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Title: There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale
Author: Sean Astin with Joe Layden
Genre: Memoir
Thingummies: 2
Synopsis: Sean Astin goes to New Zealand, angsts.
Thoughts: You know, for an actor who started in childhood with The Goonies, had famous Hollywood parents, and spent two years in New Zealand filming a legendary movie trilogy, Sean Astin's memoir is remarkably boring. I think I was really expecting this book to be more anecdotes and less self-flagellation at how selfish and short-sighted he has been at various points in his life. The navel gazing gets old. Fast.
This is the book of someone who feels that he has acted badly and wants very much for people to think well of him now. So it's a mix of telling us (without showing us) how amazingly wonderful a bunch of people he's worked with are and telling us (again, without really showing us) that he feels bad that he acted kinda spoiled, but it was just because he wants so badly to be a Serious Filmmaker. The insecurity kind of drips off the page.
Given that there's a writer credited directly with helping churn out this thing, I shudder to think what Astin would have turned in on his own. (Or perhaps Layden took a dislike to him and hung him out to dry? It's really not the most complimentary of books.)
Most importantly, Sean Astin wants you to know that while he's an actor, what he really wants to do is direct. Sigh.
Author: Sean Astin with Joe Layden
Genre: Memoir
Thingummies: 2
Synopsis: Sean Astin goes to New Zealand, angsts.
Thoughts: You know, for an actor who started in childhood with The Goonies, had famous Hollywood parents, and spent two years in New Zealand filming a legendary movie trilogy, Sean Astin's memoir is remarkably boring. I think I was really expecting this book to be more anecdotes and less self-flagellation at how selfish and short-sighted he has been at various points in his life. The navel gazing gets old. Fast.
This is the book of someone who feels that he has acted badly and wants very much for people to think well of him now. So it's a mix of telling us (without showing us) how amazingly wonderful a bunch of people he's worked with are and telling us (again, without really showing us) that he feels bad that he acted kinda spoiled, but it was just because he wants so badly to be a Serious Filmmaker. The insecurity kind of drips off the page.
Given that there's a writer credited directly with helping churn out this thing, I shudder to think what Astin would have turned in on his own. (Or perhaps Layden took a dislike to him and hung him out to dry? It's really not the most complimentary of books.)
Most importantly, Sean Astin wants you to know that while he's an actor, what he really wants to do is direct. Sigh.
