Shadows & Light
Shadows & Light Media Kit
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Shadows & Light / Journeys With Outlaws in Revolutionary Hollywood illuminates the “reel” revolution that started in 1960 with the work of Director John Cassavetes. It is written by writer/director, actor, stuntman, special effects guru, and production manager, Gary Kent. Gary was an officer in this revolution, compiling credits on over one hundred motion pictures and winning several major film awards. Shadows & Light is Gary Kent’s homage to the artistic, talented makers of magic, who began on the bottom of the dog-pile, and today, find themselves on top of the Hollywood heap. The book is filled with memories, reminiscences, inside information, heretofore unknown facts, anecdotes, pictures, etc. accumulated over forty-some years in independent, outrageous, and courageous cinema.
Shadows & Light features stories of Jack Nicholson, Bruce Willis, James Caan, William Shatner, Ann Margret, Penny Marshall, Sonny Barger, and many, many more.
Gary Kent was born among the wheat fields on a ranch in Walla Walla, Washington. Much of his young life was ephemeral, spent doing everything from publicity for the U.S. Naval Air Corps to news reporting in Houston, Texas and performing at the Alley Theatre and the Houston Playhouse. Gary spent 45 years in Tinseltown as a stuntman, actor, writer, director, and special effects wizard. Throughout his career in Hollywood, Kent worked alongside many film greats including Jack Nicholson, Penny Marshall, Brian De Palma, Dick Clark, and William Shatner, et al. Bold, creative, and pioneering, Gary’s body of work reflects his passion for challenging the accepted norms and pushing the limits. In doing so, he and his fellow foot soldiers in the film revolution of the 1960s and 70s helped to change the film-making world forever. Gary Kent wrote and directed five motion pictures that received international distribution and won several major awards. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.
What the World of Film is Saying About Shadows & Light:
“Tripping from the psychedelic 60s to the filmmaker-centric new century, Gary Kent weaves an expertly written and all-true story of the world of movies, with all of the action, actresses, drink, drugs, sex, and creative genius!”
-Don Coscarelli, Producer Director (Bubba Ho-Tep, Phantasm)
“This book is a magic piece of candy, transporting the reader back to earlier days of celluloid Villians and Heroes, where hindsight is 20/20 and artistic license will get you into any game in town.”
-Chuck Bail, iconic actor/director/stuntman, Stuntman’s Hall of Fame
“Magnificent prose that honors an exciting, turbulent time in the art of movie making magic.”
-Paul Lewis, Producer/Production Manager (Easy Rider, Colors)
“Gary Kent gives us an all access backstage pass to the days when filmmaking was poetry, when guys like Jack Nicholson and Warren Oates were working out of offices the size of closets, and craft service was a bologna sandwich. Kent’s memories are intimate and evocative, sliding through your consciousness like a fine wine, leaving the taste of a touching time when movies were really movies-a time in our culture that is missed now more than ever.”
-Esai Morales, award-winning actor (La Bamba, NYPD Blue), Screen Actor’s Guild Board of Directors, Co-founder of National Hispanic Foundation for The Arts
“Gary Kent has either an extraordinary memory or an extraordinary imagination. His experiences on my movies in the 1960s explore a parallel universe of which I was unaware, but, because of his detailed recreation, I accept as accurate and true. It’s a fascinating trip, and a riveting read.”
-Monte Hellman, director and producer (Ride The Whirlwind, The Shooting, Two Lane Blacktop, Reservoir Dogs)
“Gary’s odyssey takes him into the world of A-List Hollywood, Poverty Row impresarios, mad geniuses, doomed starlets and, maybe most compellingly, among the stuntmen, bit-players, horse wranglers, and grips who labor behind the scenes but are no less fascinating than the baby faces who get the big closeups. What a canvas! What a life! What a book!”
-Lars Nilsen, Alamo Drafthouse
“Gary Kent chronicles the subtle birth and growth of a dazzling cinematic style, born from the evolving mindset of its audience. It’s a world I know and Gary got it right! He turns the trick without breaking a sweat, easy reading, like breathing fresh air, yet loaded with brilliant metaphors and insights that make this book meaningful. Very stylish work.”
-Richard Rush, director
“Kent had the acting chops to star in films, the backbone to make a living as a stuntman, and the determination to learn every job on a film set. He and his fellow movie mavericks embarrassed the major studio system by blind siding it with their creativity and originality. Their work can never be marginalized and may never be repeated. Thanks to the revolutionary work they left behind, it will also never be forgotten.”
-Ken Kish, Producer and Owner, Cinema Wasteland Movie Exposition, Cleveland, Ohio







