• The Men Who Would Be King

  • An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks
  • By: Nicole LaPorte
  • Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
  • Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (384 ratings)

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The Men Who Would Be King  By  cover art

The Men Who Would Be King

By: Nicole LaPorte
Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
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Publisher's summary

For 60 years, since the birth of United Artists, the studio landscape was unchanged. Then came Hollywood’s Circus Maximus---created by director Steven Spielberg, billionaire David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who gave the world The Lion King---an entertainment empire called DreamWorks. Now Nicole LaPorte, who covered the company for Variety, goes behind the hype to reveal for the first time the delicious truth of what happened.

Audiences will feel they are part of the creative calamities of moviemaking as LaPorte's fly-on-the-wall detail shows us Hollywood's bizarre rules of business. We see the clashes between the often otherworldly Spielberg's troops and Katzenberg's warriors, the debacles and disasters, but also the Oscar-winning triumphs, including Saving Private Ryan. We watch as the studio burns through billions, its rich owners get richer, and everybody else suffers. We see Geffen seducing investors like Microsoft's Paul Allen, showing his steel against CAA's Michael Ovitz, and staging fireworks during negotiations with Paramount and Disney. Here is Hollywood, up close, glamorous, and gritty.

©2010 Nicole LaPorte (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“This book has all the right elements: deep-dish research, attitude to burn,...and a great subject.” (Peter Biskind, author of the New York Times bestseller Star)

What listeners say about The Men Who Would Be King

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Obviously Slanted

I think it is pretty clear that the Author of this book had a very strong point of view when she undertook the writing of this book. There is no doubt that she had a bone to pick with all three men. It is not completely surprising since she was part of the industry as a writer for Variety. She should have done a better job of hiding her animosity.

There is some good information in the book, and some interesting anecdotes. However, it was all clouded by the obvious slant of the author. It was also quite a bit longer than it needed to be. There was no editing involved as far as I could tell. The reader was OK, not great.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating, even-handed

Well worth reading/listening to. I had expected it to be a negative slant on the founders. Overall, though, I found the book quite even-handed, talking about both good and bad aspects of the people and personalities. Narrator is top notch.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The inside scoop on the Dreamworks hype machine

What did you love best about The Men Who Would Be King?

Culled from over 200 sources, many of them anonymous for fear of retribution, and with no official sanction from the three founding members, the writer had her work cut out for her in piecing together the story behind the story.

You'll hear about Oscar wins (American Beauty) on-set drama (Gladiator) and box office wins (Shrek) misses (The Island) and complete disasters (The Road to El Dorado). You'll also get to know some of the characters surrounding the three kings, along with the personal vendettas and the agendas that drove the company’s early days and sophomore efforts. And like any good drama, there's a clash of cultures, from the initial grouping of Amblin plus Disney employees and their clashing work styles to the organ transplant reject analogy used to describe when the DreamWorks live action business was acquired by Paramount (and then subsequently sold off).

I remember the early days of DreamWorks, and some of the hype surrounding it. Not just the three personalities behind the endeavor, but some of the failed attempts like the Playa Vista studio and the short-lived Sega partnership to create Gameworks arcade chains.

The author did a fabulous job taking us from the inception of the idea, through the early days, and highlighting some of major the struggles they encountered along the way, from films, to financing, to navigating some of the most complex and politically charged business climates in the US.

In addition to some great anecdotes, the author really tries to humanize these three mysterious, almost mythical three men. You’ll glean some insights into their hopes, dreams, squabbling, darker sides, and more. From the early days of the founding to the splintered ending, you'll get a great front row seat to some of the activities and craziness surrounding the formation of a one-time supposed entertainment giants that never quite lived up to its expectations of becoming different than all the other studios surrounding them.

And in the end, this book begs three questions:

Why did these three guys start this studio in the first place?

What would each of them have said if they could've been quoted for this book?

And given where their partnership (both personal and professional) finally ended, money aside, can it be said that any of them truly lived happily ever after?

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thorough and informative

I doubt that in one place you will be able to find as much information about DreamWorks and the people involved there as in this book. The research seems copious, and though one suspects whether all of it is true, the overall impression is you've learned a great deal about one of the most interesting companies in recent Hollywood history.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

best book about Hollywood

I listen to and read this book at least once a year. fascinating look at an almost studio.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

A little boring, not what I expected

Bought this after listening to DisneyWar by James Stewart. DisneyWar tells an entertaining story, part of which covers a lot about the fight between Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner, including Katzenberg's exit from Disney which led to his part in founding Dreamworks SKG.

Honestly the book was hard to finish, most of the stories were not entertaining. The introduction sounds biased against Dreamworks and led me to question the motivation of the author in writing this book. In my opinion this could have been condensed to around 8-10 hours of only the most interesting material and been a decent read. Even if you are Dreamworks fan I don't recommend this book.

One gem I got from the book was about how you cannot just throw more work hours to solve certain type of problems. The example used in the book was: 9 women + 1 month = 0 babies.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting book. Annoying reader.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book is what it is-- a mildly bitchy expose of Hollywood movers and shakers. But just about anything the reader *could* mispronounce, he *does* mispronounce. One would presume that any potential listener would be interested in and familiar with the people and work named in the book. So to hear so much of it all regularly mispronounced was terribly distracting, albeit hilarious after a while.

Would you recommend The Men Who Would Be King to your friends? Why or why not?

Sure. Reader aside, it was gossipy and fun.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Stephen Hoye?

Scott Brick.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe, if it were a BARBARIANS AT THE GATE-style satire.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I really didn't care

While I am a fan of Dreamworks, especially their animation efforts, I found that the inside story of personalities and money far from compelling. Those who enjoy the inside Hollywood stuff will probably be more interested in the ins and outs described in this book. For me, it didn't take long before the story sounded like random syllables coupled with the author's outrage.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really deep story into the formations of DreamWorks

I really liked how the book delved deep into the lore and history that made DreamWorks. This book was interesting and kept me reading/listening the whole time, although I wonder how accurate some of these events were. None the less, very informative

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful insight into a dream studio that crashed into reality.

If you like behind the scenes insights of some of the biggest entertainment industry moguls of the last few decades, then this book is for you.

The story of Dreamworks and it’s founders serves as an inspiration and cautionary tale about art and commerce.

I enjoyed the reading immensely with one small complaint. Someone has to get the narrator the correct pronunciation of a few major pop culture figures. He got famous names wrong a little too often.

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