“I love hearing what could have been,” Charlotte author talks about new book about Hollywood icon Bruce Willis – Queen City News

CHARLOTTE, NC (NEWS FROM QUEEN CITY) — “I have a really hard time enjoying a movie,” laughed Sean O’Connell when asked how he views films after spending more than a decade reviewing them and getting to the core of what makes them successful or not.

“I find it very difficult,” he continued, sitting in front of his computer, where he spent four years writing three books on the subject that he says made him what he is: the film industry.

He was surrounded by two walls filled from top to bottom with DVDs, Blu-rays, box sets of obscure television shows, and memorabilia he had collected from the hundreds of press tours he had been on.

The films he collects – films that have influenced him – now also include three books in which his name appears in the author line.

“I wrote three books in a row, that’s a mistake! You should never do that again!”

If the name Sean O’Connell sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve already signed up for CinemaBlendof which he is the managing director.

Or you have checked out his podcast ReelBlend with his co-hosts Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy, where they interview the biggest Hollywood stars and directors.

Since 2021, however, Sean has taken on a new role: Published Author which attempted to highlight and contextualize some of the special moments of cinema and its creators.

About this passion he said: “I like to hear what could have been or perhaps never would have been.”

Before he became aware of any of these titles, Sean was just a young man living in the Carolinas who loved movies.

“I was a reader and lived in video stores,” he said, describing his youth. “I’m just a fan of storytelling and film is my preferred medium for what I really love to do.”

For a film fan, the Carolinas were the perfect place to grow up, as cinematic moments were filmed along the beaches to the mountains.

“Having grown up here and knowing how many of the films were shot in this area, I appreciate the depth of storytelling and the beauty this place offers for visual storytelling.”

As he grew older, he began to refine his art of evaluating films, not just by labeling something “good” or “bad,” but rather by looking at what makes the films what they are.

He wrote reviews for online blogs and websites, which gave him access to exclusive press screenings and ultimately led him to where he is today.

When we spoke to Sean, he told us he’s trying to keep things casual.

For him, on the other hand, it was easy to complete a long list of film premieres in New York, attend press screenings for upcoming films like “Trap” or “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and prepare for interviews with the stars and directors of those films.

“I try not to stop and think about what I have already accomplished,” he said when asked if his current calling ever seems realistic.

In 2021, Sean decided to challenge himself by telling the story behind one of the most breathtaking and uplifting moments in Hollywood: the canceled Zack Snyder cut of The Justice League.

The topic would form the basis for his first book, “Release The Snyder Cut,” a reference to the hashtag that emerged after director Zack Snyder dropped out of the Justice League films.

Snyder and his family were deeply saddened by the unexpected death of his daughter Autumn.

Warner Bros. then asked another director to help complete the film, which resulted in a major overhaul of the narrative structure originally planned by Zack.

This led to loud demands from fans that Zack Snyder be allowed to finish and release his version of the film.

“We’ve been following the Snyder Cut story on CinemaBlend for years, wondering if we’d ever get to see this legendary cut of this lost film,” Sean explained.

He began interviewing people in the industry to find out not only what had happened, but also the story behind the film’s mythos.

“It wasn’t just about the struggle to get the actual movie out, but also about how fans were advocating for suicide prevention, raising money and raising awareness because Zack Snyder brought a personal aspect to it. I thought, ‘There’s a lot more going on here’… I kept digging and digging and digging and digging and putting all this stuff together, and then I realized I think I have a template for a book.”

On March 1, 2021, Sean’s book “Release the Snyder Cut” hit stores.

In 2022, he quickly wrote With Great Power, a detailed account based on interviews about the making of the various Spider-Man film adaptations.

That same year, however, he decided to devote himself to a subject: an actor he had never been able to interview and probably never would: Bruce Willis.

“Apart from Harrison Ford, I can’t think of a modern movie star who can change gears as often as Bruce Willis and still get the audience to follow him.”

In 2022, the actor, who has appeared in over 100 films, announced his retirement from the film industry due to frontotemporal dementia.

Soon, Sean had written 288 pages that would summarize Bruce Willis’s role in the film industry and in a medium that Sean loved his entire life.

“Bruce is one of those actors that we all know and love since childhood, and I wanted to step back and make this, in some ways, an analysis of his career.”

Sean has seen all of Bruce Willis’ films, including his favorite, Die Hard.

He studied the actor’s career through film successes and flops as well as the actor’s approach to studios and the industry as a whole.

Although Willis is an actor Sean has only seen briefly before, he is an artist whose legacy Sean learns something from in every scene.

“I learned to appreciate their craft more than other artists,” he explained.

Bruce Willis: The cinematic legacy of an indestructible Hollywood icon was released on June 11.