Choking on Marlon Brando: A Film Critic's Memoir About Love and the Movies

By: Antonia Quirke

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Synopsis: In this witty and bittersweet memoir, the film critic shares her misadventures as a lover of film stars who seeks movie romance in the real world. Antonia Quirke was ten years old when she first saw Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. It was the first film she ever saw, and her reaction was so intense that her parents called an ambulance. So began her lifelong love of movies—an obsession that has brought as much drama and comedy to her actual life as she sees on screen. In Choking on Marlon Brando, Quirke offers a window into her life as a film critic, her unabashed infatuation with male screen idols, and her many real-life romances that never quite make the cut. We learn of her personal ad seeking Tom Cruise, and her bungled interview with Jeff Bridges; the writer boyfriend who never brushed his teeth, and the actor boyfriend whose family showed up nude to a party. Along the way, Quirke provides witty insight into the nature of celebrity, fandom, the movies we all love, and how different they are from reality. “Fans of snappy writing, movie actors and dead-end romance will find Quirke’s book a treat.” —Publishers Weekly