At a time when popular culture embraces the live journal, the special edition DVD documentary and the reality television show, it somehow makes perfect sense that a biography like Sean Astin’s would appear on bookstore shelves.
Cynics might be tempted to dismiss “There and Back Again; An Actor’s Tale ” as merely a literary sidebar to the massive press generated from the “Lord of the Rings ” phenomenon, but such a facile dismissal would be missing the point.
True, Astin’s autobiography (co authored with professional writer Joe Layden) deals with the “Lord of the Rings ” production in detail. Also true is that this book covers the life story of an actor who has not yet reached middle age and whose career is moreover - by his own admission - still evolving. But what we have here is no crass marketing or celebrity vanity project, but something both more, and something less, than either.
Written in a rambling style somewhere between kitchen table confessional and film school diary, “There and Back Again ” in turns informs, entertains and exasperates. The book is at his best whenever Astin attempts a verbal sketch of one of the many interesting people he’s met during his life, a list that includes Steven Spielberg as well as his own parents, veteran actors John and Patty Duke Astin. In these passages the narrative takes on a natural rhythm reminiscent of listening to a friend’s good-natured rant over a pint in a pub. Astin’s storytelling charm is also evident any time he’s sharing anecdotes about his hobbit co-actors and during any of the (unfortunately too rare) lighthearted references to his wife and daughter (especially when recounting the latest sensible, ego-deflating zinger that spouse Christine has aimed his way).
But whenever Astin tackles more serious material, he casts more gloom than light upon his subject. The “angst-lite” approach he affects does occasionally yield compelling narrative, such as when he describes the debilitation of his very first panic attack, or how his mother burst into tears on the phone when he later shared this experience with her (she had suffered from such attacks herself all her life and had hoped her son would be spared). But as Astin crowds too many of the details of his life under a dissection microscope (perhaps in an effort to mine as much significance out of them as possible) and the results tend to be more overwrought than illuminating.
And this relates to the chief consistent weakness of this biography; basically that few of the circumstances of Sean Astin’s life to date justify the solemn (even borderline pompous) treatment that he gives them. Sometimes one might glean a (usually unintended) chuckle or two out of this. But more often then not the chuckles change into groans when the narrative inevitably spills over from being merely silly to being downright laughable (like when Astin bemoans his hard fate of starting married life with “only $80,000” in savings!).
This book will likely also frustrate both those readers seeking a dishy but devoted behind-the scenes account and those looking for a Kitty Kelly-style tell-all. Astin mostly skips over the earlier parts of his career (even his experiences on the now cult-classic “Goonies ” movie, alas). By doing so, readers have deprived of any insights which may have been gleaned from his apparently successful transition from successful child actor to adult. Also, though the title suggests otherwise, less than half of “There and Back Again ” chronicles that other genre project of his known as “Lord of the Rings ”. Fans will likely still enjoy these chapters, but Astin’s treatment is hardly comprehensive and there is little to be found here that has not been disclosed elsewhere previously.
Astin’s account does incorporate some material that will never likely find its way onto any DVD actor’s commentary – namely a view of a less than idyllic cinematic Fellowship. Perhaps had the tales of the extraordinary camaraderie between the cast and crew not achieved the status of legend over the years it would not be so startling when Astin introduces negativity here. For even though Astin is careful to avoid sounding mean-spirited, there’s no getting around the fact that he is committing mild heresy at least (and certainly risking the ire of fan girls & guys) when he characterizes Viggo Mortensen’s political beliefs as “radical” or describes Sir Ian McKellen as someone who unashamedly uses his status as a peer of the realm to filch extra perks and concessions (and once even Sean’s makeup artist) for himself.
And yet the book also never offers up nearly enough “dirt” to make reading it a true guilty pleasure either. Astin, who grew up a child of Hollywood, seems to stubbornly resist the “insider” perspective in writing this book. Instead, he offers up a sort of extended curriculum vitae on himself and the roles he sees himself as playing both onscreen and off. And whether he is playing the journeyman director or the actor, the devoted friend or the family man, the involved citizen or the future politician, two things always seem to be true. Astin sees himself as someone who takes his ideals and commitments seriously. And he expects his readers to do the same.
Astin’s choice of a “pull up by the bootstraps” type tale for his biographical template is also a problem, given that he is a man who has repeatedly credited a supportive family and ample financial resources for many of his accomplishments in life. Were Astin an Oprah or a Bill Clinton and started out lower on the social strata before becoming rich and famous, this angle might have worked. But he’s not – and so instead of being able to chart a meteoric rise from modest roots must settle for discussing irritations and phobias, petty slights and lack of cash, making this actor’s tale read pretty much like a celebrity version of your best buddy’s friend’s live journal
The book is also weakened by the frequent self-analysis and pop psychology that is woven into it. There’s almost a Gollum/Smeagol dualism to the portrait Astin seems to insist on painting of himself: one composed of insecurity coupled with ambition, and struggles with Hollywood politics and body weight, self worth and mortgage payments. If it was the intention of the authors to show our actor as a more complex person than he might have appeared before, they’ve succeeded. Unfortunately, at the end of all things, while readers are left with many more details, they are no closer to understanding the personality of The Man Who Played Samwise than when they started.
In an age when the public may no longer need to look solely to celebrities to get its fix of glamour or controversy (after all, there’s plenty enough of that on American Idol and Survivor!) it is possible that Astin’s book is pioneering something of a new trend. Perhaps in the future all the hippest celebrity biographies will be drafted out of raw materials that are indistinguishable from the kind of stuff regular people post on the net.
But then again… maybe not.
The good news is that “There and Back Again; An Actor’s Tale ” is a sincere, honest account written by a talented actor who – whatever his quirks and foibles – seems a genuinely interesting and nice guy.
The bad is that, hundreds of pages later, readers are still left without a good enough reason as to why we should care.
Your Talkback on this Story