I Blame Dennis Hopper

In 1969, Illeana Douglas' parents saw the film Easy Rider. Like many folks of that generation, the groundbreaking film transformed them. Taking Dennis Hopper's words, "That's what it's all about man", to heart, they abandoned what Illeana had hoped would be her comfortable upper middle class life for a childhood filled with hippies, goats, free spirits, and free love. Illeana writes, "Since it was all out of my control, I began to think of my life as a movie, with a Dennis Hopper like father at the center of it. Years later I would work with Dennis Hopper on the film Search and Destroy. I couldn't wait to meet him, so I could blame him for everything that had ever happened to me. Instead I had the same transformational experience. How did I get here? "What's it all about man?" I would soon learn from Dennis Hopper himself.

I Blame Dennis Hopperis a testament to the power of art, the tenacity of passion, and the profound effect of how one movie can change our destiny. Douglas writes with crackling humor about her struggle accepting her hippie upbringing. Hoping a good Liza impression might land her a musical, or how Rudy Valley taught her the meaning of being a show biz trouper.

While visiting her grandfather and mentor (Two Time Academy Award-winning actor Melvyn Douglas) on set of Being There, and Ghost Story she decides to go into the family business. Show business! Discovered for her blood-curdling scream in The Last Temptation of Christ, to starring in films with the likes of Robert DeNiro, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke. She's worked with directors from Martin Scorsese, Gus Van Sant, and Allison Anders and learned from masters, Joseph Mankiewicz and John Frankenheimer, to ultimately becoming an award winning writer director and producer in her own right with Easy to Assemble.

I Blame Dennis Hopperis a love letter to movies and filmmaking. Douglas writes from the perspective of being the ultimate movie fan, sometimes forgetting she is in the movie she is writing about. She's both the narrator telling you about her experiencesinthe movies, but also outsidethem, sitting next to you on the couch, exclaiming aren't these people fascinating? Yes! Marlon Brando did say that. Every page is crowded with hilarious anecdotes, bizarre coincidences, and fateful meetings that seem like they are, well right out of a plot of a movie with Dennis Hopper of course to blame for every glorious moment.