I’ve recently finished reading ‘The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece’ by Tom Hanks, and I’m honestly not sure I’m ever going to be done shouting about it from the rooftops (at least not until everyone I know has read it too)! I recently wrote about my experience crawling out of a long reading slump, and this is truly one of those books that instantly revived my joy of reading. It was only published last year, but it’s not a book that I’ve seen a lot of people talking about, so I wanted to give it a bit more love!
‘Spanning eighty years and culminating in the opening of a film, we meet a cast of characters including a troubled soldier, a young boy with an artistic gift, an inspired and eccentric director, a pompous film star on the rise, a tireless production assistant and countless film crew members who together create Hollywood magic.’
Penguin Books
‘The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece’ is fictional, but you would be forgiven for believing this story to be a retelling of true events, through the manner and detail in which it’s told. I definitely had a quick Google a couple of times to check if what I was reading was based on a true story – it’s written that convincingly! Structurally, I’ve never read another book like it, and the entire novel almost feels like a collection of short stories, with different narrators, which seamlessly weave together across many years. Although I have yet to read it, I know that Tom Hanks’ first book, ‘Uncommon Type’, is a collection of short stories, so this is clearly a style that Hanks is good at writing in, and it’s interesting to see how this has been worked into the style of a novel this time.
The story begins in 1947 in the town of Lone Butte, California. We meet 5 year old Robby Anderson, who after a surprise visit from his uncle Bob Falls, comes across the comic book ‘Heroes Under Fire’, which as it happens was inspired by his uncles own experience as a flamethrower in the marines. As the years pass, this comic book sticks with Robby, and his creative talents lead him to become a comic strip artist for Kool Katz Komix, where he most famously writes the comic book ‘The Legend of Firefall’, inspired by this story from his childhood. By 2020 this comic has by chance fallen into the hands of writer and director Bill Johnson, who has been busy trying to come up with ideas for the next big blockbuster action movie for Dynamo Studios. The comic inspires Bills next screenplay, and work begins on the production of ‘Knightshade: The Lathe of Firefall’. As readers, we are then brought along through the ups and downs of filming a movie, as well as being introduced to many of the people behind the film itself, from movie stars like Wren Lane, to producers such as Al Mac-Teer for example. We see how their individual life stories and career paths have all led them to work on this movie, as well as just how vital all of their individual roles really are.
Spanning several decades, the book essentially tells the story of how a ‘major motion picture masterpiece’ gets made – right from the very start with the source material that inspires the screenplay, all the way through to the present day and the filming and release of the movie. I love how we are shown this by following one comic book story through time, and through the hands of various characters as it gets re-worked, re-written, turned into a screenplay, and then a movie, and then back into a comic book inspired by the film. What I particularly enjoyed about the way that this novel is structured, is that the book itself is time stamped with actual comic strips, letting us as the reader experience the different iterations of the same story over the decades, in the actual comic format.
As well as creating the real comic strips throughout, the book even ends with an excerpt from the screenplay from this fictional blockbuster, with a QR code to read the entire thing – Tom Hanks literally wrote a whole movie to base this book on! I was so impressed with the attention to detail, and felt being able to read the screenplay yourself helped to add so many layers to the story. Following this story and these people over so many years, it’s hard not to become invested in the outcome, rooting for each individual cog in the wheel to get this film made!
I honestly never wanted this book to end, and enjoyed sinking into it every time I sat down to read. I wanted to savour it, and make it last as long as possible. It was so well written, and I felt like I was living in the story the whole time. I loved how all the little stories and plots wove together to showcase all the many different moving parts that go into making a movie. I would give this 100 stars if I could!
Rating 5/5 ⭐️
Have you read ‘The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece’ by Tom Hanks? Let me know what you thought of it below!
If you’re thinking about giving it a read, pick up a copy here (Maldon Books is my favourite local independent bookshop, and they ship all across the UK! Make sure to support your local businesses where you can!)
Follow me on Goodreads if you want to see more of what I’m currently reading. Also, let me know in the comments below what you’re reading – I’m always after some good recommendations!
Emma 🌙
