Kazan On Directing

Elia Kazan was the mid-twentieth century’s most sought-after director of both stage and screen. He directed virtually back-to-back the greatest American dramas of the eraby Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williamsand revolutionized theatre and film withdynamic action, poetic staging, and rigorous naturalism. His list of Broadway and Hollywood successes A Streetcar Named Desire (stage and screen), All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Baby Doll, America America, to name only a fewis a testament to his profound impact on the art of directing. Kazan’s insights into these and other classic stage works shaped their subsequent productionsand continue to do so. There is no directorial achievement inAmerica equal to his. This remarkable book, drawn from his notebooks, letters, interviews, and autobiography, shows Kazan at work on each major play and movieanalyzing each piece in terms of his own experience; figuring out staging, costuming, casting; and working with writers on scripts and with actors on interpretations. The final section, The Pleasures of Directingessays Kazan was writing in his last decadeis informal, provocative, candid, and passionate: a wise old pro telling us what towatch out for, how to fight the system, how to search for ourselves in each project, and how to have fun doing it. This monumental, revelatory bookpublished in Kazan’s centenary yearis essential reading for everyone interested in American movies and theatre.