But What I Really Want to Do is Direct

My First Picture Shows: 19651971
A memoir based on the intimate journals of the great American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian Peter Bogdanovich.

A final gift from the great American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian, Peter Bogdanovich, a memoir based on intimate journals and charting his apprentice years leading up to the making of his iconic, Oscar-nominated film, The Last Picture Show.

Peter Bogdanovich liked to say “I was born. And then I liked movies.” As a director, he soared to fame, becoming one of Hollywood’s most revered directors of the 1970s, channelling his passion for Golden Age cinema into beloved films such as What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon and becoming a central figure in the New Hollywood movement.

First, however, came his apprentice years as a young New York film critic who took the gamble t