Compiled writings and interviews from the director who pioneered the “spaghetti Western” film genre
Between the worldwide box-office success of his Dollars trilogy and his untimely death in April 1989 at the age of 60, Sergio Leone gave several interviews to selected film journalists. He also wrote a series of thoughtful essays about his cinematic influences such as Charlie Chaplin, Federico Fellini, Henry Fonda, Robert Aldrich and John Ford. To accompany his final film, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), he published several articles about his obsessive quest to make the film and how it eventually happened. Most of these writings have never before appeared in English; as a collection they have never before appeared anywhere. Sergio Leone by Himself, compiled by Leone’s acclaimed biographer Christopher Frayling, gathers all his significant interviews, essays and articles to create a director’s-eye view of a body of work that over the past half century has had a decisive influence on world cinema. The book is illustrated with previously unseen photographs, posters and related ephemera from the Leone family collection and the Angelo Novi archive, both now housed in the Cineteca in Bologna. The architect of cinema’s American West, Sergio Leone (1929–89) did not speak English. His “spaghetti Westerns” were filmed in Italy and Spain and received both critique and acclaim for their violence, grittiness and camera work. Leone is best remembered for his two “trilogies'' of films: the Dollars trilogy starring Clint Eastwood and his Once Upon a Time films. Christopher Frayling is the leading scholar on the life and legacy of Sergio Leone and is the author of his bestselling biography, Something to Do with Death. He served as rector of the Royal College of Art from 1996 to 2009 and as chairman of Arts Council England from 2005 to 2009. As Sergio Leone once said to him, “it took an Englishman to take my films seriously.”
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Films in Review
John Larkin
[A] mammoth collection of Leone's best interviews, articles and essays and compiled them all in this wonderful compendium pouring with artwork, posters and behind the scenes photos from all of his famous works.
NPR
[Sergio Leone's] brutal Westerns revived the genre, made a movie star of Clint Eastwood and created a visual style that influenced many film directors around the world.
The Guardian
Dalya Alberge
'Sergio Leone by Himself' brings together interviews that Leone gave to selected film journalists over the years before his death in 1989 at the age of just 60, as well as essays that he had written on his cinematic influences, from Charlie Chaplin to John Ford. Most have never before appeared in English.
The Telegraph
[An] influence on Tarantino, Scorsese and Spielberg – [Sergio Leone's] talent defined the modern Hollywood hero.
Empire Holiday Gift Guide
[Sergio Leone's] work is some of the most influential in cinema history, he was one of *the* pioneers of the spaghetti Western genre – and he was extremely selective in whom he gave interviews to. In this new book, Christopher Frayling gathers those interviews, alongside essays and articles written by Leone, to create a comprehensive dissection of the Italian director’s iconic filmography from the mind of the man himself.
Movie Music International
Jon Man
Most of these interviews/writings have never appeared in the English language, and as a collection they have never before appeared anywhere. 'Sergio Leone by Himself', compiled by Leone’s acclaimed biographer Christopher Frayling, gathers together all his significant interviews, essays and articles, to create a director’s eye view of a body of work which over the past half century has had a decisive influence on world cinema, especially action cinema [...] This is a brilliant book, and one I recommend that you add to your collection
Irish Independent
NJ McGarrigle
Riveting reflections on film director Sergio Leone who defined the Spaghetti Western.
Loupe magazine
Christopher Ward
[A] comprehensive selection of Leone’s writing and interviews [...] combined with previously unseen images, movie posters and sketches
The Spaghetti Western Database
Sebastian Haselbeck
What a book! Now, if you're somewhat of a Leone expert yourself, if you've read all the books, seen all the interviews, the pictures etc, you may see this as old wine in new bottles, but it really is so much more. It has the benefit of a more personal touch, absent the existence of an autobiography or memoirs. It’s a fantastic product, with great pictures and layout, a high quality publication for any cineast and a must have for admirers of Sergio Leone. Bravo.
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Featured spreads are from Sergio Leone by Himself, Sir Christopher Frayling’s highly anticipated compilation of writings and interviews from the influential Italian director of “spaghetti Westerns” like A Fistful of Dollars and Once Upon a Time in the West, among many others. “He was all cinema,” Frayling writes. “He once said ‘I was born in a cinema, almost. Both my parents worked there. My life, my reading, everything about me revolves around the cinema. So for me, cinema is life, and vice versa.’ The passionate experience of movie-going, the ideas and sensations it unleashed in him, informed all his work in film. And he had the photographic memory of a deep cinephiliac—not so much for the dialogue, but for the visuals. One critic even suggested that Sergio Leone should write in his passport ‘Nationality: Cinema.’ His films refreshed film language with elements gleaned from various cultures—among them Italian, Spanish, American and Japanese—not recognizing the borderlines of geography and time—and the result entered the global pop culture zeitgeist in unmistakable ways, competing on level terms in that arena with the instantly recognizable work of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. Modern genre cinema—which is to say much of mainstream cinema—and the modern action hero, begin here.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 10.75 in. / 256 pgs / 120 color / 120 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $49.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $69.95 ISBN: 9781909526969 PUBLISHER: Reel Art Press AVAILABLE: 12/10/2024 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AFR ME
Published by Reel Art Press. By Christopher Frayling.
Compiled writings and interviews from the director who pioneered the “spaghetti Western” film genre
Between the worldwide box-office success of his Dollars trilogy and his untimely death in April 1989 at the age of 60, Sergio Leone gave several interviews to selected film journalists. He also wrote a series of thoughtful essays about his cinematic influences such as Charlie Chaplin, Federico Fellini, Henry Fonda, Robert Aldrich and John Ford. To accompany his final film, Once Upon a Time in America (1984), he published several articles about his obsessive quest to make the film and how it eventually happened. Most of these writings have never before appeared in English; as a collection they have never before appeared anywhere. Sergio Leone by Himself, compiled by Leone’s acclaimed biographer Christopher Frayling, gathers all his significant interviews, essays and articles to create a director’s-eye view of a body of work that over the past half century has had a decisive influence on world cinema. The book is illustrated with previously unseen photographs, posters and related ephemera from the Leone family collection and the Angelo Novi archive, both now housed in the Cineteca in Bologna.
The architect of cinema’s American West, Sergio Leone (1929–89) did not speak English. His “spaghetti Westerns” were filmed in Italy and Spain and received both critique and acclaim for their violence, grittiness and camera work. Leone is best remembered for his two “trilogies'' of films: the Dollars trilogy starring Clint Eastwood and his Once Upon a Time films.
Christopher Frayling is the leading scholar on the life and legacy of Sergio Leone and is the author of his bestselling biography, Something to Do with Death. He served as rector of the Royal College of Art from 1996 to 2009 and as chairman of Arts Council England from 2005 to 2009. As Sergio Leone once said to him, “it took an Englishman to take my films seriously.”
