“After devouring Jungle Red! in two sittings, I’m here to say that the multitalented Illeana Douglas was born to write about the making of one of the all-time funniest, bitchiest, wisest, most enjoyable movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Jungle Red! brims with the wit, intelligence, knowhow, self-assurance, and high style the subject deserves. It’s impressively researched, empathetic, amusingly reported, jam-packed with delicious gossip, and it assigns blame and lavishes credit on all the right parties—the playwright, the screenwriters, the director, the producer, the cast, the studio, the sexist culture in which it was created, the works. I’m guessing that any fan of The Women will savor this book’s intrigues, revelations, and delicious indulgences. Consider it the literary equivalent of the film's high caloric Pancakes Barbara.”

~Stephen Rebello, author of Criss-Cross – Making Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train

“From recounting the firing of F. Scott Fitzgerald as the script writer and the pressure on Oscar-winning director George Cukor to keep his homosexuality a secret, and detailing the bitchiest conflicts between the all-female cast, Illeana Douglas has crafted a hilarious book on the making of The Women. The result is a spicy tale of how the meanest behavior behind the scenes led to a beloved, timeless classic. It made me miss old Hollywood.”

~Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book

“If a major studio film was directed by a known homosexual, had an entirely female cast, and was made in 1939, one would assume it was decades ahead of its time, politically correct, and (excuse the expression) ‘woke.’ Illeana Douglas’ Jungle Red! puts that idea to rest with this thoroughly addictive deep dive into Hollywood bitchiness at its most hilarious.”

~Amy Heckerling, writer/director, Clueless

“Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women is a triumph of guilty pleasure storytelling. The cast of characters, from Clare Boothe Luce to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Chaplin, Selznick, and George Cukor, Adrian, Cedric Gibbons, and feuding costars Norma Shearers and Joan Crawford—all part of what Douglas has discovered is Hollywood’s greatest untold soap opera.”

~Ben Mankiewicz, host, Turner Classic Movies

“I relished every word of this spectacular book. It’s a subject dear to my heart, painstakingly researched and beautifully told by a real Hollywood insider. A treasure.”

~Isaac Mizrahi, Performer/Designer

"The most juicy book ever, but the best kind of juice: pithy and pulpy and real and utterly satisfying!”

~Alan Cumming, Emmy and Tony award-winning actor/filmmaker

“How has there not been a movie about the making of The Women? Illeana Douglas' behind-the-scenes chronicle is as wickedly fun as the film itself. Hey, Ryan Murphy, you might want to put Illeana on speed-dial.”

~Mo Rocca, CBS Sunday Morning

“Shearer! Crawford!! Russell!!! Cukor!!!! Adrian!!!!! It’s a pleasure to report that Illeana Douglas’ Jungle Red!, her forensic inquiry into the film’s difficult production, is every bit as entertaining, not to mention funny, as the movie itself.”

~Scott Eyman, author of Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face

“Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women is a treasure trove of facts, dish and most of all insight into one of the screen’s great comedies. Illeana Douglas explores every facet of the film’s production; writing, direction, casting and filming. What a cast of characters! Among them F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Cukor, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell, each of them drawn with respect, sensitivity and wit. This is a welcome addition to any classic film aficionado’s bookshelf.”

~Charles Busch, actor/playwright, Die, Mommie, Die!

"I once had a brief reputation for being a ‘woman’s director,’ until someone had the bright idea to let women tell their own stories. George Cukor had no such luck and from Douglas’s meticulously researched and entertaining book, I learned being known as a ‘lion tamer to the ladies’ came at a painful cost. What might Gone With the Wind have been like had Clark Gable not fired him for that very reputation?”

~Griffin Dunne, actor, director, bestselling author of The Friday Afternoon Club

“Bold and fun and meticulously researched! Reading Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women you feel like a fly on an MGM soundstage wall, transported back to that iconic year in film - 1939. Told with the unique insight of an actress writing about actresses. Did I mention it’s also as gossipy and entertaining and unexpectedly moving as the film itself? Jungle Red! is the book classic movie lovers didn’t know they needed.”

~Steven Rogers, screenwriter, I, Tonya

“The only thing more fun than watching The Women, the classic 1939 all-star, all-female bitchfest, is poring through Illeana Douglas’ book Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women. Researched with the thoroughness of Joan Crawford smoking in a bathtub, the riveting read takes you behind the bon mots and into the old-school Hollywood machine, detailing how it turned a fabulous bunch of Luce women into one of the most lacerating comedies of all time. Best of all, the book reminds us that being a bitch isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For me, that’s potentially life saving!”

~Michael Musto, entertainment columnist

“In Jungle Red!, Illeana Douglas offers incisive insight into the making of the classic 1939 film The Women, providing readers with a valuable addition to the literature on Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age.’”

~Howard Gutner, author of Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years 1928-1941

“Everyone associated with the production of this beautifully made movie that was ahead of its time would be thrilled to see what a wonderful job Douglas has done in setting The Women in its rightful place as one of MGM’s very best movies.”

