TMC
02-05-2017, 11:58 PM
https://lebeauleblog.com/2017/02/05/february-5-happy-birthday-michael-mann-and-christopher-guest/
Posted by jestak2
On a day with many distinguished names, our headliners are a pair of prominent writer-directors.
Michael Mann turns 74 today. He began working on directing commercials while attending graduate film school in London, and also made a short film called Jaunpuri. He returned to the US in the 1970s and worked as a writer on crime series like Starsky and Hutch and Police Story, before making a TV movie called The Jericho Mile in 1979. He followed with his first feature film, Thief, starring James Caan as a master burglar, in 1981.
Thief set the pattern for much of Mann’s career—the core of his filmography has been realistic, intense urban crime dramas of various sorts. His specific subjects have varied: he has made films about heist artists or crews (Thief, Heat), serial killers and the Feds hunting them (Manhunter, adapted from Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon), urban cops battling drug trafficking (the film and TV series Miami Vice), hit men (Collateral), Depression-era bank robbers (Public Enemies), and hackers (Blackhats). Most of these films have plenty of potent action, but also quieter drama and character development.
iNyAgN48FQo
Mann has at times ventured beyond crime films, with considerable success. The Last of the Mohicans is a surprisingly romantic costume drama/adventure film. The Insider is essentially a docudrama about a 60 Minutes investigation of the tobacco industry. Mann has also made a biopic about Muhammad Ali (Ali), and produced one about Howard Hughes (The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese). He received three Oscar nominations for The Insider—for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay—and a fourth as producer of The Aviator.
Posted by jestak2
On a day with many distinguished names, our headliners are a pair of prominent writer-directors.
Michael Mann turns 74 today. He began working on directing commercials while attending graduate film school in London, and also made a short film called Jaunpuri. He returned to the US in the 1970s and worked as a writer on crime series like Starsky and Hutch and Police Story, before making a TV movie called The Jericho Mile in 1979. He followed with his first feature film, Thief, starring James Caan as a master burglar, in 1981.
Thief set the pattern for much of Mann’s career—the core of his filmography has been realistic, intense urban crime dramas of various sorts. His specific subjects have varied: he has made films about heist artists or crews (Thief, Heat), serial killers and the Feds hunting them (Manhunter, adapted from Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon), urban cops battling drug trafficking (the film and TV series Miami Vice), hit men (Collateral), Depression-era bank robbers (Public Enemies), and hackers (Blackhats). Most of these films have plenty of potent action, but also quieter drama and character development.
iNyAgN48FQo
Mann has at times ventured beyond crime films, with considerable success. The Last of the Mohicans is a surprisingly romantic costume drama/adventure film. The Insider is essentially a docudrama about a 60 Minutes investigation of the tobacco industry. Mann has also made a biopic about Muhammad Ali (Ali), and produced one about Howard Hughes (The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese). He received three Oscar nominations for The Insider—for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay—and a fourth as producer of The Aviator.