Very informative, interesting but too long

This would have been a better book if it wasn't as long. Some sections lag a bit.

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A Devil’s Candy - A Book I’ve Never Really Stopped Reading

I first read this wonderful book as a young teenager, already obsessed with film production, and I have revisited it a great many times. My first copy literally fell apart at the seams.

This latest revisit, this time actually getting to hear Salamon tell the story, has been just as enjoyable as the first time I read it, if not even more so.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

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here it is....

just the best inside narrative on film making, from story, to script, selling the package, the producers and the blah blah nobody knows nothing to production and the talent engaged in bringing the story to screen, this audio book needs replaying multiple times because it is so so so very rich in detail and just human shite that's involved in a massive a lister film production, its just exquisite, and a history lesson to all film buffs and you never know, Hollywood producers financers and us movie fans alike. wonderfull stuff. Good on ya x

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1 person found this helpful

Great Reportage

A snapshot of a time a movie and it’s people.
After listening “The Devils Candy” will do some digging to see if a directors cut was ever released.

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Anatomy of a silver screen disaster

The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) starred some big names - including Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. And it was directed by Brian De Palma, the edgy auteur operating in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock. So why did it bomb? Julie Salamon attempts to explain why in this forensic, sprawling account of the film’s production. It is an extraordinary accomplishment. She was given ring-side access to the filming of Vanities. Many in the industry, including Willis, were furious at the result, seeing The Devil’s Candy as a blatant betrayal. De Palma is much more philosophical, and still keeps in touch with Salamon (she was even a virtual guest at his lockdown birthday party). The screenwriter William Goldman famously said that in Hollywood nobody knows anything - hits happen, flops happen, and no one can accurately predict whether a movie will clean up at the box office, or disappear without trace. With Vanities, very much an example of the latter, there were many warning signs, including big cost overruns. The casting seems bizarre, with the determinedly uncynical Hanks portraying ‘Master of the Universe’ bond trader Sherman McCoy. Tom Wolfe’s epic novel was a bold choice for adaptation. Salamon persuasively suggests it might’ve worked better as a TV drama - not nearly as popular back then as now - and there are rumours that Amazon might be working on one. But anyone embarking on such a venture would be well-advised to listen to this audiobook to avoid making the same mistakes (or perhaps to avoid making another doomed adaptation). This is a long book. But it didn’t feel like it. Salamon is a witty and engaging guide. The narration may prove Marmite - but worked for me. This is obligatory listening for movie fans and anyone interested in how the industry works (and doesn’t work…) As a postscript, I should add I loved the Wolfe novel, and liked De Palma’s movie… well, nobody knows anything, after all…

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