With Nails
The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
The star of the cult classic Withnail and I offers “a refreshing combination of comedy, confession, and coruscation” in this memoir of the movie business (Kirkus Reviews).
Richard E. Grant’s acting career has included memorable roles in some of Hollywood’s most critically acclaimed films, including Robert Altman’s Gosford Park and Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. But he attributes his success to his first film role, starring as a flamboyantly pathetic Shakespearean in the underground hit Withnail and I. As Grant explains, “I had no notion that, almost without exception, every film offered since would be the result of playing an alcoholic out-of-work actor.”
In With Nails, Grant shares his long, maddening, and immensely rewarding journey through the world of film. From the hell of making Hudson Hawk to befriending Steve Martin on the set of L.A. Story; and from eating spaghetti with the Coppolas, to window-shopping with Sharon Stone, and working with and learning from the best actors and directors in the business, Grant’s unvarnished memoir “is a biting and wonderfully funny look at the movie business by an actor who is as clear-eyed and observant about himself as he is about the craziness surrounding him” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"I have often felt that movies operate along the lines of a medieval court, with despots, divas and duckbrains," observes actor Grant, offering up his diaries to prove his own adage. The star of the cult classic Withnail and I (his first film role), Grant allows readers to experience the idiosyncratic working methods of directors Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, among others, while taking them on a tour through his films from L.A. Story and The Player to The Age of Innocence and Bram Stoker's Dracula, concluding with the movie that made him a real star with his small daughter: Spice World, starring the Spice Girls. In what may be the book's most hilarious and horrifying depiction of a movie run amok, Grant describes in detail the experience of working on the megabomb Hudson Hawk. Everything comes under Grant's withering gaze--from star Bruce Willis to egomaniacal producer Joel Silver to a revolving door of leading ladies. He also recounts an uneasy evening with actress-comedienne Sandra Bernhard and Madonna, first at the superstar's mansion (with boy toy in background), then on the town. Unlike many performers who put out ghost-written, ego-driven autobiographies, Grant is a skilled and entertaining writer on his own. His book is a biting and wonderfully funny look at the movie business by an actor who is as clear-eyed and observant about himself as he is about the craziness surrounding him. 14 b&w photos. .
