Fifty years after the novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the documentary Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird by Mary McDonagh Murphy explores the phenomenon that To Kill a Mockingbird became. The film unravels some of the mysteries surrounding the life of writer Harper Lee, including why she never published again and her tumultuous friendship with Truman Capote.
Opening in limited release in major cities in mid-May, Hey, Boo will receive an exclusive Long Beach engagement at The Found Theatre, 599 Long Beach Blvd., on Friday, May 27 and Saturday, May 28 at 8pm, and Sunday, May 29 at 3pm. Tickets are $8. Movie refreshments, beer and wine will be available.Â
Harper Lee’s first and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird became an instant classic when it was published in 1960, and the film version starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch won a trio of Academy Awards. It is still required reading in most classrooms and sells nearly a million copies every year.
Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird chronicles how Lee was able to write such a work, the context and history of the Deep South where it is set, Lee’s family background, and the social change the novel inspired after its publication.
Tom Brokaw, Rosanne Cash, Wally Lamb, Anna Quindlen, Richard Russo, Scott Turow, Oprah Winfrey, Andrew Young and others reflect on the novel’s power, influence, and popularity, and the many ways it has shaped their lives and careers.
Although Lee has not given an interview since 1964, Mary McDonagh Murphy’s reporting, research and rare interviews with the author’s friends and 99-year-old sister Alice add new details and never-before-seen documents and photos of the Mockingbird phenomenon. Many speak on the record for the first time ever, sharing intimate recollections, anecdotes, and biographical details. Murphy is an independent filmmaker and the author of Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of To Kill a Mockingbird, published by Harper Collins. She was a producer for CBS News for 20 years, where she won six Emmy Awards.
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