Lawrence Grobel is a brilliant entertainment interviewer. I have admired his work and by reading "Above the Line: Conversations about the movies", his work inspires me even more. As an entertainment writer, I've always wanted to conduct my interviews like Grobel's. One thing about Grobel's style is that he's smart, he's a man who does his research and although I have never met the man, his interviews are intelligent, informative and it leaves me complete. Where magazines tend to have the typical questions that are becoming so damn repetitive in many entertainment publications (and also to short), when you read this book you can tell by his conversations with people like Harrison Ford, Sharon Stone, Oliver Stone and more that they have a certain respect for this man. I can't wait to read the next book from Grobel (which I hope there is another one) and I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves reading entertainment interviews and to those who are interviewers as well. "Above the Line" is deserving of the five stars.

Lawrence Grobel has been writing the finest interviews with the world's famous for the past twenty years. Finally, a compilation of his best work has arrived. The thing that sets Grobel apart from most interviewers is research. He makes a consistent effort to never repeat the same old tired questions. This is apparent throughout this book. I highly recommend both the Robert Evans interview and the Oliver Stone, but they're all pretty great. Be sure to check out Grobel's work each month in Movieline and Palyboy magazines as well.

With this book Lawrence Grobel has compiled some of his best work. Each interview is insightful, well researched, and above all entertaining. He is never afraid to ask the difficult or controversial questions and his manner seems to elicit honest and revealing answers. For anyone interested in the men and women behind some the 20th century's most prestigious writers, this book is a must.

Wonderfuly written. Excellent use of words. Everyone should read it.

First of all, I would like to state that I consider Brando to be a true artist (something that he loathes himself), and he was simply amazing in his portrayal of Anthony in Julius Ceasar. Therfore, it was an easy decision to read this book, i.e., Conversations With Brando by Lawrence Grobel, Marlon Brando. The problem with Brando as a person is that after a while of complaining and say that everything is fake or phony, he sounds a bit like Holden Caufield and that is not a good thing. Granted that Brando is a smart, insightfull and intelligent man; however, there is a streak in his personality that is borders on the mind of a maniac.

This expanded on the PLAYBOY interview it's adapted from. Brando is a good storyteller, and tells some good stories in here. Grobel does preface the interview with phone call transcripts of him talking to Brando, and his secretary. And I know someone close to Brando, and some in the Brando camp felt some annoyance that Grobel taped the phone conversations without saying they were being taped. A bit presumptuous. But an interesting interview nonetheless.

The interview that this book is based on was conducted before Brando filmed "Superman" but I can't imagine that Brando has changed much since. Grobel shows his skills as an interviewer by originally agreeing to only talk about the Native American cause with Brando but eventually teasing out anecdotes about acting, sex, stalkers, Brando's upbringing and much more. Grobel does not try to outsmart Brando, even while he is trying to sneak in forbidden acting/movie questions. He faces his subject head-on and when Brando chooses to speak about his hated profession, he is extremely entertaining. He shows Brando as a very complicated man who is hard to dislike - even if you don't agree with his politics, you come away from the book thinking that Brando is a charming, intelligent, thoughtful and super-talented individual who deserves all the praise for his acting skills. This interview could be considered his greatest performance - it comes from the same honesty that he invested his early screen and stage characters with.

Okay, I admit there is a fair amount of gossip in this book, but it is worth reading to hear what Capote has to say about his own work. And I found myself marking spots where he speaks highly of certain other authors...now I want to read those books as well!

An intriguing look at one of America's most respected and shunned literary icons. Probes both his writing as well as the fantastic social life for which the author was famous. A unique portrait that will stand as the difinitive book on Capote.

This is a great bed-side reader. Well, maybe not, because, once you start reading, you may not be able to put it down. Truman Capote started out as a celebrated, controversial writer, became the "enfante terrible", and spent his final years as a sad, outrageous, drug addicted talk show guest, more known for his scathing celebrity, his writing glory a thing of the past. He first achieved renown for his breakthrough novel, "Other Voices, Other Rooms", which was one of the first books to dare have a homosexual undercurrent, but is probably most well known for his classic bestseller, "In Cold Blood", about the brutal slayings of a midwest family, and, just as much about their slayers, two loser drifters whom Capote unjudgingly befriended. By the time these interviews were conducted, by "Playboy" interviewer Lawrence Grobel, Capotes literary fame had preceded him, and he had become, to many, an outrageous joke. While his public deterioration was sad and shocking...he often appeared on television or at appearances "under the influence", during his more lucid times, his observations were still unpredictably entertaining. How much actual writing he did during the last ten years or so of his life is widely speculated, his ability to do so maybe ended. But, back to this book....During these conducted interviews, Capote talks about the things he has done, and those he has known... he socialized with the most famous of his day, though how much of what he said was fact or fiction has been questioned by many. To say he is sometimes mean spirited is an understatement. If he liked you, he really liked you, but, if not, oh my....watch out. You would be verbally splayed for all to see. His comments were meant to shock, and they certainly achieved their desired effect. But they are done so brilliantly and outrageously that you can only cackle at his daring to say what no one else dared even think. He had no problem, when asked here about certain fellow writers or acquaintances by name, in describing them as "ghastly", "lousy", "talentless", "dull", etc..and his elaborations are scathingly, wittily entertaining. Ex: About Jack Kerouac. "That's not writing, that's typewriting." Jackie Susanne: "She looks like a truck driver in drag". Georgia O'Keefe: "I wouldn't pay 25 cents to spit on a Georgia O'Keefe painting!". What saves him from maybe just being viewed as a "not nice" person, are his extreme intelligence, wit, humor, and his always brutal honesty. This fascinating book is so entertaining that I am hard pressed to give just a few examples or excerpts from it. But I loved his response when Grobel poses the question to Capote, who in his lifetime had befriended (and later was publicly alienated by) many of the super wealthy, "How are the rich different? Is it just that they have more money?" Capote responded "No, no. The real difference between rich and regular people is that the rich serve such marvelous vegetables. Little fresh born things, scarcely out of the earth. Little baby corn, little baby peas, little lambs that have been RIPPED out of their mothers' wombs. That's the REAL difference!". Truman had a long, drawn out, public demise, and died what was apparently a welcome death after years of suffering. While many would have him being remembered as just a sad, malicious , social climbing, venemous celebrity, it is his record of brilliant writing and his incredible wit which will stand out. And the realization that, underneath it all, was just a sad little boy, trying to make alot of noise. Of all the books written about Capote, I have found this the most revealing and fascinating. Why read ABOUT him, when you can hear him, in all his outrageous splendor? As little Truman says, when asked to define himself: "I am a homosexual. I am a drug addict. I am a genius."