Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films is a rare portrait of the artist in the act of creation. Journalist, film historian, and playwright Jordan Young takes Polanski watchers onto the set of a movie made under the worst possible conditions, by a crew who hated each other and a cast barely on speaking terms.
Jordan R. Young is a journalist, film historian, and playwright whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, travel guides, and online media. He has written twelve books and more than 1,000 articles. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Young has written special material for the Grammy Awards, NPR, Amazon, and AAA, and has served as a consultant for BBC Radio. His plays have been produced Off Off Broadway and in Hollywood. He is a native of Los Angeles.
"In our era of political and personal polarization, powerful artists are regularly taken down for all-too-human weaknesses. Director Roman Polanski exemplifies the tragedy of flawed genius. In this book, Young's approach to Polanski's work is refreshingly honest and fascinatingly informative in its celebration and critique of the rare brilliance and clay feet of artist and man."--Grant Hayter-Menzies, author, The Belle of Amherst: A Portrait of the Play That Made Emily Dickinson a Household Name "Jordan Young's detailed study offers multiple entry points into the cascading array of perverse ironies and ironic perversities that make Roman Polanski's legendary Cul-de-Sac a tour de force of norm-breaking 1960s cinema. With his vivid history of the film's troubled production and colorful accounts of the remarkable talents who created it, Young makes a powerful case for renewed appreciation of this darkly glowing jewel and the tenacious brilliance of its rebellious young auteur."--David Sterritt, editor-in-chief, Quarterly Review of Film and Video "Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films is a fascinating look at Polanski's formative years in Swinging London--a vital chapter in the director's career, long before his reputation would become forever mired in controversy. Jordan Young draws upon both insightful archival material and an impressive series of personal interviews with Polanski's colleagues and collaborators to provide a highly entertaining and revealing account of the making of Repulsion, Dance of the Vampires, and the neglected masterpiece Cul-de-Sac, which brought both the filmmaker and British cinema to the forefront of the thriving international film scene in the 1960s."--Christopher Weedman, co-editor, Adult Themes: British Cinema and the X Certificate in the Long 1960s "The bulk of this essential film book concentrates on the 1966 crazed fruit Cul-de-Sac. It's a paranoid, schizophrenic exercise in psychopathy 101. The movie . . . perfectly conforms to events both behind-the-camera, and those being filmed before it. Seriously, folks, you have to read this to believe it. It's one exhilarating, jaw-dropping ride."--Mel Neuhaus, author of Noir Voyager: Film Noir Movie Reviews from Supervistaramacolorscope
