Alan J. Pakula

by Jared Brown

"Alan J. Pakula, the director of such film classics as Klute, All the President's Men, Sophie's Choice, and Presumed Innocent (and the producer of To Kill a Mockingbird) is widely recognized as one of the finest filmmakers of the twentieth century. In addition to his achievements as director and producer, he wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for Sophie's Choice and Presumed Innocent. His death in a freak automobile accident in 1998 may have deprived filmgoers of another cinematic milestone, because he was working on a biopic about Franklin D. Roosevelt that he believed would be one of his most important films." "Pakula's remarkable insights into character stemmed, in part, from his early ambition to become a psychoanalyst. Those insights, combined with his directorial skill, helped actors such as Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, Jane Fonda, Kevin Kline, Candice Bergen - all of whom were interviewed at length for this book - create memorable characterizations, several of whi