The Deal

A Novel of Hollywood

By: Peter Lefcourt

Narrated by: William H. Macy

Washed-up Hollywood producer Charlie Berns has mailed in his updated obit and is about to suck his Mercedes tailpipe and fade to black when a miracle materializes: his nephew, a wannabe screenwriter from New Jersey, has scripted the life story of Queen Victoria's prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli. Charlie manages to turn the piece into a hot property that reinstates him as a player. But as the deal heats up, conceptual changes morph the project into Lev Disraeli: Freedom Fighter, an action thriller with a black Jewish superstar, a Yugoslavian location, and a mad Polish director. Is Charlie being eaten alive by the system? Or is he giving Hollywood hotshots a run for their money?

Peter Lefcourt's hilarious satire proves the old adage that, in Hollywood, you're never quite as dead as people give you credit for.

©1991 Chiaroscuro Productions (P)2008 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A hilariously entertaining insider's look at the business of making movies." (Publishers Weekly)
"This is a racy, irreverent, hilarious poke at Hollywood and its denizens. The plot (of the book and the movie) moves cleverly and quickly, while the characters (in the book, not the movie) are believable. Four-letter words abound but fit naturally in the setting. Mature YAs interested in the movie industry will need no cues for laughs." (School Library Journal)