A captivating exploration of the life, work, and insider insight of legendary film producer Howard Kazanjian Howard Kazanjian had already worked with such master directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Wise, Billy Wilder, and Sam Peckinpah when he was recruited by his University of Southern California classmate George Lucas to be vice president of production on The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Return of the Jedi, among other films. In a career spanning 50 years in the industry, Kazanjian has witnessed the transition of Hollywood from its twilight age to the digital world of today. His stories from the frontlines on the set, granting insight into the techniques and personalities of some of Hollywood’s finest, illustrated with rare archival photographs, makes this a must-own volume for every cinephile.
Author
J. W. Rinzler has authored over 20 books including two New York Times bestsellers and a #1 best-selling graphic novel. With more than 600,000 copies in print, his books have been translated into seven languages. J. W. Rinzler grew up in Manhattan, New York City, and then in Berkeley, California. He fell in love with old monster films, such as Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as Robin Hood and other adventure movies. He was an avid comic-book and novel reader, an intrepid moviegoer, and had his mind blown by The Beatles, Star Trek, Bruce Lee, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Frank Frazetta, Michelangelo, and Mad Magazine. Rinzler drew his own comic books (badly), then, in his 20s, moved onto figurative oil painting (okay-ly, but self-taught). He lived in France for almost 10 years, where he began writing. Back in the USA, he worked as executive editor at Lucasfilm for fifteen years, chronicling the work of George Lucas and his genial collaborators in a series of books about Star Wars and Indiana Jones. During this time, Rinzler also directed and wrote an animated short Riddle of the Black Cat, based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, which was accepted into several festivals, including the Montreal World Film Festival. His latest book is an epic historical fiction thriller called ALL UP, an epic about the first Space Age, published in July 2020. The sequel will be out in a year or two... Meanwhile his book on Howard Kazanjian, producer, is due in May 2021; and on Kubrick's The Shining in fall 2021. Rinzler is married and has two daughters and one grandson. He lives on the northern California coast.
