director for the TV show Miami Vice, he has directed more than thirty feature films, most notably the cult classics Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, and Dangerous Game.
His work, often controversial for its depictions of sex, violence, and drugs, has been praised for its sincerity and depth, with critics noting that his films take spirituality and morality more seriously than most films do. In Scene, Ferrara opens up about the inspiration for his creativity detailing his dramatic life journey, from his rough upbringing in the 1950s Bronx to reaching the pinnacle of his career while struggling with addiction. This memoir is not just a recounting of his life but a manifesto on what it means to be a true artist—one who refuses to compromise and continues to create boundary-pushing work.
Scene is a profound, beautiful, and inspiring account of an artist’s relentless pursuit of creativity, making it a must-read for film fans and anyone interested in the gritty realities of the entertainment industry.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this raw debut account, filmmaker Ferrara takes stock of his directing career and his struggles with addiction. The book opens in 1974, when a 23-year-old Ferrara stopped driving garbage trucks and secured financing for his first movie with a loan from New York City mob boss Matty "the Horse" Ianniello. That same scrappy energy suffuses the rest of the narrative, especially sections detailing the production of Ferrara's biggest successes, including 1990's King of New York and 1992's Bad Lieutenant. Flashes of humor appear in these sections, too: Ferrara memorably recalls Harvey Keitel dumping the script of Bad Lieutenant in the garbage after reading five pages before he eventually agreed to play the lead. Such anecdotes lighten an otherwise grim chronicle, which spends significant time on Ferrara's "drinking and drugging"—including a "serious crack habit" in the early '90s, followed by years of heroin abuse before he got clean in the late aughts—which he acknowledges "ruined" his second daughter's childhood. Frank and unflinching without curdling into cynicism ("The life force you come into the world with can be flipped from the bad back to the good, refocused and nurtured"), this offers a fascinating window into a storied career. Admirers of Ferrara's films will be rapt.
