It seems that everyone in Hollywood is either talking about Paramount's upcoming 100th anniversary or giving out another award bearing the name of legendary director Cecil B. DeMille. Well get ready for the close-up because award-winning author and screenwriter Robert Hammond just released his latest novel entitled "C. B. DeMille: The Man Who Invented Hollywood.”
In this novelization of the beginnings of director Cecil B. DeMille's film career starting as a failed stage actor in the early 1900's, Hammond reveals the director’s early family life in New York City, his relationship with his wife and young daughter and exposes his evident character flaws. In the book the reader will discover the origins of the then burgeoning film industry and what led DeMille to leave New York for a little-known southern California town called Hollywoodland, to follow his new calling as a film director.
Once out west, DeMille, along with Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky, form 'Famous Players-Lasky Corporation' later changed to 'Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation' the forerunner to Paramount Pictures Studios. Hammond’s lightning-paced novel highlights the great filmmaker's Hollywood odyssey of excess, infidelity, redemption and reverence, leading to the most celebrated figure in entertainment history and the "Greatest Showman on Earth." Hammond's previous book, "Ready When You Are: Cecil B. DeMille's Ten Commandments for Success" (New Way Press) was also released last month.
The book is already making waves in Hollywood and an adaptation of the novel is in development as an epic biopic by producers Brandon Pender and Gabrielle Evans-Fields with author Hammond set to write the first draft of the screenplay. The producers are currently in the process of attaching A-List talent to this groundbreaking endeavor that is scheduled to be released by early 2014.
