Ray CarneyCassavetes par Cassavetes

“Cassavetes par Cassavetes is the essential work on the director of Faces and A Woman Under the Influence. Following a chronological thread, John Cassavetes recounts his childhood and youth, his dramatic studies, his beginnings as a broke actor in New York, his constant battles against the Hollywood studios and the automatisms of commercial cinema. He explains in detail the stages in the making of each of his films, from Shadows (1959) to Love Streams (1984). Epic shoots, often interrupted due to lack of money, repeated edits, communication and release plans led by the filmmaker himself… All his life, Cassavetes remained faithful to his radical vision of art and cinema, sometimes even against the advice of his most loyal collaborators, such as actors Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, or his wife and actress Gena Rowlands.

Richly illustrated, the book alternates Cassavetes’ words with comments by his biographer Ray Carney, who resituates, completes and sometimes discusses them. Praised at its release in the United States in 2001, Cassavetes by Cassavetes is, according to the filmmaker Harmony Korine, “the best book ever written on cinema”.