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The fascinating memoir of a Hollywood life and an inside look at a life-changing role and the groundbreaking Lord of the Rings films that captured the imagination of movie fans everywhere.
The Lord of the Rings is one of the most successful film franchises in cinematic history. Winner of a record eleven Academy Awards--a clean sweep--and breaking box office records worldwide, the trilogy is a breathtaking cinematic achievement and beloved by fans everywhere.
For Sean Astin, a Hollywood child (his mother is Patty Duke and stepfather is John Astin) who made his feature film debut at 13 in the 1980s classic The Goonies and played the title role in Rudy, the call from his agent about the role of Samwise Gamgee couldn't have come at a better time. His career was at a low point and choice roles were hard to come by. But his 18-month experience in New Zealand with director Peter Jackson and the cast and crew od The Lord of the Rings films would be more than simply a dream-come-true--it would prove to be the challenge of a lifetime.
There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale is the complete memoir of Sean Astin, from his early days in Hollywood to the role that changed his life. Though much has been written about the making of the films, including the techniques and artistry employed to bring Tolkien's vision of life and the various relationships between castmembers, the real story of what took place on the set, the harrowing ordeals of the actors and the unspoken controversy and backstage dealings have never been told.
Sean's experience and candid account of his time filming in New Zealand is unparalleled. More than a companion guide to the Ring films, There and Back Again filled with stories from the set and of the actors involved that have never been revealed before and is an eye-opening look from a Hollywood veteran at the blood, sweat and tears that went into the making of one of the most ambitious films of all time.
- Sales Rank: #386791 in Books
- Brand: St. Martin's Press
- Published on: 2004-10-14
- Released on: 2004-09-23
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.78" h x 1.13" w x 6.20" l, 1.40 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 320 pages
Features
From Publishers Weekly
At 33, Astin is young to write his life story, and he tries to portray himself as a major star, thus exaggerating his actual status. However, the book succeeds as a brutally frank, hard-hitting portrait of the film business. Astin shoots from the hip, frequently offending people with his contentious viewpoints. He admires his supportive mother, Oscar winner Patty Duke, while chastising her for writing a book about her manic depression and exposing intimate details. He portrays Warren Beatty, who cast him in the controversial Bulworth, as someone "who knows he's a megalomaniac and sees nothing wrong with that." A self-described "artist-industrialist," Astin describes his producing and directing activities, which led to a 1991 Oscar nomination for his short film, Kangaroo Court. After wowing critics in Rudy, Astin landed the choice role of Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings, and he recalls making the blockbuster film with intensity and color. Some incidents are enlightening, such as his difficulty getting fitted for prosthetic devices for LOTR. Others pack emotional freight, particularly the tale of his father John Astin's efforts to land the role of Gandalf in LOTR and being passed over in favor of Ian McKellen. Astin comes across as a complex personality—courageous, impulsive, loving, abrasive—and these contradictory qualities make him an arresting centerpiece for a Hollywood story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"'THE MOST PENETRATING ACCOUNT OF THE RINGS SHOOT.' EMPIRE 'Fans of Peter Jackson's trilogy will lap it up' Total Film 'Refreshing in its non-glitzy tone, all the while giving the reader a much better sense of an actor's life than a hundred kiss 'n' tells' Starburst 'Full of titbits, tales and tantrums from the set' SFX"
From the Inside Flap
Praise for Sean Astin and his performance in Lord of the Rings Trilogy:
"Every night, Sean Astin is bringing people to tears with his performance it's so powerful."
- Peter Jackson, Director, Lord of the Rings film trilogy
"Sean Astin comes into his own with this brave, questing performance. . . Astin is the sould of the movie . . .It's fitting that Sam is the last face we see in Return of the King. He is the film's anchor, and Astin plays him with a tenderness that is unique and unforgettable."
- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"The most touching figure . . .is Frodo's sidekick, Sam, who will literally follow Frodo into fire. Sam is played so well by Sean Astin this affectingly loyal hobbit seems the most human figure on screen."
- The New York Times
Most helpful customer reviews
98 of 113 people found the following review helpful.
"Dis"-asterous
By Virginia Porter
It is a credit to Sean Astin's acting abilities that I was so thoroughly disappointed in this substandard book.
I had greatly admired Sean Astin's performance in LOTR, and was looking forward to reading some interesting anecdotes about the film making experience. I knew that filming a project of that stature would have had some very difficult moments, but I was in no way prepared for the diatribe that I was subjected to.
An uncomfortable feeling started creeping over me almost immediately, when the phrase "my integrity" was used ad nauseam. I am not interested in hearing people talk about their integrity. That should speak for itself. The funny thing is, for all the talk of integrity, very little of it was exercised in regards to his colleagues.
