Conversations with Michael Crichton

by Robert Golla (Editor)

Overview

Conversations with Michael Crichton brings together decades of interviews and profiles with one of the world's most successful authors. Michael Crichton (1942-2008) had many careers--doctor, novelist, film director, screenwriter--but was best known to millions of readers as "Father of the techno-thriller." His novels have sold more than 150 million copies, have been translated into thirty-six languages, and have been made into thirteen films. He remains the only writer to have had simultaneously the number-one book, the number-one movie, and the number-one television show.

While still a student at Harvard Medical School, Crichton's first novel, The Andromeda Strain, became a bestseller. He left medicine and moved to Los Angeles, intent on pursuing dual careers as a writer and filmmaker. His writings had an unmatched prescience, anticipating public interest about emerging technology and controversial topics. His suspenseful plotting and technical detail were evident in subsequent novels such as Jurassic Park, Congo, Sphere, Rising Sun, Disclosure, Timeline, State of Fear, Next, and the posthumously published Pirate Latitudes. He received an Academy Award in 1995 for his pioneering use of computer programs in film production and was the creator and co-executive producer of ER (1994-2009), for which he earned WGA, Emmy, and Peabody awards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617030130
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	06/09/2011
Series:	Literary Conversations Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Robert Golla is editor of several nonfiction publications, including The Greatest Speeches of World War II, Champions of Liberty: A Treasury of Conservative American Speeches, Conservative Wit, and Conversations with Vladimir Nabokov, published by University Press of Mississippi.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chronology xiii

Michael Crichton (Rhymes with Frighten) Israel Shenker/1969 3

Hollywood Gets a New Man Barbara Rose/1973 7

Ready When You Are, Dr. Crichton Patrick McGilligan/1979 14

Fact, Fiction Intertwined by Crichton Wayne Warga/1981 22

A Tall Storyteller Eric Sauter/1984 27

Sphere Don Swaim/1987 35

Rising Sun Don Swaim/1992 43

Rising Sun Author Taps Darkest Fears of America's Psyche T. Jefferson Parker/1992 53

Jurassic Park: Michael Crichton on Adapting His Novel to the Screen Steve Biodrowski/1993 59

The Admirable Crichton Zoe Heller/1994 62

An Interview with Michael Crichton Charlie Rose/1994 76

An Interview with Michael Crichton Charlie Rose/1995 102

An Interview with Michael Crichton Charlie Rose/1996 119

Playboy Interview: Michael Crichton John Rezek David Sheff/1999 142

An Interview with Michael Crichton Charlie Rose/1999 165

The Next Step in the Evolution of Crichton's Fiction James Cowan/2002 191

Author Crichton Ponders Fear, Real and Imagined John Marshall/2002 195

Interview with Michael Crichton Beth Anderson/2004 199

Reflections on Careers in Entertainment Students & Leaders Program/2005 207

Index 225