For decades, Robert Altman fascinated audiences with pioneering films-among them M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player, and Gosford Park-that combined technical innovation with subversive, satirical humor and impassioned political engagement. His ability to explore and engage so many different worlds with a single, coherent vision changed the landscape of cinema forever. This signature "Altmanesque" style is, in the words of Martin Scorsese: "as recognizable and familiar as Renoir's brushstrokes or Debussy's orchestrations."
Now, the Altman estate opens its archive to celebrate his extraordinary life and career in the first authorized visual biography on the iconoclastic director. Altman, by Altman's widow Kathryn Reed Altman and film critic Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan, brims with photographs and ephemera, many culled from private family albums, and personal recollections of the director. Alongside the intimate illustrated story is a complete visual, historical, and critical narrative of Altman's films and his process.
To honor the Altman trademark of using a wide cast of characters, Altman also features contributions from his collaborators and contemporaries including Frank Barhydt, E. L. Doctorow, Roger Ebert, Jules Feiffer, Julian Fellowes, James Franco, Tess Gallagher, Pauline Kael, Garrison Keillor, Michael Murphy, Martin Scorsese, Lily Tomlin, Alan Rudolph, Michael Tolkin, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
|Kathryn Reed Altman met and married Robert Altman in 1959 and was an active participant in Altman's professional life. She lives in New York City and Los Angeles.; Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan is a film writer, curator, and programmer who has published numerous books on American cinema, including monographs on Clint Eastwood and William Friedkin. She lives in New York City.; Martin Scorsese is one of America's most prominent filmmakers. He has directed classics such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Departed. He lives in New York City.
