Killer Instinct: How Two Young Producers Took on Hollywood and Made the Most Controversial Film of the Decade

by Jane Hamsher

Book Overview

Fresh out of film school, aspiring producer Jane Hamsher and her partner Don Murphy stumbled onto a screenplay by a geeky filmmaker-wannabe named Quentin Tarantino. For $10,000, Jane and Don optioned Natural Born Killers and set off on a two-year roller coaster ride no classroom could have prepared them for. With an outrageous cast of real-life characters including Oliver Stone, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey, Jr., and Juliette Lewis--along...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767900758
• ISBN13: 9780767900751
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Treated as a work of FICTION, it rates five stars, but...

...if this book were rated on its believability, it would rate one star or lower. While there are no doubt some grains of truth to the incidents it describes, other parts of it are utterly insane. Either there is a heavy degree of fabrication and embellishment, or Oliver Stone and company are COMPLETELY FREAKIN' NUTS! My money is on the former simply because so much of it is unrealistic: towards the end of the book, Jane tells about how Quentin Tarantino hit on her in Italy, and includes a picture of his letter to her, written in childish scrawl and including ridiculous misspellings of common words. It looks like it was written by a five-year-old! Either Mr. Tarantino was taking drugs, or he is in serious need of psychiatric help! Also, Oliver Stone is portrayed as a philanderer and a drug addict. However, there are plenty of other accounts of the productions of his films. The kind of behavior attributed to Mr. Stone in this book would stick out like a sore thumb. Why none of those other accounts have revealed more than a shade of those characteristics of his personality is beyond me! In other words, I believe Jane's account is heavily exaggerated.Anyway, I don't mean for this to be completely negative, because the book is truly funny--the ominous buildup to meeting Oliver Stone after Jane and Don hear that he is interested in the project, the funny captions on the pictures, the crew doing psychedelic mushrooms during location scout in the desert, the prison riot, the film festival in Italy, etc. (Don't read this book in a library. You will die trying to stifle your laughter.) This book is worth buying... but take everything it says with a heaping bowl of salt.

Guts

I loved this book. It takes you on a wonderful journey from the depths of living the unrealized dream through the real nightmare of producing a big budget Hollywood film. While books like this have been written before, Killer Instinct is unique in two ways: it chronicles the making of one of the most controversial films of the 90s and the writing is fantastic. Hamsher throws all the emotions of the moment into her writing; despair, madness, anger, joy, hope and a multitude of others. Most important for me were Hamsher's conclusions at the end of the book, particularly the lesson of finding and keeping a good partner for the perils ahead. Hamsher is my hero; for her bravery, her courage of convictions, and her "never-give-up" approach in being able to make it in the "Boy's Club". Well written, fast paced, funny and inspiring, "Killer Instinct" is my solid recommendation for any aspiring producer's bookshelf.

A great Hollywood tale from a female point of view

In KILLER INSTINCT, producer Jane Hamsher tells the story of how she came to be involved in making the film NATURAL BORN KILLERS, one of the most controversial movies of the decade. From meetings with original (then unknown) story scribe Quentin Tarantino to defending the violence of the picture overseas with Oliver Stone, Hamsher takes us on a whirlwind journey through the Hollywood system. I'm not a huge fan of NATURAL BORN KILLERS, but found myself totally absorbed in this book. The story of how the movie got made should be extremely interesting to anyone interested in the subject of filmmaking, and Jane tells it with lots of humor and visual style.

Dreams can come true . . .

This is absolutly one of the best insider book ever written. Together with "Final Cut" and "Hit & Run", this is the top titles. Jane Hamsher is without doubt one of the best AND funniest producers to come out of the Hollywood mayhem for years. If you're are just the least interested in either Oliver Stone, producing or just the other side of Hollywood, this is the book for you. And it also paints a different kind of picture of the "wunderboy" Quentin Tranatino, and when you're finish with the book you'll say: "Goddam she was right, he is a fad".

IF THE STORY SURPRISES, YOU AREN'T TOO NAIVE TO WORK IN LA

Killer Instinct is a shattering novel for any one yearning to be a young, aspiring producer. I read this book after finishing producer Lynda Obyst's Hello He Lied. While both novels give great insight into the production process, Hamsher's book is more down to earth from the standpoint that she and her partner Don Murphy had to actually struggle to get their dream project made. The book describes in details their headaches with partnerships, lawsuits, intellectual property burglery. Obyt's book is piece of work meant for one who is already an accomplished producer and has many connections in the business. Hamsher's book is striking from the standpoint of how two lowly people achieved the American Dream of making a film with a great director. While the book does trash a lot of high brow people, this information whether it is true or not, is just part of the daily B.S. that independent producers have to deal with in Tinsel Town: other people's egos.