‘Frank Capra’ Author Sam Wasson’s One That Got Away

Sam Wasson has literally written the book on Hollywood — he co-authored Hollywood: The Oral History with film historian Jeanine Basinger — and also books about the people who made Hollywood. Think Audrey Hepburn (Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman) and Francis Ford Coppola (The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story), as well as Robert Evans and Roman Polanski (The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood). 

For his latest work, the Los Angeles-born author turned his keyboard to a quintessential figure in Hollywood’s Golden Age, Frank Capra — the three-time Oscar-winning director and Academy president, who helmed such classics as It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

But the populist poet of the little guy was, offscreen, a lifelong conservative Republican who opposed the New Deal and named names during the Red Scare in the 1950s. Wasson doesn’t pretend to be a fan. “I wouldn’t be hanging out with Frank Capra,” he tells me on Rushfield Lunch. “But it was about the man; the character himself is fascinating — being that he came to Hollywood a poor Italian immigrant and ended up the king of the industry. So what it takes constitutionally, psychologically to do that is fascinating, but it’s not necessarily my idea of a best friend.”

Capra and his family immigrated from Italy to America in 1903, when he was 5, and Wasson’s book captures his story from arriving at Ellis Island through his Hollywood breakthrough in the 1930s. No less an authority than Steven Spielberg, who was greatly influenced by Capra’s work, has called it the “best book about Frank Capra I’ve ever read.”

“Frank was definitely an ego,” Wasson says. “He got off on that power and struggled with the responsibility. What do you say when you have the world’s attention?”

It’s obvious from his movies that Capra had a unique perspective on America and its citizens — Wasson compares him favorably to Charles Dickens, who also shared a love for “human variation.”

“That’s really one of the things that makes Capra so American is that he really sees everyone,” Wasson adds. “Even though his movies have stars like Jimmy Stewart, even the little guys have their moments or their uniqueness. There are no real extras in a Capra movie, you know?”

Wasson’s books on Hollywood frequently draw the attention of those within Hollywood. Ben Affleck had wanted to turn Wasson’s book on Chinatown into a movie. But six years later, those plans have disappeared.

“It was hot for a second, and then it was not hot,” Wasson says. “I think Ben got distracted, from what I understand, and I also think that series about the Godfather (Paramount+’s The Offer) tanked. Hollywood being perpetually fearful, they got scared.”

So that was the end of The Big Goodbye, but if any producers are reading this, Wasson had a note to share: “The rights are available.”