A life in movies : stories from 50 years in Hollywood

A rollicking autobiography from the legendary producer of Goodfellas , Rocky , and Raging Bull , and an insider's account of making movies in Hollywood over half a century



The list of films Irwin Winkler has produced in his more-than-fifty-year career is extraordinary: Rocky , Goodfellas , Raging Bull , De-Lovely , The Right Stuff , Creed , and The Irishman . His films have been nominated for fifty-two Academy Awards, including five movies for Best Picture, and have won twelve.



In A Life in Movies , his charming and insightful memoir, Winkler tells the stories of his career through his many films as a producer and then as a writer and director, charting the changes in Hollywood over the past decades. Winkler started in the famous William Morris mailroom and made his first film--starring Elvis--in the last days of the old studio system. Beginning in the late 1960s, and then for decades to come, he produced a string of provocative and influential films, making him one of the most critically lauded, prolific, and commercially successful producers of his era.



This is an engrossing and candid book, a beguiling exploration of what it means to be a producer, including purchasing rights, developing scripts, casting actors, managing directors, editing film, and winning awards. Filled with tales of legendary and beloved films, as well as some not-so-legendary and forgotten ones, A Life in Movies takes readers behind the scenes and into the history of Hollywood.