Reel Facts: Unbelievable Stuff About Famous Film Stars and Movies That Really Happened
About this audiobook
2023 BEST BOOK AWARDS FINALIST - BEST PERFORMING ARTS BOOK
ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD COULD THINGS THIS UNBELIEVABLE HAPPEN
As any actor, producer, director, or screenwriter can attest, working in the movie business isn't easy. After Jack Nicholson filmed his first screen test for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, studio mogul Louis B. Mayer politely told him afterwards: "I don't know what we can use you for, but if we ever do need you, we'll need you real bad." In the late 1960s, Paul, John, George, and Ringo–better known as The Beatles–were set to star in a movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, until Tolkien objected over the loudness of their music. Steven Spielberg snubbed Charlton Heston for the lead role in Jaws believing his "save the day" disaster movie performances would overshadow the movie's real star–the killer shark. In prepping for his role of the psychotic Vietnam veteran-turned cab driver in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro obtained a New York taxicab driver's license and learned how to drive a cab working 12-hour shifts and picking up passengers for a New York cab company.
What does this unbelievable stuff have in common? Scores of these and other tantalizing tidbits and scintillating stories that really happened to famous film stars and in the movies are meticulously detailed in one fun, fact-filled volume, REEL FACTS. This fascinating, full-color copiously illustrated treasury offers an inside the Hollywood grapevine look at it all—classic movie star rejections, remarkable movie ideas that misfired (or the greatest movies never made), amazing extremes actors have undertaken in preparing for film roles, unforeseen calamities that disrupted or delayed movies in production, fantastic film foolery perpetrated in popular movies on audiences, notable casting mishaps, the worst screen kissers, and much more.
For avid movie lovers and film buffs alike, this entertaining chronicle shows filmdom's favorite stars and movies in general like you have never seen them before.
About the author
JEFF LENBURG is a prolific award-winning author of more than 35 books, among them 18 acclaimed celebrity memoirs and biographies, nearly two dozen entertainment histories and popular references, and two national bestsellers.
His work has been nominated for numerous awards, including the American Book Fest Best Book Awards for “Best Biography,” the American Library Association's (ALA) “Best Non-Fiction Award,” the Evangelical Christian Publisher Association's (ECPA) Gold Medallion Award for “Best Autobiography/Biography,” the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for “Best Biography,” the Theatre Library Association (TLA) Award for “Best Performing Arts Book,” and the International Book Awards for “Best Biography,” and has been translated into several languages.
Jeff is also an acclaimed novelist. He is the author of the classic Hollywood "whodunit” cozy mystery, Scared to Death: A Lori Matrix Hollywood Mystery, and hard-boiled detective mystery, Deadly Liaisons.
A popular media figure, Jeff has been a featured guest on more than 100 major-market radio and television programs around the world, including BBC Live, CBS Evening News, NBC's Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, CNN's Showbiz Today, and The Dennis Miller Show, and written about in major magazines and newspapers throughout the country, including USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Likewise, Jeff is best known for his work an on-camera personality in such film and television documentaries as I Know That Voice and Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty, and as a contributing producer and creative consultant of top-rated programs for ABC, NBC, PBS, and Tribune Broadcasting.
In recognition of his achievements, Jeff is listed in such prominent references as Contemporary Authors and Men of Achievement and was awarded the "Journalism Alumnus of the Year Award" by his alma mater, Fullerton College.
For more information about Jeff’s books, upcoming releases, and the latest news, visit jefflenburg.com.
