Big thanks to our partners in crime at the awesome Alamo Drafthouse Winchester (and cohorts Andy Gyurisin and Brad Gullickson) for helping facilitate a wonderful and enlightening conversation with Charles Casillo, author of ELIZABETH AND MONTY.
At 1455 we’re always talking about the different types of storytelling; what I really admire and appreciate about this book is that it combines the intense research scholarly books and so-called serious journalism demand but, in part because of topic and the details conveyed, reads like a novel.
Over the course of an hour, Charles details his process, explaining how he combines the genuine rigor involved in researching and organizing with the need to keep the narrative flowing (there is, needless to say, a considerable amount of skill and discipline involved). We explore how he fell in love with classic cinema, the way this passion informs his writing, what it was like learning so much about some of his artistic heroes, and the inevitable drawbacks (and joys!) of presenting an honest, in-depth portrait of beloved icons. (Sidenote: every aspect of this story invariably makes me wonder how off-the-charts it would have been had the press, public, and a super-sized paparazzi our contemporary means of recording and exchanging info. We talk about this, too!)
Charles Casillo is the author of Marilyn Monroe, The Marilyn Diaries, The Fame Game, Boys, Lost & Found, and Outlaw: The Lives and Careers of John Rechy. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and many others. His movies include “Let Me Die Quietly” and “Fetish.”
