adn't gone before and Nashawaty chronicles the journeys."
--Los Angeles Times ("Books You Need To Read This Summer") "Written with a fan's enthusiasm . . . An important inflection point in Hollywood filmmaking."
--New York Times ("Nonfiction Books to Read This Summer") In the summer of 1982, eight science fiction films were released within six weeks of one another.
E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and
Mad Max: The Road Warrior changed the careers of some of Hollywood's now biggest names--altering the art of movie-making to this day.
In
The Future Was Now, Chris Nashawaty recounts the riotous genesis of these films, featuring an all-star cast of Hollywood luminaries and gadflies alike: Steven Spielberg, at the height of his powers, conceives
E.T. as an unlikely family tale, and quietly takes over the troubled production of
Poltergeist, a horror film he had been nurturing for years. Ridley Scott, fresh off the success of
Alien, tries his hand at an odd Philip K. Dick story that becomes
Blade Runner--a box office failure turned cult classic. Similar stories arise for films like
Tron, Conan the Barbarian, and
The Thing. Taken as a whole, these films show a precarious turning-point in Hollywood history, when baffled film executives finally began to understand the potential of high-concept films with a rabid fanbase, merchandising potential, and endless possible sequels.
Expertly researched, energetically told, and written with an unabashed love for the cinema,
The Future Was Now is a chronicle of how the revolution sparked in a galaxy far, far away finally took root and changed Hollywood forever.