Sam Wasson Chronicles Chinatown and Hollywood Legends
Here's The Thing with Alec Baldwin
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 8.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 March 2021
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Blake Edwards and Paul Mazursky, to Audrey Hepburn and the history of Improv, Sam Wasson tackles distinctive creators and seminal moments in Hollywood history. Alec loved Sam Wasson’s latest, The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood. In this fascinating conversation, Wasson tells the story of the four men behind the 1974 film, producer Robert Evans, screenwriter Robert Towne, director Roman Polanski, and the star Jack Nicholson. Chinatown marked the end of an era for Hollywood and a turning point in each of their lives.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the Thing from I Heart Radio. |
| 0:07.0 | My guest today is author Sam Wassen. |
| 0:18.5 | Whether he's writing about directors such as Blake Edwards, Paul Miserski, or the |
| 0:23.5 | history of improv, a consistent theme running through Wassen's books is the perseverance |
| 0:30.9 | and talent required to make art in Hollywood. |
| 0:35.3 | His latest book The Big Good Buy is about the seminal film Chinatown. |
| 0:40.2 | How much you worth? |
| 0:41.6 | I don't know how much you want. |
| 0:44.4 | I just want to know what you're worth, over ten million. |
| 0:47.4 | Oh my yes. |
| 0:48.6 | Why are you doing it? |
| 0:50.4 | How much better can you eat? |
| 0:51.6 | Can you buy that you can't already afford? |
| 0:54.0 | The future Mr. Gits. |
| 0:56.3 | The future. |
| 1:02.8 | This is The Love Theme from Chinatown by the film's composer Jerry Goldsmith. |
| 1:09.4 | In The Big Good Buy, Wassen Chronicles, the friendships of the four men at the heart of |
| 1:15.8 | the 1974 classic producer Robert Evans, screenwriter Robert Town, director Roman Polanski, |
| 1:22.9 | and the movie star Jack Nicholson. |
| 1:26.0 | And what was at stake for each one in making this definitive film? |
| 1:31.3 | Sam Wassen grew up in Los Angeles and fell in love with the movies early on. |
| 1:37.3 | I was a movie lover. |
... |
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