The Future Was Now
Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Todd Ross
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Written by:
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Chris Nashawaty
About this listen
“Hollywood boldly went where it hadn’t gone before and Nashawaty chronicles the journeys.” —Los Angeles Times ("Books You Need To Read This Summer")
“Written with a fan’s enthusiasm . . . An important inflection point in Hollywood filmmaking.” —New York Times ("Nonfiction Books to Read This Summer")
In the summer of 1982, eight science fiction films were released within six weeks of one another. E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior changed the careers of some of Hollywood's now biggest names―altering the art of movie-making to this day.
In The Future Was Now, Chris Nashawaty recounts the riotous genesis of these films, featuring an all-star cast of Hollywood luminaries and gadflies alike: Steven Spielberg, at the height of his powers, conceives E.T. as an unlikely family tale, and quietly takes over the troubled production of Poltergeist, a horror film he had been nurturing for years. Ridley Scott, fresh off the success of Alien, tries his hand at an odd Philip K. Dick story that becomes Blade Runner―a box office failure turned cult classic. Similar stories arise for films like Tron, Conan the Barbarian, and The Thing. Taken as a whole, these films show a precarious turning-point in Hollywood history, when baffled film executives finally began to understand the potential of high-concept films with a rabid fanbase, merchandising potential, and endless possible sequels.
Expertly researched, energetically told, and written with an unabashed love for the cinema, The Future Was Now is a chronicle of how the revolution sparked in a galaxy far, far away finally took root and changed Hollywood forever.
©2024 Chris Nashawaty (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.What the critics say
“An absolute must read.”—Booklist (starred review)
“An exemplary film history.”—Kirkus (starred review)
“Entertaining. . . . The behind the scenes stories will make readers feel like they’ve stepped on a set.”—Publishers Weekly
What listeners say about The Future Was Now
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dan Perry
- 2024-08-08
The Story of the Cinematic Stories I Love
This is a carefully braided rope made of different threads. Each thread is a different story of how a film was made. All of the stories end at the same time and place: the multiplex in three summer of 1982. From our vantage point in 2024, the author does a fantastic job of explaining how these films have impacted pop culture for over a generation.
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