Ed Zwick: Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions (IN PERSON)
Acclaimed director, producer, and screenwriter Ed Zwick visits the American Writers Museum to read from and discuss his new memoir Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions. This heartfelt and wry career memoir from the director of Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall, About Last Night, and Glory, creator of the show thirtysomething, and executive producer of My So-Called Life, gives a dishy, behind-the-scenes look at working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Books will be available for sale and Zwick will sign them following the program.
This is an in-person program at the American Writers Museum. This program will also be livestreamed, and you can register for the link to the online broadcast here.
More about Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions:
“I tell stories for a living,” notes Zwick in the opening line of his book as he takes readers on a spirited, behind-the-scenes odyssey, sharing tales of intimate working relationships with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, Claire Danes, Leonardo DiCaprio, Annette Bening, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matthew Broderick and more. By turns nostalgic and warm, dishy and aggrieved, and just as often laugh-out-loud funny, Zwick’s heartfelt career memoir is a layered love letter to showbusiness and the “beautiful, magical, terrified creatures” who make it happen.
Zwick’s long career has spanned four decades of directing, producing, and writing projects that have collectively received 18 Academy Award nominations (seven wins) and 67 Emmy nominations (22 wins). In Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions he recalls the head spinning ascents and vertiginous plunges that define a career in Hollywood—with equal emphasis on craft, luck, and the contributions of his creative partner Marshall Herskovitz—as he describes the intense collaborations he’s shared with actors and others as they work together to discover the small truths, unexpected secrets and necessary vulnerabilities that lead an actor to realize their character in full.
Written mostly with love, sometimes with rue, this memoir is also a meditation on working, sprinkled throughout with tips for anyone who has ever imagined writing, directing, or producing for the screen. Fans with an appreciation for the beautiful mysteries—as well as the unsightly, often comic truths—of crafting film and television won’t want to miss it.
Ed Zwick is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning director, producer and writer with over four decades of highly-acclaimed film and television projects. His filmography as director includes Glory, Legends of the Fall, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Courage Under Fire, Love & Other Drugs, and Defiance; with producing credits including Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic and Shakespeare in Love, for which Zwick won the Academy Award. From early-career, breakout performances from Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, to career-defining roles for Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, and more, Zwick has directed many of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His mark on television is equally impressive, including two series he co-created with longtime creative partner Marshall Herskovitz: the Emmy award-winning thirtysomething, regarded as one of the most influential dramas in modern TV history; and ABC’s Emmy-winning ensemble drama, Once and Again. He also executive produced the groundbreaking teen drama, My So-Called Life, which launched the careers of Claire Danes, Wilson Cruz and Jared Leto. A graduate of Harvard and the AFI Conservatory, Zwick and Herskovitz—by far the longest-running partnership in Hollywood—continues to lead their award-winning production company, Bedford Falls, founded in 1985. His memoir, Hits, Flops and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood, will be published by Simon & Schuster in February 2024.