AMC just showed the Graduate. i love this film so much. i wondered how his other films compare. do they have the same feel or style?
what do you recommend?
whos afraid of virginia woolf
carnal knowledge
Catch 22
Silkwood
Biloxi Blues
Carnal Knowledge and Catch 22 are the most underrated films of all time. Both are in my top 20 list. My favorite American version of minimalist directing, doing as much as possible in masters. Or in the case of Carnal, one piece of coverage for a whole scene. Rock on, I love Mike Nichols.
i liked regarding henry, and i thought primary colors was excellent. and then there's birdcage of course, which is just hysterical stuff. nichols is good.
I just saw The Graduate yesterday, and I thought it was a creative and interesting movie. I thought Dustin Hoffman was brilliant and Ann Robinson was wickedly superb in such a detailed movie. I finally realize the movie the Simpson's were referencing (you know, the episode where Marge's mother dates Grandpa Simpson and Mr. Burns??) Overall, I don't know if this movie has stood the test of time, though. I'm sure I didn't see it as shocking as some people in the 70s saw it. It is still a creative and wonderfully acted film.
Also has one of the best cuts in film history (right up there with the 2001 one), when Ben jumps up onto the lilo, and then it cuts to him landing on top of Mrs Robinson.
Quote from: GloriaI just saw The Graduate yesterday, and I thought it was a creative and interesting movie. I thought Dustin Hoffman was brilliant and Ann Robinson was wickedly superb in such a detailed movie. I finally realize the movie the Simpson's were referencing (you know, the episode where Marge's mother dates Grandpa Simpson and Mr. Burns??) Overall, I don't know if this movie has stood the test of time, though. I'm sure I didn't see it as shocking as some people in the 70s saw it. It is still a creative and wonderfully acted film.
I think it's stood the test of time. It's not meant to be shocking...that it ever was was just indicative of the time period. Where its brilliance lies is in the disillusionment and aimlessness of Hoffmans' character, something that's as relatable now as it was when it was first released.
No discussion of Mike Nichosl would be complete without mentioning his masterpiece, What Planet Are You From? Ben Kingsley was robbed at Oscar time for that one, I tell you! Robbed!
that movie did have its funny moments...
'Always one more thing'
Nichols, honored for lifetime achievement, has no plans to stop.
Source: Los Angeles Times
In 1966, Mike Nichols got a Directors Guild of America nomination for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," his feature film debut. His sophomore outing, "The Graduate," won him the award — as well as a best director Oscar.
Over the years, such movie and TV projects as "Silkwood" (1983), "Working Girl" (1988) and last year's critically acclaimed "Angels in America" have reaffirmed his talent.
With an Academy Award, two Emmys, seven Tonys and a shared Grammy (with comic collaborator Elaine May) to his credit, Nichols will become the 30th recipient of the Directors Guild's lifetime achievement award at the Century Plaza Hotel tonight.
Flattering as that is, he says on the phone from London, he can't leave the set of his movie, an adaptation of playwright Patrick Marber's "Closer." With each day of the shoot costing $250,000, he'll be conveying his gratitude on tape. The 72-year-old director took time, however, to reflect: on his professional ups and downs, on his marriage to ABC News interviewer Diane Sawyer, on his legacy and on what really matters.
Question: Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra — the Directors Guild award puts you in some pretty classy company.
Answer: It has an emotional significance, throwing me back to the immense kindness my heroes showed me when I first entered the business. Billy Wilder, for one, lent me his editorial assistant and, since it was too late for breeches and boots, told me to wear windbreakers on the set. He also gave me some brilliant advice: Leave a little string for the pearl instead of making every moment a jewel. I remember the first time I accepted a DGA award. After the host, Walter Matthau, said "And now, for best direction of a feature film: Mike Nichols, '...Virginia Woolf,' " I walked onstage and spoke movingly for three minutes. Then, Matthau called out the second nominee, Fred Zinnemann, who went on to win the award. It was so confusing and beyond embarrassing. The next year, when I did win for "The Graduate," I had the producer, Larry Turman, pick [the statuette] up for me and say, "Mike already thanked you last year."
Q: Was it difficult following up such early success?
A: A week after we arrived in New York, Elaine [May] and I were at the Blue Angel and, within a month, had our own TV hour. Then, I had 12 smash plays in a row. Still, like my pal Steven Soderbergh and Woody Allen, I have anhedonic reactions: the inability to feel pleasure. I didn't think I deserved all that. I'm such a kvetch; I complain as a way of touching wood. Gentiles think if you name something it brings it on. Jews think it wards it off. That kvetching is called "social comment" in my movies, all of which are "yes, but" at heart. Though I point out things, there's an underlying positivism, saying "ain't life grand, despite."
Q: In 1975, you stopped making movies for eight years.
