“It’s the ultimate dance between people and not knowing what you’re doing, and acting as if you know what you’re doing. It’s a very strange universe in which you are both the ruler and your own victim. You seem to be in charge of everybody and everything, and you have to have answers for everybody and everything. More often than not, you
don’t have an answer, but you have to give an answer. It’s a kind of universe that you make up as you go along.”
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"If you love films and care about filmmakers, you'll have a hard time putting this book down. These lively conversations reveal just how much one generation of filmmakers influences the next - and how a single movie can change the course of a young person's life and career."
-Leonard Maltin, author of Leanord Martin's Movie Guide -
"A great and provocative read. Elder begins with a simple question and leads a wide variety of filmmakers down all sorts of unexpected paths. Why do we respond so passionately, even irrationally, to the movies that change our lives? The wonderful thing about being a critic or a lifelong movie lover is that life changes all the time in relation to the spells being cast on the screen. Elder's book honors that alchemic relationship many times over. It's addictive."
-Michael Phillips, film critic, Chicago Tribune