The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks » (Unabridged, 15 CDs, 18.5 hrs)

NICOLE LAPORTE is a former reporter for Variety, where she covered the Hollywood movie industry for several years. She wrote "The Rules of Hollywood" column for the Los Angeles Times Magazine and has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, the New York Observer, and W Magazine. She is currently a West Coast reporter for the Daily Beast.

For sixty years, since the birth of United Artists, the studio landscape was unchanged.Then came Hollywood's Circus Maximus—-created by director Steven Spielberg, billionaire David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who gave the world The Lion King—-an entertainment empire called DreamWorks. Now Nicole LaPorte, who covered the company for Variety, goes behind the hype to reveal for the first time the delicious truth of what happened.

Audiences will feel they are part of the creative calamities of moviemaking as LaPorte's fly-on-the-wall detail shows us Hollywood's bizarre rules of business. We see the clashes between the often otherworldly Spielberg's troops and Katzenberg's warriors, the debacles and disasters, but also the Oscar-winning triumphs, including Saving Private Ryan. We watch as the studio burns through billions, its rich owners get richer, and everybody else suffers. We see Geffen seducing investors like Microsoft's Paul Allen,...

The New Yorker

LaPorte's account is full of insider details, in the manner of Hollywood business potboilers, and the story—with screaming fits, White House sleepovers, and a death threat from Russull Crowe—rivals anything on the screen.

A Note to Readers xi

I Starting UP

1 The Emperor in August 3

2 The End of Magic 9

3 Mr. Spielberg Will See You Now 14

4 Geffen Slept Here 21

5 The Announcement 28

6 E.T., Phone Home 36

7 Animated Characters 44

8 Live Action 60

9 Show Me the Money 69

10 Culture Clash 85

11 The Unthinkable Occurs 101

12 George in Slovakia; Jeffrey in Extremis 108

13 The Not So Long Goodbye 123

II Rolling

14 Of Men and Mice 133

15 Slaves to the Rhythm 148

16 Saving Spielberg 159

17 Bug Wars 180

18 Harvey Baby 196

III Rockin'

19 Unexpected Beauty 217

20 The Battle for Oscar 232

21 Nobody's Bitch 247

22 Sword Fights 262

23 Shreked 276

24 Rock and Roll 293

25 Golden Glow 303

IV Close-Up

26 The Motorcycle Diaries 321

27 Harvey II 335

28 What Sinbad Wrought 349

29 Naked in Public 362

30 In a Snicket 375

31 No White Suits! 382

32 The Geffen Express 401

Epilogue: Three-Way Split 432

Bibliography 447

Notes on Sources 449

Acknowledgments 475

Index 478