[(Dennis Hopper: Interviews)] [Author: Dennis Hopper] published on

Conversations With Filmmakers Series

by Nick Dawson

The legendary Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) had many identities. He first broke into Hollywood as a fresh-faced young actor in the 1950s, redefined himself as a rebel director with "Easy Rider" in the late 1960s, and became a bad boy outcast for much of the 1970s. He returned in the 1980s with standout performances in films like "Blue Velvet" and "Hoosiers," was one of the great blockbuster baddies of the 1990s, and ended his career as a ubiquitous actor in genre movies.Hopper, however, was much more than just an actor and he was also a photographer, a painter, and an art collector--not to mention a longtime hedonist who kicked his addiction to drugs and alcohol and became a poster boy for sobriety."Dennis Interviews" covers every decade of his career, featuring conversations from 1957 through to 2009, and not only captures him at the significant points of his tumultuous time in Hollywood but also focuses on the lesser-known aspects of the man. In this fascinating and highly entertaining volume--the first ever collection of Hopper's interviews--he talks in depth about film, photography, art, and his battles with substance abuse and, in one instance, even takes the role of interviewer as he talks with Quentin Tarantino.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Biography

Unknown Binding

First published September 27, 2012

Reviews

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned much from reading this unusual slice of Dennis Hopper's history: a collection of interviews titled Dennis Hopper: Interviews(Conversations With Filmmakers). Not having read anything directly about Hopper, but having seen quite a few of his later movies, it was fascinating to learn how he got his start in films, and how far back, with greats like Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood & acted with James Dean on movies like Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant (1956).

Dennis Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. Of course Easy Rider comes easily to mind, which came out in 1969, but I wasn't aware it won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. Or that his next movie, titled The Last Movie, was considered a box office flop and all but ended his directing career for several years. There are some great stories about the filming of that movie, and crazy things that went on during the Peru filming portion in the collection.

It basically has interviews from each of the phases of his 55 year long career, during which he was involved in 150 movies as actor, director, and/or editor. He was also heavily involved in collecting art, many paintings and painters which he seemed prescient about, as they later turned out to be very valuable.

Hopper also became a prolific photographer, painter and sculptor.

Enjoyed reading this quite a bit, and it made me want to find and watch the older classic movies discussed now!

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It starts simple and predictable but of course, given Hopper's far-swinging journey, ends up in some incredible places. It's deeply honest, funny and surprisingly generous and contemplative.

[Chris Molnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like hopper very much and this exceeded my expectations considerably. worth it for the larry flynt story alone, but there’s also lots of earnest and incisive talk about artmaking. and cocaine. tarantino’s cameo is a bit intrusive and it’s viscerally embarrassing that people called smoking weed “turning on” in the sixties but other than that excellent

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into a wild and crazy life of the legend Dennis Hopper. Some things were a little annoying because it was a compilation of several interviews, like hearing about the 86 takes with Henry Hathaway over and over again, but overall there were some great stories throughout.