Film Forum

“There is no greater impotence in all the world like knowing you are right and that the wave of the world is wrong, yet the wave crashes upon you.”

“The mark of mediocrity is to look for precedent.”

Such were the mantras and motivations, for better or worse, of Norman Mailer—hailed as the new Tolstoy at age 25 with the publication of his first book The Naked and the Dead, author of 11 best-sellers, winner of multiple Pulitzers and a National Book Award, and canonized for some as the last major American public intellectual. Equally infamous — for stabbing his second wife (of six) and ensuing psychiatric treatment, running unsuccessfully for mayor of NYC, antagonizing feminism, and courting Hollywood fame with his directorial flop MAIDSTONE in which he also starred—Mailer’s life and work are compellingly interwoven in this intimate documentary portrait that investigates the literary lion’s spectacular flaws, along with his passion for rigorously staking out unpopular positions. With never-before-seen archival material (including a legendary on-set row involving Mailer, Rip Torn, and a hammer), and interviews with ex-wives, children, and luminaries who knew him including Oliver Stone, John Waters, and James Wolcott.

Presented with support from the Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film

2023     102 MIN.     USA     ZEITGEIST FILMS IN ASSOCIATION WITH KINO LORBER