Conversations with Steve Martin

Marc Notes: Includes index.; Conversations with Steve Martin presents a collection of interviews and profiles that focus on Martin as a writer, artist, and original thinker over the course of more than four decades in show business. While those less familiar with his gull body of work may think of Martin as primarily the wild and crazy guy with an arrow through his head, this book makes the case that he is in fact one of our nation's most accomplished and varied artists. It shows the full range of Martin's creative work, tracing the source of his comic imagination from his early standup days, starting in the mid- to late 1960s through the films he has written and starred in, and emphasizing his more recent creative outpourings as playwright, essayist, novelist, memoirist, songwriter, composer, musician, and art critic. Standup is the hardest material in the world to writer for someone else;it's like trying to condense ten years of experience into twenty minutes of new material, Martin says. But commenting on his fiction writing, he says, I think you have to be able to find as a writer that state where your don't know what you're going to say or what the character is going to say or who the characters are. That's the biggest thrill of all. When you start to trust that subconscious thing and you don't censor yourself--just remember you can always throw it away--that's when the good stuff comes out.--; Provided by publisher. . Table of Contents: Introduction -- Chronology -- Hey!!! It's Steve Martin! / Tom Shales / 1977 -- Behind the Best Sellers: Steve Martin / Carol Lawson / 1979 -- Carl Reiner and Steve Martin Plan Another Film at Universal / Samir Hachem / 1979 -- Steve Martin Sings: The Rolling Stone Interview / Ben Fong-Torres / 1982 -- Steve Martin: A Wild and Serious Guy / Dale Pollock / 1984 -- Steve Martin Revises Cyrano / Aljean Harmetz / 1987 -- A Side Order of Steve Martin / Elaine Dutka / 1991 -- Playboy Interview: Steve Martin / David Sheff / 1993 -- Steve Martin: The Late Period / Adam Gopnik / 1993 -- Raw, Salted, and Roasted: What's on the Table When Nora Ephron and Steve Martin Get Together? / Hilary de Vries / 1994 -- Hotline to Hollywood / Richard E. Grant / 1995 -- An Interview with Steve Martin: Thinking about Life / Charlie Rose / 1996 -- A Conversation with Author and Actor Steve Martin / Charlie Rose / 1998 -- Not Wild but Witty Repartee with Steve Martin and Harry Shearer / Harry Shearer / 1998 -- Two Brains? More Like Four, and Counting / John Walsh / 1999 -- Steve Martin: Writer / Richard Stayton / 1999 -- Steve Martin: The Rolling Stone Interview / David Wild / 1999 -- Writing Bowfinger. A Talk with Steve Martin / Annie Nocenti / 1999 -- The Pleasure of His Company: The Writing World of Steve Martin / Jeff Zaleski / 2003 -- Famous Just Right: Steve Martin / Meghan Daum / 2005 -- Steve Martin on Screenwriting, Storytelling, and Shopgirl / Josh Spector / 2005 -- Born Standing Up (Excerpt) / Steve Martin / 2007 -- Steve Martin: All about My Father / Emma Brockes / 2007 -- Steve Martin Memoir Recalls a Past Life / Terry Gross / 2008 -- Steve Martin Is Serious about The Crow / Randy Lewis / 2009 -- Actor and Author Steve Martin on His Book An Object of Beauty: A Novel / Charlie Rose / 2010 -- Steve Martin Finds His Muse in Ah Object of Beauty / Tony Cox / 2010 -- The Wild and Crazy Tweets of Steve Martin / Renee Montagne / 2012 -- Index. Publisher Marketing:"Conversations with Steve Martin" presents a collection of interviews and profiles that focus on Martin as a writer, artist, and original thinker over the course of more than four decades in show business. While those less familiar with his full body of work may think of Martin as primarily the "wild and crazy guy" with an arrow through his head, this book makes the case that he is in fact one of our nation's most accomplished and varied artists. It shows the full range of Martin's creative work, tracing the source of his comic imagination from his early standup days, starting in the mid to late 1960s through the films he has written and starred in, and emphasizing his more recent creative outpourings as playwright, essayist, novelist, memoirist, songwriter, composer, musician, and art critic."Standup is the hardest material in the world to write for someone else; it's like trying to condense 10 years of experience into 20 minutes of new material.," Martin says. But commenting on his fiction writing, he says. "I think you have to be able to find as a writer that state where you don't know what you're going to say or what the character is going to say or who the characters are. That's the biggest thrill of all. When you start to trust that subconscious thing and you don't censor yourself--just remember you can always throw it away--that's when the good stuff comes out."The selected materials consist not only of pieces focused primarily on Martin's writings, but also broader profiles and conversations that help explain Martin's development as a writer within the larger context of his many other accomplishments, talents, and performance skills. Contributor Bio:  Kapsis, Robert E Robert E. Kapsis is professor of sociology and film studies at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of "Hitchcock: The Making of a Reputation" and editor of several volumes in the Conversations with Filmmakers Series.