There's No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme

by David M. Stewart, Joseph B. Atkins (foreword)

Jonathan Demme, one of the most influential and dynamic directors of the twentieth century, was a fearless and radical filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer—a compassionate artist, advocate, and humanist who was compelled to tell the stories of marginalized communities. His intense passion and appreciation of music, culture, and art were interwoven throughout his life and extraordinary body of work.

There's No Going Back is the first complete biography of an auteur whose remarkable and versatile career encompassed acclaimed narratives, documentaries, and films spanning nearly five decades. Best-known for Melvin and Howard (1980), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Philadelphia (1993), and Beloved (1998), Demme was an Oscar-winning filmmaker with a recognizable style and voice. He often used that voice to champion women's rights and amplify social and environmental justice issues. Demme was also well-regarded for the loyalty, devotion, and collegiality shown to the actors, camera, and technical crew he retained in his film projects.

Cinephile and journalist David M. Stewart affirms that Demme was more than just a quirky filmmaker and product of 1970s New Hollywood; he was ceaseless and earnest in his approach to capturing humanity in all its complexities. Including interviews with Demme's collaborators and colleagues, Stewart presents the many facets of the filmmaker's life seen through the eyes of those who were in his warm, eclectic orbit. Presented is a compelling and fitting tribute to the brilliance and breadth of the man behind the camera.

280 pages, Hardcover

Published July 29, 2025

Reviews

[Brian Shevory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major thanks to the University of Kentucky Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of David M. Stewart’s There’s No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme. The book is filled with stories not just about the films that Demme created, but also about the people who inhabited these films and the social context that mirrors the complexities and conflicts in these films. I found one story towards the end of the book particularly resonant with the ethos and consideration of Demme’s films. While Demme was excited to be back directing after the buzz of his 2008 film Rachel Getting Married, some people were concerned that the film featured an interracial wedding, even in 2008 as America had just elected its first Black president. However, Stewart shares Demme’s rebuttal to these concerns, and I found this quote to be particularly important today as well as we face a a troubling new reality that seems to see diversity and difference as a threat rather than an asset. “The truth is, this kind of group of people that are present at the wedding, that is the America that I feel very deeply connected with. That’s the America that I know, it’s the America that I love.” This quote is not just in reference to Demme’s 2008 critically praised film, but it’s also reflective of his filmography, and reading Stewart’s book demonstrates Demme’s commitment to diversity, but also his willingness to challenge trends in popular filmmaking, seeking out to present more authentic stories and elevate the voices of individuals who comprise America but may not always be heard among the din.

I was very excited to find this book available on NetGalley, not only because Demme’s films from the 90s were a major part of my growing awareness of films, but also because I Jonathan Demme visited my class when I was teaching a high school film class. I developed a film class that examined social issues and encouraged students to analyze the language of film and explore how directors conveyed meaning through film elements like lighting, camera angles, and music, among other details (BTW- John Golden’s Reading in the Dark is an incredible reference for developing this kind of course). Our school was in Center City, and was about a block away from where Joe Miller’s office exteriors were shot—everyone in class recognized the Snow White Diner. It was exciting to watch the intro scenes with my class to examine what was familiar, but also what had changed in Philly since the film was made. However, most of my students were struck by Demme’s powerful use of camera angles and lighting to evoke emotional responses. They had so many questions about the lighting and camera movement with Andy’s scene describing Maria Callas’s song “La Mamma Morta”. Fortuitously, my cousin worked with Jonathan Demme on a film and grew close to him. I was able to obtain contact information and sent him the students’ letters. I was shocked to receive an email a few months later from Demme’s assistant that Demme was being honored in Philadelphia and wanted to stop by to meet the students who wrote him. Apparently, he enjoyed reading the letters and wanted to reply to them. It was one of the most amazing teaching experiences in my life, not only because he’s an amazing, award-winning director who took time out to talk to my class about film and social issues like the AIDS epidemic and discrimination, but for many of my students, it made them realize that I’m not their only audience—that other people are willing to listen to them and validate or respond to their ideas. It was an incredibly powerful moment, whether Demme realized it or not. This was also the message throughout Stewart’s book, that in addition to being an incredibly talented and innovative director with a keen eye and ear for conveying emotions and meaning, Jonathan Demme was a deeply caring and empathetic person who recognized the challenges that many people and groups face in society and he used film as a means to confront many of the disparities that he recognized. He used film not only as art, but also as a kind of rhetorical device or a tool to challenge inequality, racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination. Yet, he managed to do this is a deeply humanistic and dignified manner, never trivializing or sensationalizing the subject. Stewart’s book examines this deeply humanistic side of Demme’s life and work, exploring the challenges he faced in bringing this ethos and approach to filmmaking, shifting the representation and stories we would come to see in more mainstream movies.

