HOW TO COME ALIVE WITH NORMAN MAILER explores the rollercoaster life of America’s most controversial and bestselling author of the 20th century, Norman Mailer. Propelled by his tremendous ego and contrarian spirit, Mailer’s ceaseless visibility in the public eye lasted six decades, during which he had six tumultuous marriages, nine beloved children, 11 bestsellers, three arrests, and two Pulitzer Prizes. Prophet, hedonist, violent criminal, literary outlaw and social provocateur, Mailer’s ideas about love, anger, fear and courage cut to the core of human nature and are more relevant than ever today — and point to a prescription for waking ourselves up, shaking free of society’s expectations, and coming alive as a people.
The first project with full access to Mailer’s family and their archive, the film unearths a treasure trove of intimate and never-before-seen footage, outtakes, audio recordings and interviews from throughout his life. Mailer lays himself bare, foibles and all. As a lover, fighter, rabble-rouser, and perhaps the last true American public intellectual, he seeks most of all to become a bolder, better human being and encourages us to do the same — to think adventurously, speak fearlessly, and care less about the response — or risk a doomed future.
“An ingenious structure that avoids hagiography even as it includes friends and family… A model for how to reimagine a standard documentary structure to accommodate a multifaceted subject without smoothing over the rough spots and slapping on a halo… Zimbalist hits on a great idea: arrange the film in terms of what Mailer’s friends, enemies and acquaintances believe his ‘rules for coming alive’ might be. The author’s life and legacy can thus be traced through those rules, and his evolution as a person — and he did evolve, constantly, insatiably — starts to make more sense. ” —Alissa Wilkinson, NYT Critic’s Pick, New York Times “HOW TO COME ALIVE WITH NORMAN MAILER holds surprises even for Mailer fans. Yet as much as Mailer, with his braggadocio and heady male swagger, may not seem like he fits snugly into this day and age, I strongly suspect that if you’re a young person who’s a reader and you’ve never read a word that Norman Mailer wrote and you saw this movie, you’d be looking up one of his volumes within a day. And if you started to read it, you’d have the sensation that so many of us have had. You’d be hooked.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety
