Wild and Crazy Guys is the larger-than-life story of the much-loved Hollywood comedy stars that ruled the 1980s.
As well as delving behind the scenes of classic movies such as Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and dozens more, it chronicles the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Candy et al. It's got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S Thompson, while tied to a lawn chair.
It's akin to Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, following the key players through their highs and lows, and their often turbulent relationships with each other. Nick de Semlyen has already interviewed pretty much all the big names for Empire, as well as directors such as Walter Hill, John Landis and Carl Reiner, and is sitting on lots of unseen material.
Taking you on a trip through the tumultuous '80s, Wild And Crazy Guys explores the friendships, feuds, triumphs and disasters experienced by these iconic funnymen. Based on candid interviews from the stars themselves, as well as those who entered their orbit, it reveals the hidden history behind the most fertile period ever for screen comedy.
The rollicking, behind-the-scenes story of the comedy misfits who ruled '80s Hollywood and the beloved films that made them stars.
Wild and Crazy Guys opens in 1978 with Chevy Chase and Bill Murray taking bad-tempered swings at each other backstage at Saturday Night Live, and closes twenty-one years later with the two doing a skit in the same venue, poking fun at each other - their illustrious careers, their triumphs, and their pratfalls. In between, Nick de Semlyen takes us on a trip through the tumultuous 1980s, going behind the scenes of movies such as Caddyshack, The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, National Lampoon's Vacation, and dozens more.
Chronicling the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, and Rick Moranis, this insightful and wildly entertaining book has drugs, sex, fistfights, webbed toes, and Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S. Thompson while tied to a lawn chair.
Based on candid interviews from many of the stars themselves, as well as those in their immediate orbit, including John Landis, Carl Reiner, and Amy Heckerling, Wild and Crazy Guys is a fantastic insider account of the friendships, feuds, triumphs, and disasters experienced by these iconic funnymen. Hilarious and revealing, it is both a hidden history of the most fertile period ever for screen comedy and a celebration of some of the most popular films of all time.
