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Inside Inside
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List Price: $27.95
Our Price: $18.45
Your Save: $ 9.50 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 792.02807117471
EAN: 9780525950356
ISBN: 0525950354
Label: Dutton Adult
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: 2007-10-18
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Studio: Dutton Adult
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Editorial Reviews:
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A REVEALING BEHIND-THE-SCENES PORTRAIT OF THE AWARD-WINNING TV SHOW INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO– AND ITS CREATOR AND HOST JAMES LIPTON
Each week Inside the Actors Studio takes the unique insights and intimate revelations of its celebrated guests into 84 million homes on the Bravo network and 125 countries. Now, with Inside Inside, James Lipton, the 2007 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Emmy, is handing every one of us a backstage pass.
You will witness in unprecedented close-up the wit, wisdom and candor of a galaxy of stars, from Paul Newman to Barbra Streisand, Al Pacino, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Ellen Burstyn, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone and many, many more, and marvel at the comic inventions of Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle – and Will Ferrell as James Lipton on the Inside stage.
With the same candor he demands of his guests, James Lipton reveals a life that began under the tutelage of a poet, his father, and a teacher, his mother; continued in the orbit of three theatrical giants, Stella Adler, Harold Clurman and Robert Lewis; and, as writer and producer, took him to the White House with two presidents, the Great Wall of China with Bob Hope, and a wild flight at the controls of an Alaskan bush plane, on his journey to Inside the Actors Studio.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Will Farrell could have written a better book about James Lipton
Comment: Oh, how James Lipton loves James Lipton. I'm glad he loves his wife, but the fawning got a bit excessive. He never mentions he was married before, except to mention in passing that at a party he met the famous actress Nina Foch, who became a "lifelong friend". He failed to mention they were married for five years!
What really shocked me was when I saw the recent "Inside the Actors Studio" 200th show special where Dave Chapelle interviewed James Lipton. In the show, Lipton mentions quite a few anecdotes from his life - and it turns out his verbage in the show was *exactly the same* as what he used in the book. Word for word. That was sort of creepy and showed a lack of imagination - try to change up the wording a bit next time, eh?
Will Farrell, where are you when we need you?
Customer Rating:
Summary: The James Lipton Ego Trip
Comment: I agree completely with the reviewer who stated Lipton is pompous and pedantic. This book is mostly Lipton's autobiography interspersed with a bits of material about the actors who appeared on "Inside the Actor's Studio". Who wants to read about Lipton's inconsequential life, his Oedipal adoration of his mother and his obsession with a wife who is much too attractive for him? At length, he describes producing the annual Bob Hope Specials and the Jimmy Carter celebration at the Kennedy Center. Big deal; ancient history and not interesting. I bought this book to read about actors. He basically quotes the transcripts of the "Inside the Actor's Studio" programs, which we've all SEEN. A big waste of your time and money.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An uneven, occasionally fascinating read
Comment: Many of the people who have reviewed this book seem disappointed that there is so much Lipton and not enough "Inside the Actors Studio." Actually, I had quite the opposite reaction.
I wanted this book for all the inside scoop on "Inside the Actors Studio" yet found myself getting swept up in Lipton's fascinating life and, more importantly, his rich and colorful writing style (I was so taken with his writing that I went out and bought his novel, "Mirrors.")
I wanted to wallow in the words and the saga of this fascinating man, not sure if I wanted to race through it because it was so captivating, or slow down to savor each page.
My own disappointment came when it actually came to the reason I wanted the book in the first place--the story about "Inside the Actors Studio." Lipton's fawning over each guest got to be so nauseating that while I had devoured the first part of the book, it took me a much longer time to get through the end of it. These are actors. Good actors, to be sure, but not gods and goddesses, not heads of state, not nobel laureates. They are simply ACTORS, yet Lipton treats each one as if he were greeting the Pope, the Dali Lama or the Queen of England. It was fawning to the n'th degree and the only reason I stuck with the book to the end was that I had so enjoyed it up to that point.
I also wanted to know who this St. Bernard of Piveau that Lipton gushes about in every show really was, and never got a satisfactory answer to that, other than that he was apparently a French talk show host, another living legend to be fawned over.
I give this book three stars--if it had stayed at the level of the first half, I would enthusiastically give it five stars, but it is a very disappointing second half (for me).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Even the half that isn't Inside is Great
Comment: I loved this book!!! James Lipton can write and does indeed write extremely well. The first half is indeed more autobiographical in nature but is a very interesting behind the scenes story of his life and art. Mr. Lipton includes plenty of self-congratulation, but contrary to some reviews, which made the book much more interesting for me.
Most of the last half is about "Inside the Actor's Studio", a TV-series that I never missed once I discovered it. I ran into a dozen or so passes that were quite moving as I read this book. I highly recommend the book for anyone who enjoyed the series and/or finds James Lipton to be an interesting fellow.
Just ignore the title and expect more than just about going Inside "Inside the Actor's Studio". If you only want the TV series part, read chapters 11-17 and view the photo section. Be warned, however, that you will miss some real nuggets.
What I wished he had included (think future edition) is a list of the 200 or so guests who appeared on "Inside the Actor's Studio", in order, in an appendix.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Most Enjoyable Journey
Comment: James Lipton provides the reader with a modestly-written account of his multi-faceted career and his many accomplishments. It is easy to journey with him from his initial efforts to earn money for law school to his accomplishments on radio, in television, on the stage and, finally as a (the?) principal of the Actors' Studio. That's the first half of the book. The second half is a review of many of the actors, actresses, writers and directors who were interviewed by him on "Inside the Actor's Studio" arranged with emphasis less on the individuals and their fame and more on their mettle. For devotees of the program, it is another wonderful journey with Lipton. For those who have not watched his television series on Bravo and who don't know James Lipton, it is an introduction to a most talented and accomplished individual who has a wonderful story to tell. "Inside Inside" is a most enjoyable read.
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