Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!
Ratings10
Average rating3.9
Surely You Can't Be Serious is an in-depth and hysterical look at the making of 1980's comedy classic Airplane! by the legendary writers and directors of the hit film. Airplane! premiered on July 2nd, 1980. With a budget of $3.5 million it went on to make nearly $200 million in sales and has influenced a multitude of comedians on both sides of the camera. Surely You Can’t Be Serious is the first-ever oral history of the making of Airplane! by the creators, and of the beginnings of the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker) – charting the rise of their comedy troupe Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison, Wisconsin all the way to premiere night. The directors explain what drew them to filmmaking and in particular, comedy. With anecdotes, behind the scenes trivia, and never-before-revealed factoids – these titans of comedy filmmaking unpack everything from how they persuaded Peter Graves to be in the movie after he thought the script was a piece of garbage, how Lorna Patterson auditioned for the stewardess role in the back seat of Jerry’s Volvo, and how Leslie Nielsen’s pranks got the entire crew into trouble, to who really wrote the jive talk. The book also features testimonials and personal anecdotes from well-known faces in the film, television, and comedy sphere – proving how influential Airplane! has been from day one. Four decades after its release, Airplane! continues to make new generations laugh. Its many one-liners and visual gags have worked their way into the mainstream culture. This fully organic expansion of the ZAZ trio’s fan-base, prompted solely by word-of-mouth, comes as no surprise to longtime fans. When all around us is in flux – laughter is priceless.
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Surely you can't be serious by David and Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams
This book is all about the movie Airplane! I am not going to lie, I have never seen the movie but this book filled me in on all the magic I missed from not watching it. This book was written by the creators and even after 40 years you can still feel the comedy magic they illicit together. I plan on watching the movie now! 4 stars
I remember watching this movie when I was young, and then the Naked Gun movies. I've always had a weird sense of humor and these movies were hysterical to me.
This was a fun book to read, to see how this movie came to be. I was surprised to see how many hurdles these guys went through before Airplane because a reality. Glad I'm not in show business of any kind.
I appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.
Extremely enjoyable oral history from Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker about the groundbreaking, joke-a-minute Airplane!, including interviews with the stars, bit players, production crew, and current comedians who were influenced by its unique brand of humor. The book also looks back at ZAZ's youth and college days in Wisconsin, where their dream of writing and directing a hit comedy movie flourished despite their lack of knowledge, money, or connections. Their unlikely journey (anyone remember Kentucky Fried Movie?) eventually led to the point where ZAZ were cold calling Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges and other Hollywood drama veterans and begging them to star in their bizarre movie, playing it completely straight while chaos reigned around them. Among the many fun facts I learned from the book: the Paramount studio heads wanted Barry Manilow (!) to play leading man Ted Striker instead of Robert Hays; Shelly Long of Cheers fame auditioned for Elaine's part; and most of the dueling PA announcers' lines were lifted verbatim from Arthur Hailey's blockbuster suspense novel [b:Airport 124918 Airport Arthur Hailey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309288724l/124918.SY75.jpg 120317]. It should be noted that the non-ZAZ interviews were conducted by Will Harris, a former writer for the A.V. Club, whose “Random Roles” columns were highlights of the pop culture site. Sadly, AVC is now a shell of what it used to be because Capitalism, but I relish seeing writers from its heyday securing plum jobs like this one.
