Nick McLean Behind the Camera

Nick McLean was one of the most acclaimed camera operators in American cinema of the 1970s, during which time he shot many classics of the New Hollywood movement including McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Heaven Can Wait, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Marathon Man, and Being There. As a cinematographer throughout the 1980s, McLean would film blockbusters such as Cannonball Run II, City Heat, The Goonies, and Short Circuit before being lured into television to photograph some of the biggest shows in town, including Evening Shade, Cybill, and the pop culture phenomenon Friends, for which he was thrice Emmy-nominated. This candid biography takes readers on an entertaining journey through five decades of Hollywood filmmaking, detailing McLean’s personal and professional relationships with some of the biggest film stars and directors in Hollywood (such as Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, John Travolta, Paul Newman, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, and Mel Brooks) while delivering a behind-the-scenes look at some revered classics and beloved blockbusters of American film and television.

Wayne Byrne is an Irish author and film historian. He has written on film and music culture for a variety of notable publications and on subjects such as Tom DiCillo, Burt Reynolds, Nick McLean, Elm Street, and Walter Hill. Nick McLean is an Emmy Award-nominated cinematographer and former camera operator whose credits include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Deer Hunter, Sharky’s Machine, The Goonies, Short Circuit, Cybill, and Friends. He lives in Malibu, California.

Wayne Byrne and Nick McLean

Foreword by Michael D. O’Shea

Afterword by Nicolas S. McLean

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 189
Bibliographic Info: 104 photos, filmography, index
Copyright Date: 2020
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7783-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3893-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments v
Foreword by Michael D. O’Shea 1
Introduction by Nick McLean 5
Framing New Hollywood 7
Behind the Blockbusters 72
Framing Friends and Farewell to Film 136
The Quiet Men: Two Afterwords 158
Ireland, Week 1, by Nicolas S. McLean (aka Nick Jr.)  158
Ireland, Week 2, by Nick McLean (aka Nick Sr.)  167
The Nick McLean Filmography 175
Index 177

• Winner, Best New Cinema Book—Book Authority

• “Outstanding…Movie fans are in for a serious treat with Nick McLean: Behind the Camera, which is unquestionably one of the film books of the year. …compellingly explores McLean’s fascinating career… For film fans, this has to be the top of the lockdown reading list”—Hot Press