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Author: Erin E. MacDonald
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476617031
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 711
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Book Description
Robert Downey Jr. may be best known as Iron Man, but his career as an actor stretches back to the 1970s and features several Oscar-quality roles. He has worked with a wide range of innovative directors from Oliver Stone and Robert Altman to Richard Linklater and Shane Black, and has played punk kids, detectives, journalists and even a serial killer. This collection of new essays examines, in roughly chronological order, more than 25 of Downey's best performances in films as diverse as Less Than Zero, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers, A Scanner Darkly, The Soloist and Tropic Thunder. Including a biography, chronology and filmography, the book highlights the inseparability of the actor's biography from his works and from the unique combination of talents he brings to his roles.
Author: Erin E. MacDonald
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476617031
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 711
Get Book Here
Book Description
Robert Downey Jr. may be best known as Iron Man, but his career as an actor stretches back to the 1970s and features several Oscar-quality roles. He has worked with a wide range of innovative directors from Oliver Stone and Robert Altman to Richard Linklater and Shane Black, and has played punk kids, detectives, journalists and even a serial killer. This collection of new essays examines, in roughly chronological order, more than 25 of Downey's best performances in films as diverse as Less Than Zero, Chaplin, Natural Born Killers, A Scanner Darkly, The Soloist and Tropic Thunder. Including a biography, chronology and filmography, the book highlights the inseparability of the actor's biography from his works and from the unique combination of talents he brings to his roles.
Author: Nils Bothmann
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3658240784
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
Nils Bothmann applies antiessentialist genre theory to study the fusion of the action and the detection genre in the hybrid genre of detAction, focusing on the work of screenwriter and director Shane Black. After providing antiessentialist definitions of all three genres, the author undertakes close readings of Black’s work in order to analyze depictions of race and gender as well as the role of intermediality and genre hybridity in detAction.
Author: Ben Falk
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1910232122
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 259
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Book Description
The Comeback Kid will be the first biography of Robert Downey Jr. A Detailed and authoritative account of the life, career, stardom and controversy of Robert Downey JR – one of Hollywood’s most popular, and gifted, actors of recent times. A behind-the-scenes look on the making of his most famous and infamous movies, talking to the people closest to him, from actors and directors to those he has encountered during his trips to the dark side. “I’ve always felt like an outsider in this industry. Because I’m so insane I guess.” – Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr’s life isn’t a movie – but it could be. Now one of the biggest box office stars in the world thanks to Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes, he’s come a long way since his early days as a rising actor amidst the Brat Pack of the Eighties, as well as stints on Saturday Night Live and Ally McBeal. His incredible journey has also encompassed prison and drug addiction – experiences which left him just one bad choice away from death. Funny, definitive and entertaining, this is the first book that dares to glimpse inside the psyche of a brilliant and complex icon of our times.
Author: Steven Rybin
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231850840
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
Over the course of nearly thirty years, Hal Hartley has cultivated a reputation as one of America's most steadfastly independent film directors. From his breakthrough films – The Unbelievable Truth (1989), Trust (1990), and Simple Men (1992) – to his recently completed 'Henry Fool' trilogy, Hartley has honed a rigorous, deadpan, and instantly recognizable film style informed by both European modernism and playful revisions of Classical Hollywood genres. Featuring new essays on this important director and his films, this collection explores Hartley's work from a variety of aesthetic, cultural, and economic contexts, while also looking closely at his collaborations with actors, the contexts of his authorial reputation, his reworking of the romantic comedy and other genres, and the shifting economics of his filmmaking. This book, up-to-date through Hartley's latest film, Ned Rifle (2014), includes new scholarship on the director's early work as well as reflections on his cinema in connection with new theories and approaches to independent filmmaking. Covering the entire trajectory of his career, including both his features and short films, the book also includes new readings of several of Hartley's seminal films, including Amateur (1994), Flirt (1995), and Henry Fool (1997).
Author: Michael Sarko
Publisher: Hyperink Inc
ISBN: 1614646325
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 32
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Book Description
ABOUT THE BOOK One way or another, Robert Downey Jr.'s reputation as a drug addict and a playboy has been an essential aspect of his career and public persona since he broke out in the 1980s. The influence of his habits is unquestionable, from the way his real-life struggle with substance abuse mirrored his character Julian's rapid deterioration in Less Than Zero to the winking acknowledgment of his past problems in more recent roles like hard-living hero Tony Stark in the Iron Man franchise and literary cocaine icon Sherlock Holmes. Downey has been showered with critical accolades, award nominations and big paychecks on both sides of addiction. The real question is whether his audience prefers him as a fascinating scoundrel or a delightfully profane poster boy for redemption, and if it's even possible to have one without the other. When Mel Gibson made headlines in 2006 for a drunk driving arrest and the antisemitic rant that followed, Robert Downey Jr. was at the head of a very short line of people in Hollywood to come to his defense. Downey and Gibson met on the set of Air America and would be close friends ever since. Gibson told W Magazine in 2007, “He was one of the first people to call and offer the hand of friendship. He just said, ‘Hey, welcome to the club. Let's go see what we can do to work on ourselves.” That was the voice of today's Robert Downey Jr. That was the man post-rehab, post-prison, post-divorce and post-disaster that very nearly ruined his career. That was the voice of the man who couldn't get a gig in the movie business for two solid years until Mel Gibson footed the toxic insurance bill for Downey's role as the lead in 2003's most important flop, The Singing Detective. Robert Downey Jr. spent significant periods of time between 1996 and 2001 in rehabilitation centers and prison, resulting in so many high-profile legal battles and breached contracts that he struggled to get any work at all following his release from the Corcoran II drug treatment facility. In the three years following his lauded supporting performance in Wonder Boys (2000), Downey's only screen credits were three short films and a run on the Fox series Ally McBeal that ended with him being fired for drug-related behavioral problems. This led to years of trouble qualifying for the insurance coverage that has become de rigueur for A-list actors signing onto a major motion picture. When Mel Gibson vouched for Downey during the production of The Singing Detective, he was putting his own career on the line as well. The film may have crashed critically and financially, but it put Robert Downey Jr. back on the silver screen. The Singing Detective was an adaptation of a BBC miniseries of the same name. It was the kind of project that could have been great but was ultimately doomed to fail. It got batted around Hollywood for years being toyed with and ultimately passed up by the likes of David Cronenberg and Robert Altman until it landed at Icon Productions, the company Mel Gibson formed with Bruce Davey, a fellow Aussie in the film business. Dennis Potter, who wrote the original Singing Detective, had been dead for a decade by the time director Keith Gordon brought it to the screen in the U.S. The result was a jumbled mess of postmodern storytelling that abandoned the irony and allusions to World War II England that made the BBC production resonate beyond its intentionally disorienting conceits. The story of a pulp mystery novelist who escapes the pain of advanced psoriasis through fantasy, The Singing Detective is a mess on the screen but a fascinating (if unintentional) reflection of its star. Robert Downey Jr. not only grew up in front of the camera, he has often been indistinguishable from the characters he plays... ...buy the book to keep reading!
