Going Wild(er)

My last ride on the random book generator brought up yet another book of short stories from the 1990s that Josh had bought. Really, my randomizer seems hell bent on me reading nothing but good short story collections from the 1990s. I've not nothing against these collections, but they are kind of hard to write about, and I needed a break, so I skipped to the next book on the list. This book was Cameron Crowe's Conversations with Wilder (1999), a series of interviews between Crowe and the director Billy Wilder in the late 1990s.

Even if you don't think you know who Billy Wilder is, I bet you have seen some of his movies. They include: Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, A Foreign Affair, Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, and The Apartment. Plus like twenty others. Crowe, of course, is the writer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and the director of Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, etc.

Crowe's background as a reporter makes him a good fit for this book. The elderly Wilder (who was in his early 90s during these sessions) also seems to respect Crowe as another director who writes his own movies. Occasionally Crowe will get carried away with giving us detailed descriptions of Wilder's office, the weather on the day of the interview, or what color suspenders Wilder is wearing. Most of the time, however, he is an insightful and persistent interviewer who succeeds in getting Wilder to discuss films, experiences, and relationships that go beyond the sound bytes he is used to giving to people who want to know about Sunset Boulevard or working with Marilyn Monroe. Of course, those kinds of anecdotes and stories are in here too, and they are almost as fascinating as hearing the stories behind Wilder's "flops" and regrets. My favorite part of these conversations, however, might be Wilder's discussion of his writing process, which was always done with a collaborator. Wilder came to the US in the 1930s from Berlin (after moving to Berlin from his birthplace in Austria-Hungary), and never felt comfortable enough with his English to write without a partner.

Besides all the great text, this book is filled with photographs: family photos of Wilder, stills from his films, candid shots from old-Hollywood parties, stills from films that influenced Wilder, movie posters, and shots of Wilder directing (like this shot of Wilder with Shirley MacLaine in Irma la Douce). The book is well designed and really enjoyable to read. Did I mention that Wilder is also hilarious? He is.

Here are two of my favorite anecdotes from the book:

Written on the bathroom wall at Paramount Studios, where Edith Head was the costume designer: "Edith Head gives good wardrobe"

Dean Martin (who was in Wilder's movie Kiss me Stupid) when chatting with visitors to the film set would stand very close to the visitors, put his hands in his pants pockets and feel around in them, and then suddenly say "Plums? Where did I get these plums?"