Film Freak

(Paperback)

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Description

Much-loved and admired novelist Christopher Fowler follows up his acclaimed memoir, Paperboy, with a second beautifully told, funny and affecting autobiographical volume, recounting his years in Britain's movie business. It's the late 1970s and 20-something Christopher Fowler is a film freak, obsessively watching lousy films in run-down fleapit cinemas. He longs to be a famous screenwriter and put his dreams on the big screen. And so he heads for Wardour Street, Britain's equivalent of Hollywood. But he's made a spectacular mistake, arriving just as the nation's filmmakers are falling to their knees, brought low by the arrival of video and the destruction of the old movie palaces. The only films being made are smutty low budget farces and TV spinoffs and instead of being asked to write another 'Bullitt', he's churning out short films advertising boilers and nylon sheets. Somehow, against the odds, he finds success - although in a very different guise to the one he expected. From the sticky Axminster of the local cinema to the red carpet at Cannes, Film Freak is a grimly hilarious and acutely observed trawl through the arse-end of the British film industry that turns into an ultimately affecting search for friendship and happiness.

Reviews

Film Freak is Fowler's brisk, chatty memoir... His writing is peppered with trenchantly funny film references. Fowler's gifts are those of a performing raconteur more than a cultural essayist - but he's so entertaining, moment by moment, that you readily accept this deal. * Daily Telegraph *
A master storyteller, he slips deftly from fiction to fact: I've rarely read a better analysis of the movie business...This is a beautifully written and often hilarious book. * Sunday Express *
a natural autobiographer, charming, funny, perceptive and mercifully free of the usual egomaniacal windbaggery.... I was so smitten with this book that I read it through from cover to cover in one sitting. At times, I found myself laughing loudly and lengthily. Above all, though, I was moved. -- John Preston * Daily Mail *
An homage to pre-digital cinema, an elegy for a vanishing London of almost half a century ago and a tribute to friendship, gonzo-style. Two thumbs up for this triple-billing. * FINANCIAL TIMES *
He's written a roomful of books, including the Bryant & May series of crimers, but his memoirs are just as much fun... Hugely entertaining this. * Sunday Sport *

Author Bio

Christopher Fowler was the multiple award-winning author of almost fifty novels and short story collections, including the celebrated Bryant & May mysteries. His other novels include Roofworld, Spanky, The Sand Men and Hot Water. He has also written two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy (winner of the Green Carnation Prize) and Film Freak, plus The Book of Forgotten Authors and Peculiar London, Bryant and May's singular and eccentric guide to the city. In 2015 Chris won the CWA's coveted 'Dagger in the Library' for his body of work. He lived in London and Barcelona. Diagnosed with cancer just as the UK went into lockdown in 2020, Chris died on 2nd March 2023.