A: I bailed out to focus on the stage ["Annie"] and TV ["Family"]. It's funny, because that's when I really got good. There's something about not doing something that lets it grow inside you. You're saying, "I'm not a career. I'm a person." Julia Roberts stopped after "Pretty Woman." So did Albert Finney after "Tom Jones." When I came back with "Silkwood," my friend Kurt Russell asked, "Are you always that light on your feet with a camera?" I knew what I wanted and didn't make a big deal of it. Before that, I loved post[-production] and editing but was afraid of shooting. Now I love all of it. Directing, in truth, is the best job there is. You have 150 people asking, "What do you want me to do, boss?" You say: "I don't like Rome the way it is, would you put it there, instead, and surround it with water?" You can have anything you want.
Q: As a refugee from Nazi Germany who grew up in poverty, you've always felt different, you've said. Has that fed you, creatively?
A: I was the most popular of the unpopular kids in school. My dad died when I was 11 and my mom had to raise two boys in a country where she had no craft or money. For me, the way out started with reading, listening to music and meeting a lot of other weirdos like myself at the University of Chicago. I've been lucky in that I can share my feelings and experiences on film. For me, they're grist. "That really hurt but, man, it's useful." Making movies heals the wounds.
Q: Are there projects you regret taking on?
A: At the Kennedy Center honors last year, Tom Stoppard made a speech about me. Fame is fleeting, life is short, he said — and he's there to remind everyone that I made the Garry Shandling movie ["What Planet Are You From?" a box office flop in 2000]. He didn't have to remind me. But I like failures, in a way. They give you a perspective on things and, spiritually, it feels better for a while. To win an Academy Award is to be back at the Beverly Hills Hotel at midnight feeling empty. To lose is to realize that the happiness is right there in your house.
Q: Your marriage to Diane Sawyer has survived. What's your secret?
A: We've managed to be together most of the time, which is important when you're both working with the cutest people in the world. We've also battled for equality. If one person becomes more important, you get knocked off kilter, especially if it's not the guy. A network person at an affiliate meeting once asked me what I did and I said, "I take her phone messages and rinse out her delicate underthings." If I didn't get called for a job for five or six months, that could cause problems. But I'm happy to be waiting for her. I know who I am.
Q: Do you think about death?
A: A lot. It's part of my nature, and the fact of death makes everything so sweet. It's good to have a time limit, and having kids helps. They are themselves—and me. As a filmmaker, however, I don't know what I'll leave behind. I'm startled by how quickly great directors are so totally gone when they're gone. Jerome Robbins is barely remembered. It doesn't take very long. There's no guarantee that your work endures, and it's a blind alley to think about it. Modigliani was completely unsuccessful in life and a giant after he left, and that didn't do him any good. I'm glad that I connected with people, cheering them up in the dark. But posterity? Memories, reputation don't mean a lot to me. When it's over, it's over.
Q: Is "winding down" part of your game plan?
A: Though my dentist so cruelly says "for a man of your age," I feel 30 or 32. I'm good at doing nothing, but there's always one more thing I want to tackle — and one more after that. Next September, I start on a stage musical based on "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and, then, possibly another movie in England. Though I get bored with things, movies — along with the people I love — are the singular exceptions. I like directing too much to quit … and, fortunately, they still let me do it.
Roberts & Nichols SWITCH
Julia Roberts and Mike Nichols reteaming for romantic comedy at Columbia Pictures.
Oscar winner Julia Roberts and Oscar-winning Angels in America helmer Mike Nichols have started negotiations to develop the romantic comedy Seven-Year Switch. Red Wagon partners Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher will be producing the project, which will reunite Roberts and Nichols who recently filmed the drama Closer.
Seven-Year Switch would star Roberts as a woman who has been in a relationship for sevens years and has reached the proverbial seven-year itch. The whole experience takes on a new meaning, however, when she gets to see what her life would have been like if she had made different decisions.
Julia Roberts = Overrated
julia roberts does an non Christmas It's A Wonderful Life / The Family Man?
Quote from: GloriaAnn Robinson
:?:
I've only seen The Graduate (my favorite movie) and Primary Colors which I loved but I will be soon watching Angels In America.
I think Mike Nichols is so great and funny but I really like the style of The Graduate and it doesn't seem like his other films are similar at all.
It's a great thing and a bad thing.
watched Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf which really seemed like a play. it was like being at the worst party on earth, with the two most obnoxious/craziest people on the planet and drinking till morning. at 2 hours 10 minutes it was the longest seeming film ever. like, you just want to LEAVE like you want the characters to just get the hell out of there. its like torture. performances were good, but watching the movie was a painful experience.
i rented Wit last night and thought it was amazing. the scene where she flashes back to reading with her dad was just amazingly shot. emma thompson's best performance in my book. i also rented catch 22, which is seriously as SoNowThen put it, one of the most underrated movies of all time. next on the list: angels in america, who's afraid of virginia woolf, and carnal knowledge.
thanks, that was completely necessary.
Mike Nichols has made truly great films (like Carnal Knowledge and The Graduate) and truly awful films (Heartburn and Which Planet Are You From?).
I haven't seen Closer or Angels in America yet, but both films look like comeback vehicles.
