SEEN BEHIND THE SCENE

Since the 1960s Mary Ellen Mark has worked on over 100 film sets as whatthe film studios call a 'special stills photographer', making thousands ofdocumentary photographs of life behind the scenes, rather than theconventional still photographs made of actors on camera. This excitingbook presents the best of her images ranging from the first films thatMark shot in the 1960s such as "Fellini's Satyricon", to legendary 1970sproductions like Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" and MilosForman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", as well as films from theensuing decades that range from "Network" to "Tootsie", from "Gandhi" to"Showgirls". She continues to work on film sets and over the last decadehas photographed recent Oscar-winning productions such as Baz Luhrmann's"Moulin Rouge", Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" and Tim Burton's"Sweeney Todd".Over her career, Mark has been given unprecedented accessto the film sets she has worked on, roaming freely among cast anddirectors, and photographing in make-up, during rehearsals, on the set andoff the set to provide a full picture of life behind the scenes. Herexperience over the last forty years reveals much about the changes infilm-making. She recalls in her introduction how she loved to photographthe director's reaction and interaction during rehearsal when he wasbehind the camera; but now in contemporary film-making the director isnowhere near the camera, but rather in front of a video monitor away fromthe set. Her iconic 1960s portraits of Fellini behind his camera fix thismoment in film history and are evidence of the changes in technology.Mark's 1960s, 1970s and 1980s portraits also reveal the changing nature ofcelebrity.When she first started working she would be just another personon set with full access to every cast member and every set. Now with themassive power and impact of celebrity it has become more difficult forphotographers to work on set, when actors are constantly surrounded bytheir entourage of publicists and agents and have their schedulescarefully planned with every minute accounted for. In this current climateMark's more recent, candid pictures of major celebrities such as CateBlanchett, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and Nicole Kidman are rare andparticularly special.This book includes beautiful and engaging portraits,documentary pictures that reveal the way a film is made, dramatic momentsin direction and filming, and amusing pictures that reveal the camaraderieon set - such as Henry Fonda making faces behind Katharine Hepburn,well-known prankster Jack Nicholson turning Stockard Channing upside down,and Dustin Hoffman causing a lot of amusement in his female costume inbetween scenes on "Tootsie". The text for the book comes from a number ofhigh profile actors, directors and film industry professionals whocomplete this picture of life 'behind the scenes' by sharing theiranecdotes and thoughts about their profession. Among these engaging texts,cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno remembers how Fellini fled in fear of thewhite horse in "Satyricon", Sofia Coppola recalls growing up on set withher father, and Helen Mirren eloquently describes the disconcertingexperience of night shoots to complete this insight into the world offilm-making.