Ed Zwick is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning director, writer, and producer of film and television. A graduate of Harvard and the AFI Conservatory, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Liberty Godshall.

"Ed Zwick is responsible for some of the best entertainment of the last forty years. Hits, Flops and Other Illusions takes its place alongside Adventures in the Screen Trade and Easy Riders, Raging Bulls as one of the indispensable behind-the-scenes books for fans of movies and television." - Aaron Sorkin "Ed Zwick is a great storyteller, and Hits, Flops and Other Illusions is a terrific trifecta. It's a true memoir, filled with people we all want to know more about. It's personal and funny, charting a career of clear and definitive twists and turns. AND, as a bonus, it's full of do's and don'ts for filmmakers. I inhaled it. It made me think, like a book about a creative life should. It's the best kind of book. EVEN THOUGH THE MOTHERFUCKER NEVER HIRED ME!" - Jamie Lee Curtis "With characteristic warmth and wit, Ed Zwick has delivered an instant classic. Hits is not just a wonderfully intimate memoir. It's also an indispensable guide to the shark-infested waters of artistic integrity. Zwick is a masterful storyteller, well known for creating characters brimming with humanity. It's no surprise to learn that his best character just might be himself." - Cameron Crowe "In this delightfully candid and moving memoir, Ed Zwick allows us to follow him on his remarkable journey as a filmmaker. He guides us onto the movie sets, behind the cameras, and into the rooms with studio execs and stars. In the process, we are given a front-row seat to witness a world of Hollywood most of us never see." - David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon "The legendary Ed Zwick's rollicking, rib-wrecking recollection of cinematic silliness and salvation is an 'in-one-sitting' thrill ride. Get it!" - Patton Oswalt "If you're interested at all in movies, directing, navigating Hollywood, it is sweet . . . Great book . . . This is up there for me with the Sidney Lumet book [Making Movies]." - Rob Lowe on Literally! With Rob Lowe "Irresistible . . . A fantastically entertaining memoir that shows the movie business in high definition. It is part how-to guide, peppered with frank lists that crunch hard-won advice into easily digestible bites, and will be useful for young film-makers - but the layperson will inhale it for the gossip and what it reveals about the frankly bewildering systems of power that prop up the entertainment business." - The Guardian "A combination instruction manual, reminiscence and festival of name-dropping, Zwick's memoir captures the interminable delays between inception and production (on those occasions when production even happens); the egos stroked and dreams dashed; and the exhilaration that accompanies the miracle of a project that somehow, through a combination of persistence and good luck, reaches its fruition and lives up to its potential . . . For a book that doesn't exist for the purpose of serving up zingers or exacting vengeance, Hits manages to deliver a tasty supply of both." - Los Angeles Times "This funny, insightful, and deliciously dishy memoir covers the highs and lows of life in Hollywood, recalls the superstars and psychopaths who've crossed Zwick's path, and shares the all-too-rare truth about what really happens behind the scenes of one of the world's most glamorous industries." - Town & Country, "Must-Read Books of Winter 2024" "A rollicking career retrospective that looks back at temperamental actors, vengeful studio heads, and the mysterious alchemy that governs great filmmaking . . . wildly entertaining . . . For film buffs, it's a must-read." - Publishers Weekly "A compulsively readable account of Zwick's time in Hollywood, one chronicling both the grand vistas of a nine-figure Tom Cruise epic and the intimate patios of a network TV show drawn from his own experiences." - The Bulwark "The author warns early on that he'll be dropping names, and he certainly does . . . Not everyone is remembered so fondly, but the author on the whole comes o...

Publisher: Gallery Books

Pub date: 2025-02-25

Length: 320 pages