Kildare author's new book is acclaimed by industry legends
Naas author Wayne Byrne has teamed up with an Emmy award-winning Hollywood filmmaker for his seventh book release, Roy H. Wagner: A Cinematographer’s Life Beyond the Shadows.
Wagner is the acclaimed director of photography who shot major films such as the Johnny Depp thriller Nick of Time, the Freddy Krueger frightener A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and the Emilio Estevez/Richard Dreyfuss sequel Another Stakeout.
Wagner also devised the striking visual style of hit TV shows including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House M.D., Party of Five, Quantum Leap, and Beauty and the Beast.
Byrne has been an admirer of Wagner for over thirty years and the pair finally met when the author was working on his book Welcome to Elm Street several years ago.
“Roy and I really hit it off. I knew his work as this master cinematographer but he is also a great film historian, which is my great interest. We have a shared love of old Hollywood and feel it is important to document the history of cinema. Roy has been there through several major film movements; he was mentored by the old studio cameramen of the golden age, started during the new Hollywood era, and his career took off in the 1980s. So, we decided to work together on his story of being in the Hollywood trenches for fifty years.”
The result is a very candid, honest account of what it takes to build a sustainable career in an industry that can be brutal. Many cautionary war stories from some big movies and shows are recalled.
Byrne, a librarian with Kildare County Council, sees the long-term importance of documenting the history of an artform, and the effort he puts in is rewarding as the book has already received high acclaim from notable people in the film business.
These include legendary film historian Leonard Maltin, who said ”this book offers straight talk for anyone who wants to know how the movie and TV business really works.”
Filmmaker David McGiffert (Back to the Future, Rain Man, Tootsie) applauds said it is “an important book, so honest and unvarnished, and unusually representative of what so many of us in film go through as we learn our way.”
Fellow cinematographer Nick McLean (Close Encounter of the Third Kind, The Goonies, Friends) said it’s the real deal and another winner for Wayne Byrne.
“It truthfully presents the personal and political struggles it takes to reach the top of your game in this business.”.
This acclaim reassures Byrne, who grew up watching the films of these champions of his work. “I’ve never stepped foot on a film set, so for them to see an honest representation of life in the film business within my words, well that means a lot to me. It makes think that maybe I’m doing something right.”
The book is available to pre-order from all book retailers.