win a copy of the book ‘A Star Is Found’ (now closed)

Harcourt has just published A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood's Biggest Movies, by Hollywood casting directors Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins (writing with Rachel Kranz), an entertaining and enlightening look at an underappreciated aspect of filmmaking. To celebrate, I’ve got three copies to give away, courtesy of Harcourt. Here's the scoop on the book, from the publisher:

For anyone who’s ever walked out of a movie and said, “That guy was all wrong for that part,” comes this first-of-its-kind look at how actors are chosen and careers are born.

Two of the top casting directors in the business, who most recently cast the new James Bond, The Da Vinci Code, and the summer blockbuster Poseidon, offer an insider’s tour of their crucial craft—spotting stars in the making—in this lively memoir, full of the kind of backroom detail loved by movie fans and aspiring actors alike. Janet and Jane share the fascinating, funny stories of discovering and casting then-unknown stars like Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Cusack, Matt Damon, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Brendan Fraser, Virginia Madsen, Joaquin Phoenix, Meg Ryan, Benicio Del Toro, and the Harry Potter kids. Taking us from the first casting call through head shots, auditions, meetings, and desperate searches to fill a part, they give us behind-the-scenes access to the machinery of star-making.

If you don’t want to wait to win, buy the book at Amazon.

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