Since his death in 1989, John Cassavettes has become increasingly renowned as a cinematic hero--a renegade loner who fought the Hollywood system, steering his own creative course in a career spanning thirty years. Having already established himself as an actor, he struck out as a filmmaker in 1959 with Shadows , and proceeded to build a formidable body of work, including such classics as Faces , Woman Under the Influence , The Killing of a Chinese Bookie , and Gloria . In Cassavettes on Cassavettes , Ray Carney presents the great director in his own words--frank, uncompromising, humane, and passionate about life and art. Cassavetes alternated routine acting work with efforts to mount and direct low-budget personal films, often starring wife Gena Rowlands and friends like Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara. Rejecting the label of intellectual, Cassavetes considered himself an intuitive, streetwise filmmaker. Though his films would never reach a mass audience, he loved the collaborative, creative process of making movies, and his work continues to influence Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, and others active in U.S. cinema. Sadly, a lifetime of heavy drinking led to Cassavetes's premature death of liver disease in 1989. This book, edited by Carney (film and American studies, Boston Univ.; The films of John Cassavetes) and based on extensive interviews, is the autobiography Cassavetes might have written. Cassavetes was a self-described "bigmouth" and "troublemaker" as well as a prolific writer and talker. In this book, he discusses his actor's beginnings, honing his craft in the golden age of live television drama, and his growing disenchantment with the studio system. He expounds on improvisation, shaping a film performance, favorite themes of love and marriage, and the eternal problems of independent film distribution. Reading this book is like attending an extended master class at the Actor's Studio, a reminder of a rebellious spirit sadly missed. Recommended for independent-film collections. Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. John Cassavetes' gritty, personal, albeit commercially unsuccessful films, such as Faces, Husbands , and A Woman under the Influence , presaged today's American independent film movement, though Cassavetes was arguably more daring and uncompromising than, say, Tarantino or Sayles. Editor Carney shaped more than 400 hours of conversations with Cassavetes and extracts from previously published interviews into a narrative of the filmmaker's early days as a New York actor in the 1950s and his later struggles to finance and distribute his films. Probably best known for his intense acting in other directors' films ( The Dirty Dozen , Rosemary's Baby , etc.), Cassavetes' frustrations as an actor originally led him to direct. Thereafter, he took most of his later roles to finance his own projects. Drawing on interviews with dozens of Cassavetes' friends and coworkers, Carney's extensive commentary augments the subject's remarks and fills in details. As complete a picture of the maverick moviemaker as we are ever likely to see. Gordon Flagg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "[Cassavetes on Cassavetes] is a labor of love, scholarship, and detective work. From a chaotic mountain of primary and secondary sources, Ray Carney has shaped the story of John Cassavetes' life and work-using the words of the great director himself, and also calling on his colleagues and friends to supply their memories and revelations. 'This is the autobiography he never lived to write,' Carney says, but it is more: Not only the life story, but history, criticism, homage, lore. Like a Cassavetes film, it bursts with life and humor, and then reveals fundamental truths." -Roger Ebert "Thank God for Ray Carney's Cassavetes on Cassavetes. It captures the man I knew-the most vivid, colorful, intriguing, infuriating, fertile, man, child, artist, actor, friend. It's all there. The passion, the craziness, the complexity, the mystery. There'll never be another like him. It's a terrific book." -Peter Falk, the star of Cassavetes' Husbands and A Woman Under the Influence "What a great gift you've given to young filmmakers everywhere. Your book, Cassavetes on Cassavetes, made me miss him even more. I didn't think it possible." -Ben Gazzara, the star of Cassavetes' Husbands and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie "I got my hands on a proof copy of your book on Friday, and have been poring over it all weekend. What can I say? I'm staggered by the depth and detail of your research. The book is a tremendous achievement. It absolutely justifies your comment in the Introduction, that even a Cassavetes buff will find something new and surprising, probably on every page. I think you do him justice. I can't offer higher praise than that." -A letter from Tom Charity, author of John Cassavetes: Lifeworks John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3,