Everything is Copy

If you’ve been following Book Barmy, you know of my admiration for Nora Ephron.  I professed my devotion to her in this POST.

Last night I watched a wonderful award winning documentary about her life called Everything is Copy – trailer HERE.

This quiet but powerful film, had me glued to the screen, an extended visit with this beloved author, journalist, and screenwriter.  The film was written, directed and is narrated by her son Jacob Bernstein (her son from her marriage to the infamous Carl Bernstein).

Everything is Copy celebrates her writings, films, family, marriages and her many many friends. Nora is portrayed as smart, funny, urbane and sometimes insensitive and controlling  (“she always had a razor in her back pocket”).

Her ex-husband (Carl Bernstein) speaks of her with guarded warmth and sisters Delia and Amy (also authors) speak of Nora with cautionary admiration.

It seems her friends and colleagues were her true family — her true admirers. Nora was everyone’s favorite party host and dinner guest (I knew it!)— she purposely surrounded herself with smart, influential literary and Hollywood notables.

There are cameo appearances by literary icons such as Gay Talese, Victor Navasky, Liz Smith and Marie Brenner (Marie is deliciously filmed in front of her personal library).  Nora was schoolmates with Barry Diller and close friends with Mike Nichols and Bob Gottlieb.

Nora’s essays are read by a range of celebrities including Meryl Streep, Resse Witherspoon and a odd looking Meg Ryan (she’s had work done – badly, in my opinion.)

There are snippets of Nora’s interviews from an early talk with Dick Cavett to a more recent interview with Charlie Rose.  Old color film of New York City brings to life her early, exciting days at The Post.

Her illness and death are given much import to this documentary.  The fact that Nora had openly shared her life (and sometimes others’ lives) but kept her illness a secret for years, was a shock to her circle of close friends and colleagues.  They express their bewilderment, and sometimes anger, that Nora kept this information from them.  But in the end, the film draws the conclusion that her illness was her personal business and her choice to keep it a secret, was perhaps because it was the one thing she couldn’t control.

The film ends with a reading of her essay Things I Will Miss , written in her final years.  Have some tissues handy.

If you have HBO or Netflicks and, like me, you are a fan of Nora Ephron, put Everything is Copy on your must watch list.