Author: Rhonda Knight
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476644012
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
Fans and the billion-dollar franchises in which they participate have together become powerful agents within popular culture. These franchises have launched avenues for fans to expand and influence the stories that they tell. This book examines those fan-driven narratives as "wilderness texts," in which fans use their platforms to create for themselves while also communicating their visions to the franchises, thus spurring innovation. The essays in this collection look at how fans intervene in the production of mass media. Scholars analyze the negotiations between fan desires for both novelty and familiarity that franchises must maintain in order to achieve critical and commercial success. Applying varying theoretical approaches to discussions of fan responses to franchises, including Star Wars, Marvel, Godzilla, Firefly, The Terminator, Star Trek, DC, and The Muppets, these essays provide insight into the ever-changing relationships between fandom and transmedia storytelling.
Author: Erin E. MacDonald
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786471883
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 456
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Book Description
Ian Rankin is considered by many to be Scotland's greatest living crime fiction author. Most well known for his Inspector Rebus series--which has earned critical acclaim as well as scores of fans worldwide--Rankin is a prolific author whose other works include spy thrillers, nonfiction books and articles, short stories, novels, graphic novels, audio recordings, television/film, and plays. This companion--the first to provide a complete look at all of his writings--includes alphabetized entries on Rankin's works, characters, and themes; a biography; a chronology; maps of Rebus' Edinburgh; and an annotated bibliography. A champion of both Edinburgh and Scotland, Rankin continues to combine engaging entertainment with socio-political commentary showing Edinburgh as a microcosm of Scotland, and Scotland as a microcosm of the world. His writing investigates questions of Scottish identity, British history, masculinity, and contemporary culture while providing mystery readers with complex, suspenseful plots, realistic character development, and a unique mix of American hard-boiled and procedural styles with Scottish dialects and sensibilities.
Author: Barry Spunt
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137599723
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193
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Book Description
This book focuses on New York City-based actors and comedians who are self-acknowledged heroin users. Barry Spunt examines a number of hypotheses about the reasons why actors and comedians use heroin as well as the impact of heroin on performance, creativity, and career trajectory. A primary concern of the book is the role that subculture and identity play in helping us to understand the heroin use of these entertainers. Spunt captures the voices of actors and comedians through narrative accounts from a variety of secondary sources. He also examines how New York-based films about heroin relate to the major themes of his research.
Author: Stephanie Watson
Publisher: ABDO Publishing Company
ISBN: 1614785988
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 114
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Book Description
This title examines the fascinating life of Robert Downey Jr. Readers will learn about Downey's childhood, family, education, rise to fame, his trouble with drugs, and his time in rehab . Colorful graphics, oversize photos, and informative sidebars accompany easy-to-read, compelling text that explores how Downey's interest in acting led to leading roles in movies that include The Pickup Artist, Sherlock Holmes, which earned him a Golden Globe, and Iron Man. Features include a table of contents, glossary, selected bibliography, Web links, source notes, and an index, plus a timeline and fun facts. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.
Author: Martin Howden
Publisher: Blake Publishing
ISBN: 9781843581857
Category : Actors
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
From his first role as a cherubic five-year old through Iron Man 2 and the films yet to come, a look at the life and career one of Hollywood's most surprising leading men Robert Downey Jr. has become one of Hollywood's most shining, distinctive stars thanks to scene-stealing roles in films like Iron Man, Zodiac, and Sherlock Holmes. This book takes an in-depth, insightful look at his work in front of the camera as well as his life behind the spotlight. It reveals details of his film debut at age five playing a puppy in his father's underground cult film, his attempt at becoming a comedian during an ill-fated stint as a Saturday Night Live cast member, how he burst onto the scene with his moving performance in Less than Zero, and how he charmed Hollywood with his Oscar-nominated turn as troubled funny man Charlie Chaplin. With a life that has had more twist and turns than the plots of some of his acclaimed movies, Robert Downey Jr.'s journey from hellraiser to Hollywood royalty is shocking, moving, funny, and inspirational.