While this book did not contain a lot of dishing, there was certainly plenty of dissing. I lost count of all the left handed complements tossed about, as nearly everyone had a turn at the sniping. (The most notable exception being Christopher Lee. I can only assume that this was due to the fact that he had the decency to assume a smaller role in the films.) Each barb only served to amplify the undercurrent of jealousy and insecurity that ran through the entire book. The shots were not only directed at the cast and crew of LOTR; look for jabs at Brendan Fraser, Warren Beatty, and Johnny Depp, among others. I haven't heard this kind of verbal warfare since junior high.
The incessant whining started to really get to me after I'd read about a quarter of the book. We hear about money problems (I'm sorry, but there is a real difference between maybe having to sell your half-million dollar house, and actual homelessness), his not fitting in, his not being the star (from what I understand, the title of the series is "The Lord of the Rings", not "Sam Gamgee gets Frodo to Mt. Doom"), his weight, and so on, and so on. I slogged through this entire tiresome "biography" in the vain hope that there may be some redeeming value just lurking on the next page, only to finish in disappointment.
Mr. Astin, I'm sorry that Viggo Mortensen seemed aloof and intimidating to you. I'm sorry Ian McKellen didn't take to you. I'm sorry Liv Tyler got more attention in France. I'm sorry Orlando Bloom got more attention everywhere. What I am really sorry for, however, is the fact that you were blessed with such a wonderful opportunity, and chose to focus so intently on the negative aspects of the experience. It made for a really sour read, and not one that I would recommend to anyone.
104 of 121 people found the following review helpful.
This has to be the saddest thing I've ever read....
By Isabelle
Yeah, it IS about Lord of the Rings, or at least a good 3/4 of this book is. And let's face it, how many people would care, how many people would buy or even borrow this book from the library if the author wasn't in LotR, and his picture, as his character, wasn't on the book cover, AND the title wasn't a Tolkein rip-off, who in the hell would even give a rat's patootie about Mr. Sean Astin? (Besides Sean himself, I mean. He cares enough about himself, as a "film maker" and an "artist", to make up for the rest of the world's ambivalence.)
In my opinion, Astin's descriptions of the making of the LotR trilogy is pretty interesting, even if most of it was covered, in better detail and with a more positive spin, in the dvd commentary. His writing style is extremely meandering and long-winded, (much like his conversational style), switching back and forth from several points in time, and using some pretty pompous means of expression sometimes. There were sections of this book where it took him so long to get to whatever point he was making that the initial reference was lost or forgotten for me. He lectures and pontificates, (just as he does on the dvd commentaries, to the point of distraction). And as others have pointed out, the book has typos. More than one.
My overall impression of the author/actor after reading this book: He's negative, pessimistic, envious, incredibly insecure, and has an overblown and far too serious image of himself. I'd even go so far as to say that he has delusions of grandeur. He concentrates so much on all the unhappy things associated with the greatest opportunity of his life, filming LotR, that it's hard to believe him when he insists he recognizes it as amazing and special and brilliant. He admits to spending most of the filming disappointed, bored, sulking, jealous, impatient, always second guessing and wishing he could be recognized as the fine "artist" and "film maker" he views himself (his use of those words pertaining to himself kills me everytime.) He wanted Peter Jackson to recognize his ability and experience and was deeply hurt when he wasn't singled out as such. He seemed almost paranoid to me at times, always over-analyzing everyone's motives and disappointed when they didn't respond to him in a "Sean is so great and smart and good at this" sort of way. The fact that he acknowleges that this was inappropriate, and says over and over again that he was a pain in the ass, doesn't quite take the foul taste out of reading about his self-centered-ness and negativity. He was surrounded by other flawed human beings, all of whom apparently managed to get past their disappointment at not becoming bosom buddies with Peter Jackson, most of whom had far more reason to feel under-used and unappreciated and yet managed to maintain perspective and enthusiam throughout. (Astin even quotes his fellow hobbit, Dom Monaghan, as telling him at different points to get some perspective; Astin's whining about money was met with Monaghan snapping "Do you know what people make in the real world? We are so f***ing lucky!" I think Monaghan became my hero for life after I read that.)
Astin talked about how much he admired the intensity Andy Serkis (Gollum, the "wig-puller"--that's another little instance of Sean Astin, 30-year old child actor), and Billy Boyd, who played Pippin. Again, I wish he could have emulated those he admired. Both of these actors were so happy with what they were doing and managed to channel that intensity outward, despite the inevitable disappointments of film making and setbacks of life in general. Astin chose instead to turn his feelings inward and sulk and stew the majority of the time he was filming. Only Christopher Lee seems to have bought into the Sean Astin self-proclaimed charisma, and my guess is that's because he himself is a self-important drama queen.
