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The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A wildly ambitious story of the making of a colossal, star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film, and the humble comic book that inspired it all.

Spanning 80 years of a changing America and culminating in the opening of the film, we meet a colourful cast of characters including a troubled soldier returning from war, 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 that together create Hollywood magic.

Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece offers an insider's take on the momentous efforts it takes to make a film. At once a reflection on America's past and present, on the world of show business and the real world we all live in.

This audiobook features 15 narrators, including Rita Wilson, other character backstories performed by Peter Gerety (Charlie Wilson's War, The Wire), Natalie Morales (Dead to Me, Language Lessons), Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live), Nasim Pedrad (Chad, Saturday Night Live), Connor Ratliff (Dead Eyes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Holland Taylor (The Practice, The Morning Show). Additional parts are performed by Frankie Corzo, Hillary Huber, David Lee Huynh, Sean Patrick Hopkins, JD Jackson, January LaVoy, and Oliver Wyman.

Interspersed throughout the book are three comic books featured in the story. This audiobook contains downloadable PDF of the comics from the book and a QR code for access to the original screenplay of Knightshade: The Lathe of Firefall.

© Tom Hanks 2023 (P) Penguin Audio 2023

 Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Funny Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

Affectionate and endlessly entertaining. Hanks writes with such tenderness about human connection and the magic of the movies (Richard Osman)
With a unique insight and a rare eye for detail, Tom Hanks delivers a stunning, emotionally satisfying tale about the art of storytelling. I never wanted the lights to come up. I could not put it down (Graham Norton)
THE MAKING OF ANOTHER MAJOR MOTION PICTURE MASTERPIECE is its own universe, complete with a sun, a cast of circling planets, and a limitless number of stars. Its gravity pulls you in and its far reaching, multi-layered, rollicking exuberance holds you in place. I would have been happy to live inside this book forever (Ann Patchett)
A proper literary belter
An extravagant, buoyant, joyfully sprawling book, bursting with affection for its characters, for the intricate lore of the movie business, and for the many ways in which human beings are one another's greatest opportunity (Tana French)
This is a wild, ambitious and exceptionally enjoyable novel. A story about how stories happen, with a swirling kaleidoscope of characters across the best part of a century, and a real beating emotional heart. It has a lot of astute and fascinating things to say about comic books, movies, show business, America and human beings. I loved every page (Matt Haig)
Vibrant, jazzy, witty, snazzily written, with a great sense of time and place, this novel-cum-comic book is one of those rare, unique, pieces of fiction. Loved it (Kate Mosse)
Do you want to go on an adventure? Who doesn't? This was a joy to read in that certain kind of way that only happens when it was a joy to write. Tom Hanks is such a natural storyteller that everything feels like he's telling this story just for you, at a dinner table, and you don't want the night to end (Fredrik Backman)
A heartfelt tribute to movies and the people who make them . . . Lovingly crafted, a wildly entertaining story beautifully told . . . You'll love this book
An impressive debut
All stars
Most relevant
Tom Hanks is one of my favourite actors - he is also an energetic and engaging audiobook narrator, filled with enthusiasm and a naturalistic delivery that is intimate and conversational - sometimes a little too much - I had to go back and relisten to some sections as I couldn't quite catch the sense he speaks so quickly at times. I found this a book of two halves. The opening sections are wonderfully humorous and tender, and Hanks holds the whole thing together with a subtle and tender performance. Then it sags as soon as the other voices appear; the changes of voice removed me from the story ... particularly the female voices which I found oddly disconnected and disengaged, like reading a telephone directory - particularly noticeable when compared with the vibrant and immersive read of Tom Hanks. They just slowed everything down and I lost the thread. Tempting to speed through those sections and get back to Hanks. Worth persevering ... just ... but only because of Tom Hanks' stellar performance. Could do with a bit of a prune ... overlong and a bit rambling at tiimes.

Tom Hanks does a good job ... the rest less so.

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Simply divine. A wonderful book read by an even more wonderful actor. Tom Hanks utterly captivates and brings his words to life with effortless skill. A must listen!

What Audible was invented for.

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totally enjoyed this book felt I was on the set well done tom hanks makes you realise what's involved in a movie

something different

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Initial thoughts on other reviewers' complaints:
Complaint No. 1: it's not fair! Some people are upset that someone who is already famous for something else inevitably gets a lot of attention when they publish a novel, while other (arguably better) writers who have been slogging at this for years still struggle for attention, and yes, that is unfair. (And it's why I subscribe to Kindle First Reads, where I haven't heard of anybody). But nobody knows more about the movie industry than Tom Hanks, and if he wants to write about it, why not? I chose this audiobook having listened to him talk about it very engagingly on the Adam Buxton podcast.

Complaint no. 2: it's too long! Well, the point of this book, as I see it, is that a movie-making project is huge, and sprawling, and made up of countless numbers of backstories, happenings, coincidences and above all people. Making a big movie involves dozens of people, and each of them has a backstory, and some of those are worth movies in themselves (or at least a short). So we get detail on all the characters we are introduced to. Yes, you could have cut some out. But they are all interesting, and also meant I knew exactly who everyone was. With an audiobook in particular I often get confused - who was that again? - and don't have the option of flicking back through pages. Here, I'd met everyone properly.

I loved the detail behind each character. I liked knowing who everyone was. And I enjoyed all the details of the film making, the lengthy descriptions of what everyone had for breakfast, the text exchanges. I am a details person.

I thought the coincidence of the Major Motion Picture being filmed in the town where the original comic book artist (and the uncle who was his Muse) grew up, and the even bigger coincidence of them taking over the actual house where he grew up, was a BIT far fetched but it was very satisfying and this is Tinseltown. The backstory of the comic-strip writer's childhood, the all-important couple of days in which he met his uncle, and the sympathetic portrayal of said uncle who clearly had PTSD after the war, was my favourite part of the novel.

I particularly enjoyed the female characters and their portrayal as extremely hard working, bright, proactive and above all ESSENTIAL to a film. I liked the way the producer Al was spotted and brought on by her mentor Dace, and that she spots and brings on Ynez in her turn. Hard work and initiative are rewarded (which may be a bit more Tinseltown glitter, but I liked it).

I did not enjoy spending time with the arrogant diva who was the original 'male lead' for the film, 'OKB'. Unfortunately I am prepared to believe people like him exist and are tolerated for the sake of box office bucks. Thank goodness he got sacked. I hope that happens too.

You really get a sense of the relentless hard work that it is making a film. It really doesn't sound like much fun at all. As Tom Hanks put it, 'it's just one damn thing after another'

I didn't lose concentration at all during the Audible narration - maybe that's as much due to the fact that it was done by Proper Actors (most of all Hanks, but I enjoyed the switches of POV) but it did keep me interested throughout.

And let's not forget the extras! You get the comic strips mentioned in the backstory; AND the screenplay! I presume it is a 'proper' movie screenplay; it actually isn't very interesting on its own, and only made sense because the importance of each scene had been described in the novel.

Just one damn thing after another

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I could not put this audible book down & when I had to, to do some work, couldn't wait to listen again. Loved the story, loved the characters, loved the different voices taking on the characters. I wish more audio books were like this.
Highly recommended, five stars all the way.

Thank you Major Tom

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