About book What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales From The Front Line (2003)
If you’ve ever wondered exactly what a Hollywood film producer does, check out this short work by Art Linson (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Heist, Heat and Into The Wild). Subtitled, “Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line,” it’s smarmy, snarky and uncompromising as it upends the biz to expose an ugly, paranoid underbelly. Using dialogue, professional data and anecdotes, Linson spins behind-the scenes tales about The Edge, Great Expectations and The Fight Club with reveals about a number of superstars including Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro and Gwyneth Paltrow. His terse, tart style made me feel like we were chatting over drinks at the Polo Lounge, and while some accuse him of being harsh, I felt like the guy was reigning himself in. This book isn’t for Mary Poppins happy hearts, but then neither is the business end of show business.
I didn't finish this book. I was just so furious with it. The writing isn't just bad and annoying, it's absolutely appalling. I'ts like an old guy using his grandchildren's slang, a wine snob describing a vintage, a rap artist that's-what-I'm fuckin'-sayin' at the end of every phrase, know what I mean, like. Just shut up, stop trying to sound cool and tell the story.I have no idea if the book is any good or not and I really couldn't care less. If a book can't hook me in fifty pages it's failed in its contract with the reader and I want my money back! Although in this case, since I only paid $1.50 for it (and free postage) and it is exactly the right size for propping up my porch table, I won't be making any claims.
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In this slim but highly readable volume, producer Art Linson, who has been behind such notable titles as "Melvin and Howard", "The Untouchables' and the regrettably neglected "American Hot Wax", recounts his brief tenure with 20th Century Fox, where he made 5 films, all of them considered failures. (The films were "The Edge", "Great Expectations", "Pushing Tin", "Fight Club" - which actually turned out to be profitable - and the more or less unreleased "Sunset Strip"). In the book, Linson comes off as something of a great raconteur, perfectly willing to concede where each project went wrong. But he gets the last laugh: he's just turned "What Just Happened?" into a movie with Bruce Willis and Robert De Niro.
—Robert