It's funny--in Astin's discussions about Stuart Townsend and why he was dismissed from the movie (Astin described Townsend as "tortured" and "a black hole of negative creative energy") much of the time what he was describing as Townsend's behavior and attitude was very similar to his own. (No wonder he sympathized with Townsend.) Astin really didn't bond all that closely with many in the cast, a fact he attributes to his being a family man but what I would more likely say is due to his overbearing approach and obnoxiousness. Astin seems to me to be very emotionally immature, as well as someone desperate to prove himself, resulting in a domineering, "I'm in charge" personality that is so off-putting. He has neither the age nor experience nor prestige to pull off such behavior. (Poor John Rhys-Davies, having to put up with Astin--Astin did constant impressions of him from Indiana Jones. Astin thought it was cute and funny. I would have smacked him by day 3.) SA had a very cynical outlook on Elijah Wood exclaiming that they'd all be friends forever; it's a pity that Astin didn't take a clue from his 10-years-younger co-star, who by Sean's own reckoning had things much more together, was wiser and happier and more positive throughout the entire experience. Elijah Wood treated the filming as the most awesome, wonderful, life-changing, if exhausting and ardurous process of his life, and brought enthusiasm and energy to the set each day, despite his own physical exhaustion, while Astin turned it into something, an excuse, even, to feel depressed about getting fat again and how his whole life he's never really had what he wants...and it's his own fault and isn't hindsight a gift. Blah. I pity Elijah Wood, who had to spend the most time with Astin and his poor-me whinging during filming.
There's also an entire chapter of this book devoted to Astin's belief belief that his Return of the King performance was worthy of an Oscar, how he believed he was going to be nominated, how he handled not being nominated...from that entire amazing ensemble, he thought *he* should have been The One. Sigh.... The studio also campaigned for him, and I have to admit, the character of Samwise Gamgee really tugged at the heartstrings, but I attributed that more to the writing than to Astin's over-emoting and awful attempt at a Brit accent. Anyway--all this energy went into Astin's explaining his feelings, but not one word was lent to how Mr. Acadamy Award can't dress himself. (The Grey Havens scene from Return of the Kings, a very difficult and emotionally-wringing scene for all the actors involved, had to be done over because Astin didn't have the right costume on after lunch break. Of course, he doesn't mention anything about that in the book, too busy is he expounding on how he thinks he deserved recognition and laurels for his being an "artist".)
I don't understand, however, how he can devote so much time on how disappointed he was at what was cut out of the theatrical version and how he felt all of his best work had been edited out (He wailed to his wife "They've ruined it!"), and yet so desperately backpedaled when Peter Jackson was hurt by his comments in Time magazine concerning Peter using the wrong take on *that scene*, and that Peter had only captured about 20% of the best work (He told Fran Walsh in an e-mail that Time had gotten it wrong, and yet his book states that that was pretty much what he believed.)He contradicts himself.
Astin even gives a brief overview on the idea that many fans view the LotR trilogy as the gayest movies ever. I don't get the impression that he's a homophobe, just wishy-washy. Why mention it if your overall opinion is "Whatever" ???
Astin insists that he loves working in the industry, and yet the only impression I had was of him being miserable in it, of never being satisfied or appreciating fully what he has.
This may be an honest perspective from Sean Astin, actor and director, but man, is it ever negative. It's sometimes disheartening and wearying and depressing and a downer to read. He's just not as smart and talented and accomplished/astute and likeable as he thinks he is; he will never achieve the level of recognition he wants, mainly because he doesn't have the people/social skills for it. At least, that's what I gleaned from this book. Sean's a malcontent, and always will be. I think most LotR fans who read it will find it interesting, though previously good opinions on the actor who played one of the more endearing characters may be somewhat tainted.
57 of 65 people found the following review helpful.
I just wish that someone had saved him from himself...
By kb6
I found that this autobiography was irritating, interesting, intruiging, and ultimately, a bit saddening.
I was left feeling that I cared for Sean Astin, in all of his naive, tangled complexity. I also worried that this book could only do his future harm. (Sometimes it really isn't useful for anyone to find out what someone was really thinking during an event or conversation; sometimes it's just best that we can't read each other's minds...sometimes it's best that people keep their mouths shut.) Sean chooses a breath-taking honesty in this book that I can only feel is foolhardy, in terms of his future. He displays himself in all of his (no-doubt) ADD complexity-- he's ambitious, aggressive, insecure, overly serious, naive, sensitive, suspicious, and yet endearing in a strange and complex way. Many people with ADD, (and I have little doubt that Sean manifests at least some aspects of ADD) do not quite realize how they are coming across to others.
I do think that he can be a fabulous actor, when given good material. And in some ways it is his open-ness that makes him such a good actor. I just wish that someone had edited this book more judiciously. (Geez, edited it at all) And led him to include less of his own tortured navel-gazing, and more of the anecdotes that fans longed for... This could only have helpful for him in terms of his career, and this book. Much of the writing here is actually eloquent. It just truly needed an editor.
I hope fervently that the industry will recognize the courage reflected in this book. I actually came to feel affection for Sean and only wish him the best. I hope that Hollywood can see what I see; a complex character that pulls you in and reflects a sincere and open individual who, in spite of trying so hard to "play the game" is ultimately in some ways too sensitive and honest for his own good.
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