One of the best aspects of Stewart’s biography is examining how social issues and causes, culture and art were always intertwined with Demme’s films. I appreciated this because I didn’t know the background of the film Swing Shift and how much pressure the studio exerted to recut the film to something more commercial, rather than a feminist film that focused on the power of female friendships. In fact, it was interesting to see how much feminism remained focus of many of Demme’s films, even those early American International Pictures films for Corman. While Silence of the Lambs may be his most famous film, other films like Married to the Mob, Something Wild, and even Beloved feature strong female protagonists who often have to face difficult situations and challenges. This kind of representation was not only a part of Demme’s oeuvre, but also a challenge to the male dominated action heroes that topped box offices in the 80s and 90s. In addition to incorporating feminism in his films, Demme also included a wide variety of music into his films and made several critically acclaimed documentaries about musicians. Like in Philadelphia, I feel like music plays such an important part in all his films, and he uses music like an artist uses brushstrokes or another tool to accentuate the emotional appeal of their work. I didn’t realize that Demme made like 3 documentaries with Neil Young and worked with David Byrne and Robin Hitchcock on several film projects as well. Stewart’s biography establishes the fact that Demme frequently pursued topics and themes of his interest and then used film to highlight the art he wanted to champion or show how this art elevated and conveyed emotions.

Beyond the chronological details, Stewart also presents the production details exploring how Demme’s film projects came together and eventually released. I enjoyed learning more about this aspect of film production and how he worked with others to determine the filming, and especially how Demme managed to elicit such amazing performances from his actors. In addition, these chapters also feature some critical explanations of the camera techniques and lighting used. I really enjoyed reading these critical details, since Demme uses so many unique and emotional camera angles and lighting techniques. I wasn’t aware that at times, he was referencing other filmmakers, including Hitchcock. I also didn’t realize that Demme often included pictures of friends and family in his films as well. While all directs need to be detail oriented, it was interesting to learn more about how he managed these details and how they reflected his interests, passions, and respect for others.

There were other surprising details in this book as well, though not really about Demme’s life. Rather, I didn’t realize that Demme was involved with several television productions that never really took off. I was surprised to learn about Subway Stories, since the concept sounds fascinating. I wondered if that series would have fared differently now, when people have a greater interest in “reality” television, and the line between entertainment and personal confessional videos are sometimes blurred. However, the biggest surprise for me was learning that Philadelphia was screened in the White House for Bill Clinton. I can see why since Philadelphia was one of the first films from a major studio to feature a gay couple and a man dying of AIDS. This was especially relevant since the Reagan administration largely ignored the AIDS epidemic, failing to pursue research, medicinal interventions, or any kind of support for the people who were sick and dying of this disease. Although Clinton was there for the screening, apparently he walked out during the dance scene. I don’t really remember how I reacted when I first saw this but given that this was screened at a time when the policy was “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, it’s not surprising. I was also surprised to learn about the backlash that Philadelphia spawned from gay and AIDS rights activists. Despite their concerns, it’s important to recognize the film as an important marker of representation.

Demme’s later film output slowed down, partially because of his challenges with the studios. I haven’t seen as many of his later films, but I remember finding The Manchurian Candidate interesting and well-acted. I was blown away by Rachel Getting Married, especially with his use of music in this film. There were so many different styles of music, and I forgot that the father, played by Bill Irwin, was in the music business, so there were all these musicians around. However, the film felt much more like a play, a kind of tragedy where the characters all come to some kind of sad awareness about what has been plaguing them, and music is one of the ways that the characters communicate—it was almost like a chorus in Greek tragedy, but more entertaining. I also didn’t know that Demme was working on a Bob Marley documentary that Kevin McDonald eventually made. I also learned about his work on a film called A Master Builder, where Demme filmed a play that functioned as a kind of haunted house movie with an Ibsen play as the basis. It sounds like a fascinating film from one of America’s unique cinematic voices.

