Susan Seidelman is an American film and TV director best known for creating the 80's classic Desperately Seeking Susan. This 'memoir about movies, mothers, and material girls' strikes a great balance between her family life and directing career.
Her NYU Graduate Film School project was noticed by the Academy, and lead to finance for a feature film. Shot on the streets of downtown New York in the late 1970's, Smithereens is a time capsule of an underground artistic world that has disappeared. It was the first low-budget independent American film to ever officially compete for the festivals top prize, the Palme d'Or.
This was at a time when female directors were not being noticed. The only woman she knew of who had directed a film seen in a commercial theater was Elaine May, with The Heartbreak Kid.
Out of the blue, she receives a screenplay by Leora Barish, Desperately Seeking Susan, about a bored New Jersey housewife who reads the newspaper personals, hits her head, and assumes she is the kooky bohemian she reads about. Rosanna Arquette starred with a top cast of New York character actors. Susan was played by a new actress named Madonna, who halfway through filming broke into stardom, causing havoc on the set. Much more than a 'Madonna-movie', Susan rewrote themes of female friendship which "made it an instant feminist classic". Everything from the iconic poster by Herb Ritts and score by Thomas Newman, to the inclusion of Madonna's Into The Groove made this a worldwide hit. There is a lot to like about the back story of its creation and behind the scenes of filming it.
Her next films were the science fiction comedy Making Mr. Right with Ann Magnuson and John Malkovich, the mafia comedy Cookie starring Peter Falk, and She-Devil starring Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr.
Her directing for TV is notable for creation of the first episode of Sex And The City, setting up the series from the look to the fashion, the locations and cast - including an actor as Mr. Big who played a transvestite hooker in Smithereens, Chris Noth.
The 1980's opened the doors for many female directors, such as Penny Marshall's Big, Amy Heckerling's Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Penelope Spheeris' Suburbia, and Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl, who along with Seidelman added a new sensibility to film. This memoir details the times, the projects, and the woman herself, as she builds a family and career. A well rounded and engaging memoir for those who appreciate directors, and the work Seidelman produced.
In 2023, Desperately Seeking Susan was added to the National Film Registry preserved by the United States Library of Congress as a film of cultural and historical significance.
2024 / Hardcover / 368 pages
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