Linson, Art 1942(?)-

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LINSON, Art 1942(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1942, in Chicago, IL; children: John (an actor). Education: Attended University of California—Berkeley, beginning 1960; University of California—Los Angeles, graduated; University of California—Los Angeles Law School, 1967.

ADDRESSES: Agent—William Morris Agency, 151 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212-2775.

CAREER: Producer, director, and writer. Former owner of recording company Spin Dizzy Records. Producer of films, including (with Michael Gruskoff) Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (also known as Rafferty and the Highway Hustlers), Warner Bros., 1975; (with Gary Stromberg) Car Wash, Universal, 1976; American Hot Wax, Paramount, 1978; (with Don Phillips) Melvin and Howard, Universal, 1980; Where the Buffalo Roam, Universal, 1980; (with Irving Azoff) Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Universal, 1982; (with Cameron Crowe and Don Phillips) The Wild Life, Universal, 1984; The Untouchables, Paramount, 1987; (with Richard Donner and Ray Hartwick) Scrooged, Paramount, 1988; (with Fred Caruso) Casualties of War, Columbia, 1989; We're No Angels, Paramount, 1989; This Boy's Life, 1993; Point of No Return, 1993; Heat, 1995; The Edge, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1997; Great Expectations, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1998; Fight Club, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1999; Pushing Tin, Twentieth Century-Fox, 2000; Sunset Strip, Twentieth Century-Fox, 2000; The Heist, Warner Bros., 2001; Spartan, 2004, and Black Dahlia. Executive producer of films, including, (with Barrie M. Osborne and Floyd Mutrux) Dick Tracy, Buena Vista, 1990; Singles, 1992; Imaginary Heroes; and Lords of Dogtown. Director of films, including Where the Buffalo Roam, Universal, 1980; and (with Cameron Crowe and Don Phillips) The Wild Life, Universal, 1984. Appeared in television special The New Hollywood, NBC, 1990.

WRITINGS:

(With John Kaye) American Hot Wax (screenplay), 1978.

(With Cameron Crowe) The Wild Life (screenplay), 1984.

A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Europe, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1993.

What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: (With William Finkelstein) What Just Happened?, the pilot for a sitcom featuring Robert De Niro as an executive producer in the movie business.

SIDELIGHTS: Art Linson has been producing films in Hollywood since the mid-1970s. Although he has had several moderately successful projects, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Fight Club, Linson may be best known for a pair of books he wrote about the less-glamourous side of the film business: A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Europe and What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line. The latter book is a memoir of the late 1990s, when Linson was working for the Twentieth Century-Fox studio. As the title suggests, Linson did not have a good relationship with many of those he worked with, and "the story is seasoned with anecdotes about the stupid or bizarre behavior of suits and stars," Tom Gliatto wrote in People. One such anecdote features an overweight, bearded Alec Baldwin throwing a fit when he is ordered to lose the beard and the belly to play a chic fashion photographer in The Edge; another has a studio executive declaring that actress Gwyneth Paltrow—who at that time was not yet a star—is not suitable for the romantic lead in Great Expectations because she has no chin. But "Linson isn't out to settle scores," Colin Covert wrote in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "and his wound-licking has an exaggerated, woe-is-me quality that's quite entertaining."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Bulletin with Newsweek, November 5, 2002, Craig Mathieson, "Art of the Film," p. 14.

Daily Variety, May 13, 2002, Charles Lyons and Lily Oei, "Panel Probes Producer Perils," p. 7; February 11, 2003, Michael Fleming, "Linson Is Running for 'Cover,'" pp. 1-2.

Entertainment Weekly, August 6, 1993, Jeff Silverman, review of A Pound of Flesh: Perilous Tales of How to Produce Movies in Europe, p. 51; May 3, 2002, Ty Burr, review of What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, p. 82.

Esquire, October, 1989, "Art Linson: Movie Producer," p. 117.

Guardian (London, England), June 26, 2000, Lucy Barrick, review of The Wild Life, p. 22.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, June 7, 2002, Steven Rea, review of What Just Happened?, p. K2447.

Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1985, Jack Mathews, "Mamet to Write New Capone Film," p. 1; August 20, 1997, Patrick Goldstein, "The Crucial Search for a Perfect Grabber Can Be a Long, Complicated and Expensive Process," p. 6; May 6, 2002, Rachel Abramowitz, review of What Just Happened?, p. F1; April 27, 2003, Susan Salter Reynolds, review of What Just Happened?, p. R19.

Maclean's, May 19, 1980, Lawrence O'Toole, review of Where the Buffalo Roam, p. 56.

Nation, May 17, 1980, Robert Hatch, review of Where the Buffalo Roam, p. 602.

New Statesman, May 25, 1984, John Coleman, review of Where the Buffalo Roam, p. 29.

Newsweek, May 12, 1980, Jack Kroll, review of Where the Buffalo Roam, p. 93; October 8, 1984, David Ansen, review of The Wild Life, p. 89.

New Yorker, May 12, 1980, Roger Angell, review of Where the Buffalo Roam, pp. 132-133.

New York Post, May 14, 2002, review of What Just Happened?, p. 36.

New York Times, April 26, 1980, Janet Maslin, review of Where the Buffalo Roam, p. 18; September 28, 1984, Janet Maslin, review of Wild Life, p. C8; February 26, 1988, Lawrence Van Gelder, review of Casualties of War, p. C8; December 2, 1988, Lawrence Van Gelder, "Linson's List," p. C8; December 22, 1989, Lawrence Van Gelder, interview with Linson, p. C12; September 28, 1992, Bernard Weinraub, interview with Linson, p. C11; July 27, 1995, Bernard Weinraub, review of Heat, p. C9; September 26, 1997, Bernard Weinraub, review of The Edge, p. E7.

People, May 13, 2002, Tom Gliatto, review of What Just Happened?, p. 53.

Premiere, January, 1989, Merle Linda Wolin, "Art Linson," pp. 34-35; May, 1993, Peter Biskind, "This Boy's Art," pp. 47-50.

Publishers Weekly, September 27, 1993, review of A Pound of Flesh, p. 56; April 22, 2002, review of What Just Happened?, p. 64.

Spectator, June 18, 1994, Michael White, review of A Pound of Flesh, pp. 36-37.

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), June 16, 2002, Colin Covert, review of What Just Happened?, p. 15F.

Sunday Times (London, England), November 10, 2002, Christopher Silvester, review of What Just Happened?, p. 41.

USA Today (magazine), January, 1981, Martin A. Jackson, review of Melvin and Howard, p. 68.

Variety, October 3, 1984, review of The Wild Life, p. 17; January 14, 1991, Amy Dawes, "Linson Making 4 at WB," p. 18.

Washington Post, October 1, 1984, Richard Harrington, review of The Wild Life, p. B3.