After some delay, my new book, The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces – How Ignatius J. Reilly Defeated Hollywood, was finally published on December 2, 2022, by McFarland.

For more than 40 years, dozens of film directors, writers and producers tried and failed to adapt John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. Along the way lawsuits were filed, filming locations destroyed, friendships shattered, reputations trashed, production companies bankrupted. Drawing on exclusive interviews, internal documents and private correspondence, this book tells the remarkable story of the non-making of A Confederacy of Dunces as a breathless and absurdist thriller. Celebrity appearances include John Belushi, Steven Soderbergh, Stephen Fry, Robin Williams, Warren Beatty and Harvey Weinstein, among others.

For more information, please visit my publisher’s homepage:
McFarland – The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces

Samples and excerpts can be read via Google Books:
Google Books – The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces

The book is available as e-book and paperback from every established retailer. American readers can purchase it from the following sites, for example:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

British readers may purchase it from:
Blackwells
Eurospan

German readers can get a signed copy from IFFMA Shop:
IFFMA Shop

More news will be posted as reviews come in. Stay tuned!

After three years of work, my new book, The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces, will be published this summer by McFarland.

For over 40 years, dozens of directors, writers and producers have tried to adapt John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic A Confederacy of Dunces. They have all failed. Lawsuits were filed, filming locations destroyed, friendships shattered, reputations trashed, production companies bankrupted.

This book tells the unbelievable-yet-true story of the un-making of A Confederacy of Dunces as a breathless and absurdist thriller. The stars include celebrities such as John Belushi, Steven Soderbergh, Stephen Fry, Pedro Almodóvar, Robin Williams, Warren Beatty and Harvey Weinstein among many others.

With exclusive interviews, internal documents, and excerpts from private correspondence, I shed a light on the turbulent production history of a film that was never meant to be. For the first time, a detailed account of a doomed project is made public. It features passionate oil magnates, abusive Hollywood executives, an interfering uber-mother, and struggling artists on the verge of a nervous breakdown

On the 21st of October 2021 I will give a masterclass at the Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Titled How a Business Frustrates its Minors, it will focus on the issues and challenges as experienced by composers working in media:

„As editor-in-chief of film music magazine Cinema Musica and producer for the record label Caldera Records Stephan Eicke has noticed how composers working in media have started to voice their concerns about their working conditions. Via exclusive interview excerpts with composers such as Mychael Danna and Marco Beltrami, he will discuss in his masterclass the increased pressure on creatives, decreasing payments, the stress that comes with digital editing, and the necessity to work with ghost writers in order to get a job done in time.“

For more information, please visit the homepage of the Film Festival Ghent.

On the 29th of May, I will give a live online workshop entitled Nobody Needs Music – How Sound Design Can Help Tell a Story.

Where does music stop and sound design start? Excerpts and examples from films such as Come and See, Eraserhead and The Conversation show how music and sound design can work together to help tell a story, and how a close collaboration between composer and sound designer can enhance the viewing experience.
Via exclusive interviews with artists such as Walter Murch, this master class highlights how sound design can even replace music to enhance the viewing experience by supplying the emotions and moods necessary.

For more information – and to get your ticket – please click here: Workshop

For MediaSoundHamburg, I write a monthly column, highlighting and analysing the collaboration between acclaimed filmmakers and their composers. You can read the interviews by clicking on the links below:

Werner Herzog & Ernst Reijseger – Part I
Interview with Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog & Ernst Reijseger – Part II
Interview with Ernst Reijseger

Werner Herzog & Ernst Reijseger – Part III
Analysis

Mike Leigh & Andrew Dickson & Gary Yershon – Part I
Interview with Mike Leigh

In the middle of January 2021, Conrado Xalabarder interviewed me about my book, The Struggle Behind the Soundtrack, for MundoBSO. The 50-minute conversation (in English) is now archived on YouTube.

For more information about my book, click here: The Struggle Behind the Soundtrack