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The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

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The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

By: Tom Hanks
Narrated by: Tom Hanks, Peter Gerety, Natalie Morales, Ego Nwodim, Nasim Pedrad, Connor Ratliff, Holland Taylor, Rita Wilson, Full Cast
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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
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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
Absolutely loved it. Just listening to his voice reminds me why he is my favourite actor of all time. Warm, funny, intelligent…
I just hope this is not the last book he writes because I can’t wait to see/listen to everything he produces.
Go ahead and treat yourself with this masterpiece! You won’t regret it!

Did you expect anything less from Tom Hanks?

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Tom Hanks can definitely tell a story, there's no doubt about that. This novel takes us very convincingly at a nice pace through the almost infinite sequence of improbable events that results in a film being made.
I read a review that pointed out the gulf between the silliness of the material (yet another superhero franchise) and the seriousness with which the it is treated. That's a valid criticism, I think. The impression we get is that the characters are artists, auteurs, bringing life to a myth. Really they're adding to the noise of underpants-on-the-outside, too-much-going-on, walking-away-from-an-explosion-without-looking-back, assault-them-with-CGI-so-they-don't-spot-plot-holes dreck that fills up omniplexes the world over.
That didn't take from the story too much. I did enjoy it and I will absolutely keep an eye out for more of Tom Hanks's writing.

I think I have decided that I don't like multi-narrator audiobooks.

More fun than I thought it would be.

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got a bit lost in the life histories enjoyed the scenes about the actual film making

Hollywood here I come

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I found it reveiling. So many details one does not think about when warching movies.

Loved it. The performance, the wrighting!

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Surprised myself by how much I loved this- bought it for the length (great Audible credit value!) and for the premise of being ‘behind the scenes’ of a movie. Did not expect to become so engrossed (although did take me a few chapters). I personally love the level of detail, as I enjoyed learning about filmmaking whilst being in a brilliant story. I imagine if someone other than Tom Hanks had written this the reviews might be more generous!

Utterly absorbing

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