From the Publisher
The Conversations is a treasure, essential for any
lover or student of film, and a rare, intimate glimpse into the
worlds of two accomplished artists who share a great passion for
film and storytelling, and whose knowledge and love of the crafts
of writing and film shine through.
It was on the set of the movie adaptation of his Booker
Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, that
Michael Ondaatje met the master film and sound editor Walter Murch,
and the two began a remarkable personal conversation about the
making of films and books in our time that continued over two
years. From those conversations stemmed this enlightened,
affectionate book -- a mine of wonderful, surprising observations
and information about editing, writing and literature, music and
sound, the I-Ching, dreams, art and history.
The Conversations is filled with stories about how
some of the most important movies of the last thirty years were
made and about the people who brought them to the screen. It traces
the artistic growth of Murch, as well as his friends and
contemporaries -- including directors such as Francis Ford Coppola,
George Lucas, Fred Zinneman and Anthony Minghella -- from the
creation of the independent, anti-Hollywood Zoetrope by a handful
of brilliant, bearded young men to the recent triumph of
Apocalypse Now Redux.
Among the films Murch has worked on are American Graffiti,
The Conversation, the remake of A Touch of Evil,
Julia, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather
(all three), The Talented Mr. Ripley, and The English
Patient.
"Walter Murch is a true oddity in Hollywood. A genuine
intellectual and renaissance man who appears wise and private at
the centre of various temporary storms to do with film making and
his whole generation of filmmakers. He knows, probably, where a lot
of the bodies are buried."
About the Author
Michael Ondaatje is an internationally acclaimed novelist and poet.
He is the author of five novels, including Anil's
Ghost, which won the Irish Times International
Award, The English Patient, which
won the Booker Prize, and In the Skin of a Lion.
He has written a memoir, Running in the Family,
and his books of poetry include Handwriting and
The Cinnamon Peeler. He has also made two
documentary films. He lives in Toronto.
Walter Murch is one of the great master craftsman of the film world
- a renowned film and
sound editor who has worked on many of the iconic films of our
time, including The Godfather I-III, Apocalypse
Now and Redux, American Graffiti, The
Conversation, The English Patient, and most recently
Cold Mountain, and won three Academy Awards. He is the
author of In the Blink of an Eye, and is
translating the poetry of Curzio Malaparte from Italian. He lives
outside San Francisco.