Josh Harnett really wants to do this…true stories from a life in the screen trade.
Bruce Beresford takes readers on his journey through the life and times of an award-winning director from the end of 2003 to mid 2005.
It can take some time to become acquainted with Beresford’s style, but those who remain loyal will be rewarded. Beresford’s diary could be described as a real life Adrian Mole, together with all of the sarcasm and wit of Mole, intertwined with prolific meetings of the famous and not so famous personalities of the film world. Readers won’t be disappointed as Beresford describes the relationships he has made throughout his career.
This book is a must for any screen lover, providing insights into the harsh world of filmmaking. Of all the films made, only a few are rewarded with millions of dollars being made at the box office. The story of Beresford’s life is this: millions of dollars are promised for potential films, and of those millions, only a few hundred thousand trickle through (if you are lucky) and that takes years and patience to collect. There is no guarantee that the best scripts received by Beresford will become feature films. Nonetheless, he somehow manages to make sense of this frustrating world, shooting films to unbelievable budgets, with unrealistic deadlines on sets in locations vastly remote from Hollywood.
My sole criticism of this memoir is the constant use of footnotes that break the reading flow. Often these footnotes add valuable information, and it would have been great to see these added to the main text during editing. That said, Beresford’s style is easy to read, humorous, insightful and entertaining. This is an excellent read in which the human side of film-making is shown.
