Synopsis:
Christine Vachon is an independent film producer, and in this book she tells the story of how she made films like Far From Heaven, Boys Don’t Cry, and more.
Review:
A Killer Life is Vachon’s follow-up to her successful primer on producing, Shooting to Kill. This won’t be much of a review because I’ve been reading this at my day job piece by piece for the last 2 months–not my usual superfast pace. If you are interested in how indie films get made, this is a great book, full of dish and dirt and inside information. I worked on a couple of Killer Films, and it was interesting for me to see her perspective on things that I experienced. The book is enhanced by commentaries from some of the people she’s worked with, including many big names in film.
A Killer Life: How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond
by Christine Vachon
that’s it?? no dish? c’mon, superfast. hook a brother up.
OK–here’s a little dish:
In her chapter on Far From Heaven, she talks about being in pre-production on the movie when the attacks of September 11th occurred. She doesn’t mention that there were 15 of us in the production office in Bayonne, NJ when the attacks happened, and that we were barred from leaving because we were on a military base and it was maybe going to become a secure area where they would be bringing bodies. We were finally allowed to leave the base at around 10pm to make our way to our homes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was really hard for us to return to those offices a week later. Also, she says that since they were a stripped down union crew nobody got fired when the bond company came in, but that’s not true–I was one of the only non-union crew members & I got fired as soon they showed up. I knew I was getting fired because the guy from the bond company sat in the office adjoining mine and he talked really loud so I could hear everything he was saying. He didn’t seem to care that I was listening.