Authoring Hal Ashby: The Myth of the New Hollywood Auteur, by Aaron Hunter

Abstract

Aaron Hunter’s Authoring Hal Ashby: The Myth of the New Hollywood Auteur is one of a growing number of titles aiming to reassess the origins and constitution of the New Hollywood canon. Hunter’s subject is Hal Ashby, a director who worked with many of the New Hollywood era’s key themes and personnel throughout his career yet has never comfortably fit into canonical accounts of the period. Central to Hunter’s argument is his claim that Ashby’s marginality to historical accounts of the New Hollywood stems from the director’s personal disavowal of the auteur mantle, choosing instead to continually praise the contributions of his collaborators.

Keywords

• new hollywood
• hal ashby