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Ed Zwick On Fighting The Urge To Push Harvey Weinstein Off Oscar Stage, Battling Matthew Broderick’s Meddling Mom On ‘Glory’ & Other Memoir Memories: Q&A

Ed Zwick On Fighting The Urge To Push Harvey Weinstein Off Oscar Stage, Battling Matthew Broderick's Meddling Mom On Glory & Other Memoir Memories Q&A

The closest comp to Ed Zwick ‘s new memoir Hits, Flops And Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood is William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade, where he posited a definitive piece of advice on the elusive formula for hit making: ‘nobody knows anything.’ Though he didn’t create the ‘if you want to send a message, try Western Union ‘line that has many authors, Zwick spent a career trying to defy that adage, in directing, writing and producing a long list of great films and TV series topped by the Oscar winning Shakespeare in Love and Traffic, to Glory, Blood Diamond, About Last Night, Defiance, The Last Samurai, The Siege, thirtysomething, My So Called Life and many others. Instead of the well-worn tale of how the film upset Saving Private Ryan to win Best Picture, you write about developing it to direct, and how you once had Julia Roberts and Daniel Day-Lewis as stars, and how that fell apart because she was a young superstar in love for the first time and her professional judgment was upended by…youth. DEADLINE: Beyond confidence, what do you think is his superpower, that lets him hang off skyscrapers and the sides of jets, when most men his age like me get off the couch after a long sit and go, wow my hip hurts, do I need a new one?

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