This was an amazing read. The chapters are easy to read and present Demme’s life and filmography chronologically, but also include critical elements of his films, demonstrating not only his artistry, but also his ability to craft compelling films that present social issues and topics to a broad range of Americans. While not all his films were box office hits, Demme was able to achieve the rare feat of attaining both critical and commercial success with several films. What is even more amazing is that he was able to incorporate his passions and interests into his films, often portraying characters and situations that were not exactly common at the time. Jonathan Demme is one of the most important directors to emerge from the 70s and directed meaningful and important films up until the 2010s. Furthermore, his filmography not only includes narrative films, but expands across a range of genres and features critically acclaimed documentaries, almost changing the ways that concert documentaries were made. I found it interesting that one of the last concert documentaries Demme made was with Justin Timberlake, yet he mentioned that it was modeled on Stop Making Sense, which was made nearly 40 years before. However, that film remains such an important touchstone for music documentaries. It was also hard to think of another director or artist who has worked with subjects as varied as Neil Young and David Byrne to Jimmy Carter and Justin Timberlake. Stewart’s book is a revealing look into the life and work of one of the most important directors of the last 50 years. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of films.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. And there’s a superb writers on film podcast interview with the author also

[Silver Screen Videos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Casual moviegoers sometimes ask: “How did Director X make this movie?” when the director’s name flashes on-screen during the credits. Wes Craven spent almost his entire career in the horror genre… until he made the affecting, unhorrifying drama “Music of the Heart” with Meryl Streep in 1999. Guy Ritchie became known for witty, gritty crime stories… until he embraced his inner Disney with the 2019 live-action “Aladdin.” Even the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, surprised audiences when he made the suspenseless romantic comedy “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” in 1941. However, few directors have felt less tethered to a particular genre or style than Jonathan Demme, who made the classic thriller, “The Silence of the Lambs,” one of the greatest concert films of all time, “Stop Making Sense,” and some far-from-classic Roger Corman pictures. David M. Stewart’s new biography of Demme, “There’s No Going Back,” seeks to answer this question by examining the director’s entire career in detail. The book is a fascinating look at the machinations of making a movie, but it is less successful at defining Demme as a director.

“There’s No Going Back” does, in fact, go back to Demme’s childhood and beyond. The author provides a brief overview of Demme’s father’s career as a marketing executive, whose connections gave the younger Demme his professional start. Jonathan was a huge movie buff since childhood, and wrote film reviews for his college newspaper, “The Florida Alligator.” After college, Demme moved to New York City and eventually got a series of low-level jobs in the film industry. These led to his first directorial assignments for Roger Corman and his first marriage.

Demme’s commercial output was considerably less than that of many acclaimed directors. He received directorial credit for 17 dramatic films over 40 years. After his twin career highs in “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia,” he directed only six more dramatic movies in the last quarter-century of his life. But Demme wasn’t idle during those years. He directed many documentaries, including some of the best concert films ever made. Demme was devoted to a variety of liberal and progressive causes, which led to his documentary about Jimmy Carter, “The Man from Plains,” and projects about Haiti. (Demme was a collector of Haitian art.)

The book is at its best when it discusses the business of making films. Demme’s vision for his movies rarely survived to the final cut, as studios often made changes to, in their view, improve a movie’s potential profitability. In his first major directorial assignment, “Swing Shift,” Demme clashed with star Goldie Hawn, who didn’t like the portrayal of her character. Hawn won, and Demme had little say during the rest of the shoot. Demme also fought with Oprah Winfrey during the making of “Beloved.” Two remakes, “The Truth about Charlie” (a remake of the Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn vehicle, “Charade”) and “The Manchurian Candidate,” proved ill-advised and didn’t fare well, despite casting Meryl Streep in a role made famous by Angela Lansbury 40 years earlier.

“There’s No Going Back” documents Demme’s difficulties, but also his successes, including prevailing on the casting of “The Silence of the Lambs.” (The studio originally wanted Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer as the leads.) One reason for Demme’s success was his determination to keep using the same production personnel throughout his early career. These technicians had developed a good personal and professional rapport with Demme, which allowed the work to progress more smoothly. The book gives readers a better sense of how editors, cinematographers, and other technicians are selected and how those choices affect the finished product.

