Product Description

Of all the events in Oprah Winfrey's life, none has affected her powerfully as playing the part of Sethe, the former slave who must come to terms with a haunting past, in Jonathan Demme's film of Toni Morrison's Pulizer Prize-winning novel - coming from Touchstone Pictures in Fall 1998. Oprah fell in love with the book when it was first published in 1988, and instantly became determined to deliver this powerful story to film herself. But making the movie was something even more profound than she might have imagined, and JOURNEY TO THE BELOVED is her own emotional account of that experience.

With Oprah's heartfelt words and the evocative images of Ken Regan, JOURNEY TO THE BELOVED is an elegant book that will interest fans of Oprah, of Toni Morrison, and of fine filmmaking. Accompanying Oprah's personal journals and thoughts about the Beloved experience is a foreword by Jonathan Demme and a chorus of voices, from Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, and Beah Richards. The result is a tribute to a courageous work of art, expressed as only Oprah can express it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1366470 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 165 pages

Amazon.com Review
For almost 10 years Oprah Winfrey has pursued her dream of bringing Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Beloved, to the big screen. Now that dream has been realized, and the process is described in Journey to Beloved. The most extraordinary thing about this production diary, and the essay that prefaces it, is the extent to which it reveals Oprah's private struggles. As director Jonathan Demme writes in the foreword, we all have an image of Oprah as a "Major Public Figure," and one might approach this book, and even the movie, with preconceptions about her. These preconceptions evaporate immediately. She is filled with doubts about her ability to play the central role of Sethe. Surrounded by more experienced moviemakers, from Demme to costar Danny Glover, she worries that she lacks the skill and the strength to carry a project that is so important to her. Oprah obviously feels a deep spiritual connection with the story she is committing to film. This connection, which is shared with the cast and crew of Beloved, comes through clearly in every diary entry:

Tomorrow is the first day of dialogue. Am I ready? I think so. I bring the force and grace of history and pain with me, carrying the Ancestors in my heart, hoping, but also knowing, they, too, carry me.... I ask God for grace, and the power of the spirits whose lives went unnoticed, demeaned and diminished by slavery. Calling on you. Calling on you. I try to prepare in terms of logic, reasoning, what would [Sethe] be thinking--chronologically--but I really believe I can call her up. Her and so many others. I'm counting on them.

Journey to Beloved is filled with wonderful, powerful, black-and-white production images by award-winning photographer Ken Regan. These, and the text that they accompany, lift this book far above anything that could be called a movie tie-in. It is the moving record of a journey from the birth of a dream to its fulfillment. --Simon Leake

From School Library Journal
YA?This personal diary of the making of the film will appeal not only to Oprah fans, but also to film students, history buffs, and Toni Morrison fans. Winfrey chronicles her work in making the film and shares her fears and insecurities as an actress, the emotions she felt dealing with this subject matter, and the pull of outside events as she concentrated on this project. Regan's haunting black-and-white photos capture the powerful images of this film. Reading this book, or even looking at the pictures, may prompt some readers to read Morrison's book or to delve deeper into that dark part of American history dealing with slavery.?Patricia White-Williams, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Oprah Winfrey is an award-winning actress, philanthropist, businesswoman - and world - renowned host of the nation's number-one talk show for the past twelve years. She is chairman of Harpo Entertainment Group, a production company in Chicago, where she lived. Ken Regan is a professional photographer who has traveled extensively throughout the world documenting wars, social conditions, and sporting events. He has worked with Jonathan Demme on a number of films, including The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia.

Customer Reviews

We love Oprah
What needs to be said? The book is great, the movie is great and this book is fabulous because now we can read what Oprah was going through, during the shoot of the movie. Oprah we love you!!

The best of its ilk
I always forget the conventional wisdom about books and the movies they inspire. Are the books always better than the movies (e.g., "Dune", "Lolita") or are the movies always better than the books (i.e., "The Ice Storm", "Ten Commandments"). The people at Hyperion have started a whole new category: Books about the making of a movie from a novel that are better than the movie and the novel themselves. "Journey to Beloved" is a fantastic insightful look (wonderful photos) at (I paraphase Zefferelli here) the transformation of one work of art into another work of art. I admit I wasn't a huge fan of "Beloved" in either form, but this book was a lot of fun nonetheless. I never had to ask myself what was going on--a marked change from my bout with the novel years ago.

THE ULTITMATE BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN SLAVERY
THE STORY OF OPRAH'S DREAM TO WRITE THIS BOOK,BECAME EQUALLY AS IMPORTANT FOR ME TO READ AS IT DID FOR HER TO WRITE.I AM IN AW OF BLACK PEOPLE EVERY WHERE,WHO ARE ABLE TO FEEL THESE FEELING CONCERNING THERE HERATAGE,AND BE ABLE TO TELL THE WORLD IN A BOOK WITH THE LOVE IN WHICH SHE WROTE.I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR EVER SO LONG TO SEE THIS MOVIE,AND HAVE JUST ORDERED THE BOOK.I CANT BELIEVE,MY BOOK WILL MOVE ME AS OPRAHS JOURNAL DID,BUT I CAN HOPE. THANK YOU OPRAH.AUNT GIN