Hollywood Mogul Ari Emanuel Recounts Brutal Truck Accident and Early Life in New Memoir "Roll the Calls"

Hollywood superagent and mogul Ari Emanuel opens up about his high-stakes career, childhood adversity, and a near-fatal pedestrian accident in his new memoir, "Roll the Calls." Published by Knopf, the book offers a candid window into the intense, competitive world of entertainment that Emanuel navigated for decades, alongside personal reflections sparked by a dramatic brush with death on the streets of Los Angeles.

In an excerpt published by CBS News ahead of the book's release, Emanuel recounts an incident from the early summer of 1994. After a grueling morning of rolling calls—speaking to dozens of people about dozens of industry problems—he walked to Kate Mantilini's, a restaurant located on the corner of Doheny and Wilshire, to grab an omelet and review a script. On his walk to the restaurant, Emanuel noted that cars were speeding past unusually fast, remarking to himself that someone could easily get hurt at the intersection.

Approximately half an hour later, after finishing his meal and heading back to the office while preoccupied with work, he returned to the same corner. When the pedestrian signal flashed, he stepped off the curb, only to be struck by the front grille of a black pickup truck. Emanuel describes the physical impact in vivid terms, noting that despite his background as a wrestler, growing up with violent older brothers, and enduring numerous bar and street fights, he had never experienced anything comparable to being hit by a truck.

The collision launched him into the air before he landed on the vehicle's hood and tumbled onto the pavement. Amid the chaos of the crash, Emanuel recalls experiencing a flood of conflicting thoughts and emotions, ranging from fear and loneliness to a peculiar anxiety over how he would manage his professional phone calls while incapacitated. He writes about crashing back down to the pavement as the universe violently embraced him in the form of gravity, leaving him lying in the middle of the road with fluttering eyelids.

Emanuel reflects that his upbringing heavily influenced his worldview, noting that his parents' stories instilled a belief that life is an unyielding struggle akin to a gladiator arena. That harsh perspective shaped his relentless drive through the competitive entertainment landscape, where he built a reputation as one of Hollywood's most formidable power brokers.

The near-death experience also prompted deeper philosophical realizations about time, purpose, and regret. Lying in the street, Emanuel wrestled with feelings of having let anxiety and outside discouragement interfere with his path, confronting the common cliché that life is not a dress rehearsal in a visceral, life-altering way.

"Roll the Calls" is published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House, and is made available in hardcover, large print trade paperback, eBook, and audio formats. The memoir's release is accompanied by media appearances, including an interview with Ben Mankiewicz on CBS Sunday Morning.

For readers following Emanuel's career or interested in memoirs from major entertainment figures, "Roll the Calls" provides a raw look behind the scenes of Hollywood power dynamics while examining the personal costs and pivotal moments that defined the mogul's life and ascent.