Although the book gives readers an incisive look into the business decisions involved in the filmmaking process (at least from the perspective of Demme’s films), I had hoped for more insight into Demme’s technique with actors. Anthony Hopkins and Tom Hanks have produced Oscar-worthy efforts for multiple directors in their careers. However, Christine Lahti, Mary Steenburgen, and Dean Stockwell received their only Oscar nominations in Demme’s films. I found relatively little about Demme’s techniques with actors or in general. The most detailed information was contained in the discussion of concert films like “Stop Making Sense.”

Readers accustomed to salacious tell-all celebrity biographies could be disappointed in “There’s No Going Back.” The author covers the relevant details of the director’s life but doesn’t delve into Demme’s personal or private life. There’s more discussion about the blossoming on-set romance between Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell (which has lasted until this day) on the set of “Swing Shift” than romantic details about either of Demme’s marriages. However, the meat of this book is the discussion of how movies get made and how Jonathan Demme worked within and outside of the system. I’ve read books that go into detail about the production of classic individual movies. However, this is the first time I’ve seen an author take a similar approach to a director’s entire oeuvre. “There’s No Going Back” isn’t the definitive biography of Jonathan Demme, but it’s a great starter.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and University Press of Kentucky for an advance copy of this biography and film guide to a director who was always driven to try something new, something that interested him, a drive that won him numerous awards, and the respect and love of filmgoers and his fellow professionals.

Hollywood loves to put the people who create in boxes. To many in Hollywood that would be ideal, keep all the creatives in a box, take them out, get some sun, let them work, reap the rewards, and back into the box one goes. Studio executives box their talent, she's too old, he's not trending, neither have enough followers. This director can do horror, this director is good at quirky, this one can do music. Very few can push out the sides of their box, and make a career in entertainment doing what they want to do. What interests them. Succeeding in some ways, failing in others, but always doing films that mean something to the creator. Even fewer are willing to give up the glitz of Hollywood, to work on smaller films, that again might not make box office, but enrich in many other ways. The director Jonathan Demme was one of this people. His movies are all different, but all have one thing in common, a creator who cared about the art, and the message, even when his characters were eating people with a nice chianti. There's No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme by film lover and journalist David M. Stewart is a look at this exceptional director, a man of many interests and skills, and one who kept creating right to the end.

Jonathan Demme was born in New York to a mother who was an artist at heart and a father who started in public relations, with a strong love of travel. Demme was addicted to film early, going when he could to see anything and everything playing. Demme kept notes on various films, always trying to figure out why this scene worked, why that worked, and why the audience cared. Demme moved to Florida with his father, who secured a job for young Demme working in film at an internship, where he met his first wife and got his taste for film. After a few moves and a trip to England, Demme interested the independent film producer and exploitation drive-in king Roger Corman into a job writing and producing a couple of movies. Soon Demme was working on his own works, including the classic Caged Heat. Demme never forgot Corman, using him and the actor Charles Napier in many of his early movies. Other films followed, smaller films that gained an appreciation, but not much in the way of box office. Until a movie about young FBI agent and a clever man with a love for cooking hit the big screen.

A book that really gets to the heart of the man, explaining his movies, his life and in a way his beliefs. The book is not long, but is very comprehensive, covering Demme's life, and his works. Stewart looks at how Demme tried to keep the same people, working with those he trusted and making the movie set a welcoming place to work. Unless an actor wanted to see the dailies, then all bets were off. Stewart looks at the studio interference in various movies that made Demme leave the bigger studios, working more on music and documentaries, films that were personal, and didn't come with studio notes. The book covers disputes with actors and studios, and looks at projects that were planned and yet went nowhere. The writing is very good, and really gets at the man, his love of social issues, and his real love of people who fought for what the believed in.

A book for fans of movies, and for those who love to read about decent people creating art. A very well written biography, with lots of stories, and lots of information about Demme and his work. I look forward to more books by David M. Stewart.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme by David M Stewart is an excellent overview of the director's career and how his personal experiences shaped his films.

Like with most artists of any kind, their biographies have to decide how much is going to be about life outside whatever field they were in and how much analysis of their work is included. Stewart makes clear that this is more about the parts of Demme's life that influenced his filmmaking rather than a full-fledged biography that examines every detail of his personal life. Honestly, I prefer these although ideally there will be a more definitive true biography at some point that can be paired with this.