~Jeanine Basinger, AFI Trustee and author of A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women 1930-1960

“Illeana has a big, enthusiastic, energetic presence and when she starts talking about movies, the room almost cannot contain her.”

~Ink Magazine

MAJOR PROMO POINTS

This year is the 30th anniversary of the 1996 feature film GRACE OF MY HEART. Directed by Allison Anders, it stands as a heartfelt salute to the Brill Building songwriters of the early to mid-1960s (including Carole King, around which much of this is based) and it remains a definitive and tour de force role for our author Illeana Douglas. Given this film's strong focus on women artists, there will be many occasions to draw connection between this beloved film (now a “cult classic,” and primed for critical reassessment) and the film at the center of this new book, 1939's The Women (revolutionary at the time for featuring over 135 women parts in the film – even the featured pet dogs in the film were female).

GRACE OF MY HEART movie trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOhOiFpZJ78 

THE WOMEN (original 1939 movie trailer) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8WsqaN4izs

While the film is crucially focused on the experience of women in Hollywood at the time, it is also notable for being shaped by three men (producer Hunt Stromberg, costume designer Adrian, and “woman's director" George Cukor) who all have been shown over time to have struggled with homosexuality while working in the motion picture industry. Given the tenor of our times, this is a book that speaks to the concerns and accomplishments of all in showbiz (and in this divided nation).

Media Opportunities

Broadcast and Print

The Associated Press, The Atlantic (19.5M readers), The New York Times (134.9M readers), National Review (2M readers), The Daily Beast (8.9M readers), The Wall Street Journal (26.4M readers), NPR, HuffPost (14.2M readers), The Washington Post (30.4M readers), etc.

Podcasts

All the Books Podcast (100K listeners), The New York Times Book Review Podcast, The Reading Life Podcast, London Review Bookshop Podcast (100K listeners), Book Talk Etc. Podcast (10K listeners), Books Are My People Podcast (8.7M downloads), Fun for All Ages (FFAA) with Frank Santopadre, You Must Remember This (500K listeners), The Bob Lefsetz Podcast (100K listeners), Unspooled w/Amy Nicholson and Paul Scheer (500K listeners), etc.

Previous Coverage

BookPleasures.com (3K readers)

http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/9909/1/Exploring-Connecticuts-Cinematic-Tapestry-An-Interview-with-Illeana-Douglas/Page1.html

The Hartford Courant (869K readers)

https://www.courant.com/2023/09/25/hollywoods-long-love-affair-with-connecticut-including-one-definitely-haunted-location/

Newtown Bee (26.2K readers) 

https://images.burrelles.com/image/U2FsdGVkX1_Vfh6s4t3aYfGF-a0xN1cA4_6sg1wi2Z-O4AvIdWp6Og

New Haven Register (344K readers)

https://images.burrelles.com/image/U2FsdGVkX1-QwjK1KVxioMKBchM6nO9quEsniXAs95LA5i2cwfLllg

WTNH (2.1M audience)

https://www.wtnh.com/on-air/nyberg/nyberg-book-explores-connecticuts-role-in-movies/

Robert Bellissimo at the Movies

https://youtu.be/NQLaOlu2wMo

WNPR

https://images.burrelles.com/image/U2FsdGVkX19phCvCriTfIdLL5W1udr_3cbKKaoww3JS4qy0WoEJ95Q

BETA – Wisconsin Public Radio

https://www.wpr.org/swimmer-stepford-wives-illeana-douglas-explores-connecticut-cinema

Shelf Awareness (58K readers)

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=4599#m61785

06880

https://06880danwoog.com/2023/11/25/roundup-pop-up-rock-photos-connecticut-movies-thanksgiving-volunteers/amp/

Beyond the Red Carpet 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy9PxS8VPnA

Record Journal (1.8M readers)

https://images.burrelles.com/image/U2FsdGVkX1_WF-Ri-HTriSBcZwPGoKRSmzc0B8D1I5evDden1Fi9-w

The Sunday Republican

https://images.burrelles.com/image/U2FsdGVkX182AnNoIgivSUDOY6XYIuv3reX41KODULYxzlBugm0ppg

Kent Memorial Library

https://www.kentmemoriallibrary.org/connecticut-in-the-movies-author-talk-with-illeana-douglas/

The Criterion Collection 

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8347-december-books

The Craig Ferguson Podcast, Joy

https://omny.fm/shows/joy-a-podcast-hosted-by-craig-ferguson/illeana-douglas

The Gary and Kenny Show

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/illeana-douglas-movies-matter/id1523714904?i=1000642985583

Good Day Orange County

https://www.gooddayorangecounty.com/its-love-and-war-but-mostly-love-with-francine-brokaw/

Above the Line

https://abovetheline.com/2024/02/08/ileana-douglas-connecticut-interview/

Classic Conversations Podcast 

https://jeffisfunny.com/2024/02/305-illeana-douglas-discusses-connecticut-in-the-movies/