The Misfits

Description

This book documents the making of the legendary film The Misfits (1961). Directed by the Hollywood auteur John Huston, it starred three of the most charismatic actors of all time – Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift. Its script was composed by Arthur Miller, one of America’s greatest playwrights and Marilyn’s husband.

As part of the promotional strategy for the film, the Magnum photographic agency was given exclusive access to the shoot. Nine of its most famous photographers – including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold and Elliott Erwitt – covered the production, both on and off the set. 200 of their pictures are reproduced in rich duotone, providing both a fascinating documentary of the making of a film and an intimate portrait of its stars.

The photographs are paralleled with an essay by the Editor-in-Chief of the established film magazine Cahiers du cinéma, Serge Toubiana, in which he recounts the tragic and triumphant story of the film that was to become Monroe and Gable’s swansong. The book also contains a revealing interview between Toubiana and Arthur Miller, in which Miller discusses the making of the film, the troubled relationships between the stars (including his own with Monroe) and the fascinating background to the photographs.

Arthur Miller was America’s leading dramatist over the last 50 years. His plays include Death of a Salesman (1940), The Crucible (1953) and A View From the Bridge (1955). He is also the author of the novel, Focus (1945), and several non-fiction works. Miller adapted the screenplay for The Misfits from his own story.

Serge Toubiana is Editor-in-Chief of the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma. He is also the co-author of several books about the cinema, including the biography Truffaut (1999).

“A must for photography and Monroe fans alike.”—British Journal of Photography