Synopses & Reviews
“A perceptive and provocative work.”
—
Los Angeles Times“A stunning job of research, observation and reporting.”
—Larry Gelbart, co-writer of Tootsie and writer on TVs “M*A*S*H*”
“This fluid, marvelously detailed book goes a long way toward explaining why Tootsie has already achieved a reputation as a classic film comedy.”
—People
Making Tootsie is back, three decades after the creation of the blockbuster Hollywood motion picture that the American Film Institute rated as #2 on its list of the 100 Best Comedies of All Time (second only to Some Like it Hot). Playwright, author, and Ms. magazine contributing writer Susan Dworkin was granted unprecedented access to the film set, the cast, and the crew during the filming and through post-production of the 1982 classic, and her riveting, detailed chronicle offers a fascinating window into the art of movie making—as well as painting indelible portraits of the two main men who made Tootsie happen: director Sidney Pollack and star Dustin Hoffman. No movie buff, film historian, student, or fan will want to miss Making Tootsie.
Review
"Superb…worth a semester of film school." —David Brown, producer of
Jaws"
"Rarely do we have that complex creative process revealed to us with such sensitivity and insight…Susan Dworkins Making Tootsie is an important study, in a class with Lillian Rosss Picture and John Gregory Dunnes The Studio. Everyone who seriously cares about movies has to read it." —Digby Diehl, Los Angeles Herald Examiner
"Informative, crisply written and worthwhile…an intelligent account of the production of the hit movie (and) a remarkably full portrait of Hoffman the actor." —Washington Post Book World
"Making Tootsie has a sense of making a movie that very few books have." —John Gregory Dunne
"Tootsie has already achieved a reputation as a classic film comedy. Dworkins fluid, marvelously detailed book goes a long way toward explaining why." —People
Review
“A stunning job of research, observation and reporting.” Larry Gelbart, co-writer of Tootsie and writer on the M*A*S*H* TV series
Review
“I once said that wanted to be a screenwriter was like wanting to be a co-pilot. Ms. Dworkin captures that perfectly…Making Tootsie has a sense of making a movie that very few books have.” John Gregory Dunne
Review
“This fluid, marvelously detailed book goes a long way toward explaining why Tootsie has already achieved a reputation as a classic film comedy…Making Tootsie is more than a pleasing photo-filled souvenir of a popular hit. Books about the making of movies are plentiful; honest ones are rare.” People
Review
“A must for all film buffs [includes] revealing interviews with Hoffman and Pollack as well as a fascinating section on make-up and costumes.” Patricia Bosworth
Review
” A perceptive and provocative work…Dworkin cuts through the filmmaking process technical lingo and yet manages to maintain a respect for the dynamics that result in a successful film.” Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
Back in print and now an ebook, the only book on the creation of the classic film that's ranked #2 on the American Film Institute list of 100 Best Comedies (after Some Like It Hot)."Superb…worth a semester of film school." —David Brown, producer of Jaws
Susan Dworkin was the only writer given unprecedented access to the cast and crew during the shoot and editing of Tootsie in 1982 during the sweltering summer in New York City and editing bay in Los Angeles. A playwright, award-winning documentary writer, and Ms. contributing editor, Dworkin used her unique talent to tell how two superbly talented and driven men—actor Dustin Hoffman and director Sydney Pollack—actually made a movie about a serious actor, desperate for work, who takes on the challenge of playing a woman in a daily soap opera, becomes a star, and a better man for it.
Drawn from observation and interviews not only with Hoffman and Pollack, but with costume designer Ruth Morley, actors Teri Garr, Bill Murray, and Dabney Coleman, editors Fritz and Bill Steinkamp, and many others, Dworkin delivers an intimate view of the acting and filmmaking process, as well as insight into the release of comedy and the force of creative power.
Synopsis
"A perceptive and provocative work."
--Los Angeles Times
"A stunning job of research, observation and reporting."
--Larry Gelbart, co-writer of Tootsie and writer on TV's "M*A*S*H*"
"This fluid, marvelously detailed book goes a long way toward explaining why Tootsie has already achieved a reputation as a classic film comedy."
--People
Making Tootsie is back, three decades after the creation of the blockbuster Hollywood motion picture that the American Film Institute rated as #2 on its list of the 100 Best Comedies of All Time (second only to Some Like it Hot). Playwright, author, and Ms. magazine contributing writer Susan Dworkin was granted unprecedented access to the film set, the cast, and the crew during the filming and through post-production of the 1982 classic, and her riveting, detailed chronicle offers a fascinating window into the art of movie making--as well as painting indelible portraits of the two main men who made Tootsie happen: director Sidney Pollack and star Dustin Hoffman. No movie buff, film historian, student, or fan will want to miss Making Tootsie.
Synopsis
In 1982, two superbly talented and driven men—director Sydney Pollack and actor Dustin Hoffman—collaborated to create what became an enduring classic: a movie about a serious, out-of-work actor who takes on the challenge of playing a woman in a TV soap opera and becomes a better man for it.
Hoffman had already dedicated four years to the comedy. Pollack was hot off of Absence of Malice when he chose the project, which had lost two earlier directors, had no final guiding script at the start of production, and was the butt of many Hollywood bad jokes.
As the only journalist Pollack and Columbia Pictures permitted on the set and in the editing room, Susan Dworkin, a playwright, award-winning documentary writer, and Ms. magazine contributing editor, conducted in-depth interviews not only with its director and star but also with the costume designer, the film editors, costars Teri Garr, Bill Murray, and Dabney Coleman, and many others. In Making ‘Tootsie, Dworkin captures their voices while describing how the movie became an award-winning box office sensation and the classic motion picture that the American Film Institute rates as number two on its list of the 100 Funniest American Movies of All Time.
About the Author
Acclaimed writer Susan Dworkin is the author of many books, including the memoir
The Nazi Officers Wife with Edith Hahn Beer, the novel
Stolen Goods, the novel-musical
The Book of Candy, the self-help book
The Ms. Guide to a Womans Health with Dr. Cynthia W. Cooke, and the film studies
Making Tootsie and
Double De Palma. She wrote the Peabody Award-winning TV documentary
She's Nobodys Baby: American Women in the 20th Century and was a longtime contributing editor to
Ms. Magazine. She lives in New Jersey.
Bess Myerson now devotes her time mainly to advocacy in the area of womens health research and treatment, consumerism, education, and peace in the Middle East. She is on the National Advisory Board of the State of Israel Bonds, a member of the “Share” Board and a trained facilitator working with ovarian cancer survivors, and one of the founders of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. She lives in New York City.