Synopses & Reviews
An unprecedented look at the machinations behind everyone's favorite Hollywood circus and what it reveals about the business of moviemaking.Oscar parties. Oscar pools. Oscar style. Oscar predictions. The Oscars breed their own peculiar mania and a billion people worldwide are alleged to watch the broadcast every year. While that figure may be the Academy's big white lie, the Oscars draw a viewership well into the hundreds of millions--a tremendous audience for what is essentially a television program. But this is no ordinary show. Love it or loathe it, the Oscars are an irresistible spectacle: a gloriously gaudy, glitzy, momentous, and foolish window into the unholy alliance of art and commerce that is the film industry. The Oscar statuette is a totem of such potency that millions are spent and careers laid on the line in the reckless pursuit of an eight-pound chunk of gold-plated britannium.
The Big Show is a chronicle of the past fifteen years of the Academy Awards, the most tumultuous decade in Oscar's seventy-six year history. Written by the only journalist ever given carte blanche access to the planning, production, and backstage intrigue of the Oscars, it offers an unguarded, behind-the-scenes glimpse of this singular event, along with remarkable insight into how the Oscars reflect the high-stakes politics of Hollywood, our obsession with celebrities (not to mention celebrities' obsession with themselves), and the cinematic state of the union.
Review
“Better than the best seat in the house . . . A masterful writer, Pond gives you the wonderful feeling that youre along for the ride as his exclusive guest . . . Whisk[ing] readers backstage, behind the curtain, and into the inner sanctums.”
—Cameron Crowe, Oscar-winning writer/director of Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire
“Oscar fanatics will reel through the years with Pond . . . And they will relish the journey.” —Dennis Moore, USA Today
“Pond captures another tradition particularly well: the ego meltdowns, power plays and other unseemly bits of behavior that will get a person remembered in not quite the way the publicist planned.” —Gregory McNamee, The Hollywood Reporter
Synopsis
Written by the only journalist ever given carte blanche access to the Oscars(, this unprecedented look at the the high times and dirty dealings backstage at the annual Academy Awards( offers an unguarded, behind-the-scenes glimpse of this singular event.
Synopsis
An “entertaining, fly-on-the-wall”* look at everyones favorite Hollywood circus and what it reveals about the business of moviemaking
Love it or loathe it, the Oscars are an irresistible spectacle: a gloriously gaudy, glitzy, momentous, and foolish window into the unholy alliance of art and commerce that is the film industry. The Big Show is the only book ever to offer an unguarded, behind-the-scenes glimpse of this singular event, along with remarkable insight into how the Oscars reflect the high-stakes politics of Hollywood, our obsession with celebrities (not to mention celebrities obsession with themselves), and the cinematic state of the union.
About the Author
Steve Pond has been writing about popular culture and the entertainment industry for over twenty-five years for publications including Premiere, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and the Washington Post.