The stories and anecdotes are wonderful and you definitely get a feel for what he was like. In working through his film output I would have enjoyed a little more analysis, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I would like to have seen more consistent analysis throughout. Not quantity, certainly some films lend themselves to more, and more varied, analysis but the same level for each. Also the same amount of production notes and societal contextualization.

I don't want the previous paragraph to imply that what is here is bad, far from it. I found every discussion about a film to be interesting, some with more emphasis on production and some with more emphasis on societal aspects, whether intentions or reception. I do think that this will serve Stewart's goal of being a wonderful starting point for both more biographical work and more analytic work.

I found the discussions of music in his films to be of particular interest, I often included scenes from his works in lectures when I would do that part of my syllabus. The aria scene from Philadelphia, of course, but also just the superb selection and placement of music throughout his films. One of the exercises I used, with varying success, was to ask the students, casually in class, if there were any scenes from films they have watched that have stayed with them and what about it was special. Rarely was music mentioned explicitly but they would always talk about the emotions, the fear or tension or even the sweetness, which was usually caused or enhanced by the music. Most semesters I would get a handful of students who would mention a scene. I would take time before the next class meeting to find as many of those scenes as I could and just record the score that surrounded that scene. When I would play some of the music, usually the first day of the section on score and sound, it would immediately make several of the students recall the scene, not just the one who mentioned it in a previous class. We all can easily forget how important the music is because we're focused on the plot, on the characters, but the music itself, without the visuals, will take us right back there.

I would highly recommend this to film buffs and those who like biographies of artists. I would also recommend this to anyone considering a career in film/videomaking, I think you will learn a lot about not just how to make a film but how to see the world around you to incorporate into the worlds you'll be creating on screen.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Peter Keough · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review from the Arts Fuse:

An anecdote early in David M. Stewart’s brisk, comprehensive, and insightful There’s No Going Back: The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme (University Press of Kentucky) epitomizes the kind of character the filmmaker, who died in 2017 at the age of 73, would demonstrate throughout his life.

Pursuing his early vocation to become a veterinarian, Demme found himself working at a clinic selling blood from greyhounds for transfusions. Appalled, he tried to rescue one of the unfortunate dogs and was fired.

Perhaps this disillusioning incident encouraged him to transfer his focus from this presumably idealistic but occasionally vampiric industry to another not unlike it – the movies. Be that as it may, while attending vet school he started writing film reviews for the student newspaper. His father was friends with mogul Joseph E. Levine, who admired the young Demme’s review of his film Zulu (1964) and offered him a PR job that would eventually take him to Roger Corman, midwife to New Hollywood auteurs, and from there a series of serendipitous connections, defeats, and renewed opportunities, a pattern recurring throughout Demme’s career.

Throughout these ups and downs Demme remained true to his basic decency and humanity. These are the themes, plus an insatiable curiosity and passion for experience, which are the defining marks of his wide-ranging oeuvre.

But as with his early veterinary experience, sometimes his best intentions led to unintended consequences. With his masterpiece Silence of the Lambs (1991) he achieved his goal of creating an iconic feminist hero but in the process offended members of the gay community with the film’s transgender villain. He attempted to rectify that by confronting the AIDS crisis in Philadelphia (1993), only to be chastised by no less than Larry Kramer for its “falsehood.”

But he must have been doing something right because Silence won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director and Philadelphia was nominated for five, winning Best Actor for Tom Hanks.

Stewart is adept at exploring these ironic reversals and restorations of fortune but, like Demme himself in his best movies, is even more poignant in tracing the details and personalities in the background, those who helped Demme and whom he, perhaps the most loyal and empathetic of friends, helped as well. It is a portrait of the artist as a good man.

— Peter Keough

[John Schorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, Jonathan Demme's career deserves this sort of tribute. An entirely singular career that helped bring the world The Silence of the Lambs, Something Wild, Melvin and Howard, Rachel Getting Married, and Stop Making Sense demands attention. Yet it is easy to be a little disappointed at the way the author speeds through Demme's life in less than 200 pages, with many points where you're left wanting more. His movies are dealt with in cursory fashion, and there are many points where you feel a lot is being left unsaid, especially when it comes to what seems to be a prickly relationship with studios. I also would have loved more on his years with Roger Corman, where Demme first drew attention. I'd rather have a biography on this man and his vision than nothing at all, but I sense there's a deeper, richer story to be told.

[Jason Keil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best edited book, but it’s a decent appreciation of one of my favorite directors.