The Future Was Now Audiobook By Chris Nashawaty cover art

The Future Was Now

Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982

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The Future Was Now

By: Chris Nashawaty
Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
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About this listen

“Hollywood boldly went where it hadn’t gone before and Nashawaty chronicles the journeys.” Los Angeles Times ("Books You Need To Read This Summer")

“Written with a fan’s enthusiasm . . . An important inflection point in Hollywood filmmaking.” New York Times ("Nonfiction Books to Read This Summer")

In the summer of 1982, eight science fiction films were released within six weeks of one another. E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior changed the careers of some of Hollywood's now biggest names―altering the art of movie-making to this day.

In The Future Was Now, Chris Nashawaty recounts the riotous genesis of these films, featuring an all-star cast of Hollywood luminaries and gadflies alike: Steven Spielberg, at the height of his powers, conceives E.T. as an unlikely family tale, and quietly takes over the troubled production of Poltergeist, a horror film he had been nurturing for years. Ridley Scott, fresh off the success of Alien, tries his hand at an odd Philip K. Dick story that becomes Blade Runner―a box office failure turned cult classic. Similar stories arise for films like Tron, Conan the Barbarian, and The Thing. Taken as a whole, these films show a precarious turning-point in Hollywood history, when baffled film executives finally began to understand the potential of high-concept films with a rabid fanbase, merchandising potential, and endless possible sequels.

Expertly researched, energetically told, and written with an unabashed love for the cinema, The Future Was Now is a chronicle of how the revolution sparked in a galaxy far, far away finally took root and changed Hollywood forever.

©2024 Chris Nashawaty (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
History & Criticism Science Fiction Fiction Scary Paranormal Summer
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Critic reviews

“An absolute must read.”Booklist (starred review)

“An exemplary film history.”Kirkus (starred review)

“Entertaining. . . . The behind the scenes stories will make readers feel like they’ve stepped on a set.”Publishers Weekly

What listeners say about The Future Was Now

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Living in the 80s

Terrific, fast-moving overview of a seminal year in motion-picture history. As a lifelong fan of these films, it’s great to see these classics get their due.

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    3 out of 5 stars

interesting, informative, nostalgia trip

It's a fun story of films I loved as a teenager. As an adult, hearing the back story of how they were created is interesting, sometimes informative, especially learning more about the personalities of the directors who made them. Sometimes it focuses too much on the business story and studio politics. It's well written, with lively prose that made me laugh outloud a few times. I do wish he'd gone further into the meaning and impacts of the films. His story concentrates on what it took to create them. But his reporting on what they created culturally and in the movie world is thin. Overall I had a fun time listening to it.

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Great summer popcorn book!

I enjoyed the book, the inside Hollywood stories and the walk down memory lane. A great popcorn book!

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Flew through this

Fascinating details about all the movies I love and the importance of their trendsetting beginnings.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story about an incredible year in sci fi film making.

Worth the listen if you were an 80s or 90s kid or if you just love film

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Movie Geeks! This is for YOU!

This is a terrific book for all film aficionados, especially those who love sci-fi and horror. The backstory for all these films is fascinating. How some of them were made at all is amazing. The narrator is excellent and his enthusiasm for film bubbles over into the audible presentation. Listen and ENJOY!

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Interesting Behind the Scenes of Some Popular Film

This was an interesting book about the films in the summer of 1982. The author notes a good number of fascinating behind the scenes stories of how the films were made and marketed and which were successful and which weren't (though those became cult classics) The narrative is great when it sticks to the stories of the films, but author comments about the state of geekdom is the usual critical whining. I do wish that each chapter had been about a certain film instead of jumping around with several films in different stages. It made difficult to follow the storyline. The films covered are E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior. E.T,, Star Trek and Poltergeist were box office winners that summer, the rest became cult classics. The most interesting parts for me were how the directors did or did not read their audiences correctly and all had changes of fortune (including Steven Spielberg). Narration fit the title perfectly. Credit was given to George Lucas and Star Wars frequently, but the author seemed to forget why Star Wars and geekdom are still so powerful today, notably with the rise of the MCU.

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I Remember the Summer of ‘82

I love this book and it helped that I saw all of those films in ‘82, several of them I watched repeatedly, including E.T., Tron, and Blade Runner. This book brought back many memories and the inside scoop on how these iconic films got made. There will never be another summer like that one. That summer was one for the books and this is that book. I highly recommend it.

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Fantastic listen

Author did a great job sharing the backstory of the sci-fi summer of 1982. He didn't belabor anything, and had good insights into everything he discussed. If you're a movie fan you'll enjoy this. Narrator was great, too.

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