The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982

Blade Runner, E.T., and other early 1980s blockbusters heralded a new era for Hollywood sci-fi, according to this entertaining history. Film critic Nashawaty (Caddyshack) explains how in the aftermath of Star Wars’s 1977 box office success, studios began throwing money at sci-fi and fantasy fare they had previously deemed “corny kids’ stuff,” ushering in a new era of big-budget genre flicks that kicked off in earnest with 1982’s stacked summer schedule. Detailing this sea change through accounts of how eight films released that summer were made, Nashawaty recounts how Steven Spielberg initially wanted a darker tone for E.T. (an early draft featured an evil companion of E.T.’s “who could kill animals with one touch of his long, bony finger”) before taking the film in a more heartwarming direction. Elsewhere, Nashawaty discusses how Ridley Scott took on Blade Runner to distract himself from his brother’s death, and how John Carpenter struggled to shoot The Thing near the Canada-Alaska border because the subzero temperatures shattered camera lenses. Nashawaty’s writing has a propulsive rhythm (he suggests that George Miller wanted The Road Warrior to be “one big vehicular orgy choreographed as skillfully as a Busby Berkeley musical hopped up on cheap trucker speed”) and the behind-the-scenes stories will make readers feel like they’ve stepped on set. This is a blast. Agent: Farley Chase, Chase Literary. (July)