The De Palma Decade

Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens

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By Laurent Bouzereau

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Journey with award-winning filmmaker and author Laurent Bouzereau through acclaimed director Brian De Palma’s renowned—and controversial—horror and thriller films that redefined cinema in the 1970s and early 80s with interviews conducted over three decades and fresh takes.
 
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language, melding his signature themes with specific filmmaking techniques that are now synonymous with his name.
 
Acclaimed filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau explores the seven films that came to define the De Palma decade: Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out. Combining film analysis, detailed production histories, and interviews with De Palma himself, his casts, and collaborators, Bouzereau presents the definitive record on this unrivaled period of cinematic creativity and the emergence of an auteur who would continue to influence filmmaking in the decades that followed.

 

Genre:

  • “A perfect treatise on one of cinema’s most original auteurs. It’s filled with fascinating insights and thoughtful analysis that will delight fans of De Palma’s work. Bouzereau proves once again that he is one of our greatest film writers.This book belongs on every cinephile’s shelf!”
    Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One
  • “A singular voice in a generation of ‘Pure Cinema’ practitioners, De Palma remains more complex, personal, and deep a filmmaker than most. Laurent Bouzereau’s The De Palma Decade does a terrific job at parting the veil on one of De Palma’s most prodigious periods and witnessing the birth of an American auteur that managed to manipulate, enchant, and terrify audiences worldwide. Beyond genre, beyond all definition, this is an indispensable text for all those of us intent in deciphering the master.”
    Guillermo del Toro, filmmaker
  • “Laurent Bouzereau has written an enthralling overview that’s as much a fascinating examination of the author as it is of his subject. Yet he always keeps De Palma, and the power of his work, in the center of the frame. We feel the love of cinema that connects this pair.”
    Elvis Mitchell, host of The Treatment, KCRW
  • “Both unabashed De Palma fan and discerning critic, Laurent Bouzereau delivers riveting detail and fresh insight into a transformative era for film and one of its most fascinating figures. The De Palma Decade is delightfully obsessive.”
    Julie Salamon, author of The Devil’s Candy
  • “As a devotee of De Palma who has pored over every frame of the operatic cinema discussed in The De Palma Decade, I was thrilled that there was even more to learn about the Master of the Macabre. An essential book about every facet of honing these masterpieces, it’s meticulous, brilliantly structured, stylish, and endlessly fascinating, much like De Palma himself.”
    Edgar Wright, writer/director

On Sale
Sep 3, 2024
Page Count
320 pages
Publisher
Running Press
ISBN-13
9780762485574

Photo of author Laurent Bousereau. The author is seated at a table with arms loosely folded, and smiling at the camera.

Laurent Bouzereau

About the Author

Laurent Bouzereau is an award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author. His credits include the feature documentary Faye about legendary actress Faye Dunaway for HBO/Amblin, the event documentary on John Williams, produced by Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, the Disney+/Lucasfilm documentary Timeless Heroes on Harrison Ford, the HBO feature documentaries Mama’s Boy, based on the best-selling memoir by Dustin Lance Black, and Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, as well as the acclaimed Netflix series Five Came Back (with an Emmy winning narration by Meryl Streep), executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Bouzereau has produced and directed hundreds of benchmark behind-the-scenes documentaries, including Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans.  He is the author of several books on cinema, including Spielberg: The First Ten Years (2023), TheDe Palma Decade (2024). Laurent Bouzereau and his husband Markus Keith run Nedland Media, a production company based in Los Angeles, developing scripted as well as non-scripted projects. Nedland is also a leader in film and brand marketing, working on campaigns for all the major studios.


 

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