Boy Wonder (Valancourt 20th Century Classics)

<p>Told in the form of interviews with those who knew and hated him this hilarious and irreverent mockumentary recounts the rise and fall of notorious Hollywood producer Shark Trager. As a young man Shark had dreams of directing artistic movies but when his film school project is savaged by a snobby French critic Shark turns instead to producing exploitative trash the more shocking and outrageous the better. Fueled by a nonstop supply of sex and drugs Shark’s life and work become increasingly bizarre and erratic. Yet we meet a different side of Shark too as we learn how he saved a group of Sunday school teachers held hostage by terrorists prevented a horrific attack on Nancy Reagan by a sex-crazed donkey and single-handedly took out a squad of dangerous neo-Nazis posing as disabled schoolchildren. It all leads up to a wild and explosive finale when against all odds one of Shark’s films finds itself a contender for the Academy Awards—but the ceremony doesn’t go exactly according to plan ...</p><p>Riotously funny wickedly politically incorrect and completely impossible to put down James Robert Baker’s satire of the film industry <em>Boy Wonder</em> (1988) long revered as a cult classic returns to print at last in this new edition which includes an afterword by his partner Ron Robertson.</p><p>“[A]mphetamine-drenched violence-riddled sex-steeped . . . an exhilarating read.” — John Keilman <em>Chicago Tribune</em></p><p>“Wild invention bizarre plot twists . . . a raunchy funny savvy tale.”  — <em>Kirkus Reviews</em><br /> </p>