Nichols' career reflects the cultural changes of the past 40 years -- he has gone from artistic projects like Virginia Woolf in the 60's and Carnal Knowledge in the early 70's to cheesy commercial films like Working Girl and Wolf in the 80's and 90's.
In spite of it all, I judge Nichols by his best work -- Carnal Knowledge is one of the ballsiest films ever made.
He's no Tarantino.
Quote from: themodernage02watched Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf which really seemed like a play. it was like being at the worst party on earth, with the two most obnoxious/craziest people on the planet and drinking till morning. at 2 hours 10 minutes it was the longest seeming film ever. like, you just want to LEAVE like you want the characters to just get the hell out of there. its like torture. performances were good, but watching the movie was a painful experience.
did you like it or not?
Quote from: soixanteMike Nichols has made truly great films and truly awful films (Heartburn and Which Planet Are You From?).
Its interesting how hit or miss Nichols is - Just finished watching Heartburn. Its almost mind boggling the same director helmed Virginia Wolf, Carnal Knowledge, Catch 22,etc...
Heartburn was a pretty miserable - the only redeaming element was Jack Nicholson's eyebrows
Someone previously posted that Virginia Woolf seemed like a play. Well, it was a play, one of the most honored plays of the 20th century. Nichols got his start as a director on Broadway, and he still directs plays (such as the recent Monty Python production Spamalot). That is why he's so good with actors.
Closer is the best thing he has done in years.
Quote from: soixanteThat is why he's so good with actors.
or cause he was a great performer himself. he was apart of the Compass theatre company in chicago in the 50s, which was the precursor to the Second City.
also, steve martin was HUGELY influenced by nichols.. if that puts into perspective how good he was.
i watched The Graduate again tonight and it probably makes at least half a dozen times.
to me, this movie is just perfect. not a single wasted line or frame of film. all the acting is great down to the extras who don't even speak.
things that stuck with me on this viewing:
-the reaction of the lady sitting by elaine on the bus when ben runs it down
-the ending of the hotel scene where ben/mrs robinson talk about elaine........silence as the two start re-removing their clothes again after trying to connect and not being able to
i still have yet to check out the other movies Nichols made around this time.
I just watched the entirety of Angels in America and I thought it was great. I do think James Woods was a better Roy Cohn than Pacino, who overacted a little. The acting across the board was excellent.
Angels in America is pretty good, but Wit is a better film. It's difficult not to compare the two, since they're both plays adapted for HBO. From the perspective of looking at Nichols's directing, they complement each other. Since you liked Angels in America, make sure to catch (if you haven't already) Wit. VERY fine acting and tighter direction.
Everytime that damn Closer is on cable, I pause my channel surfin' to watch it for a second and end up stayin' 'til the end. What is it with that movie that's so addicting?
Amy Adams set to join Hanks for "War" pic
Amy Adams, the Oscar-nominated star of "Junebug," is in negotiations to join Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Roberts in the CIA drama "Charlie Wilson's War."
The Universal Pictures project tells of the CIA's largest and most successful covert operation, the arming of the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.
The covert ops were engineered by Charlie Wilson, a charismatic, wheeler-dealer, liberal Texas congressman who teamed with a rogue CIA operative. The two manipulated Congress, the CIA and a host of foreign governments in order to assist the Afghan rebels in their fight against the Soviets in the 1980s. Many of the men armed by the CIA went on to become the Taliban's enforcers and Osama bin Laden's protectors.
Mike Nichols is directing from Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of George Crile's book. Hanks is also producing.
Adams will next be seen in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which opens August 4.
Mike Nichols 'High' on remake
Director readies for Miramax film
Source: Variety
Mike Nichols is set to direct a remake of Akira Kurosawa's "High and Low" for Miramax Films.
Written by David Mamet and produced by Scott Rudin, the film hasn't started casting. Martin Scorsese originally commissioned Mamet to write the screenplay back in 1999; it took two years for Rudin to pull the rights together. Scorsese likely will executive produce.
Kurosawa's 1963 detective thriller starring Toshiro Mifune was based on the Ed McBain novel "King's Ransom," about a businessman who is ruined when he honorably pays ransom to kidnappers who mistakenly nabbed his driver's son.
Several Kurosawa films have been remade by Hollywood, most notably "The Seven Samurai" ("The Magnificent Seven") and "Rashomon" ("The Outrage"). Steven Spielberg is developing a remake of "Ikiru" at DreamWorks, possibly to direct. And the Weinstein Co. has been developing another "Seven Samurai" remake.
Nichols' last film was "Charlie Wilson's War." starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. Rudin exec produced Nichols' 2004 release "Closer." starring Roberts and Clive Owen, based on Patrick Marber's play, and produced the helmer's "Regarding Henry," starring Harrison Ford, in 1991.
While Rudin backed out of Stephen Daldry's upcoming "The Reader" after turf battles with Harvey Weinstein, he has plenty on his plate. Both "Revolutionary Road" and "Doubt" are set for December release from Paramount Vantage and Miramax, respectively.
Among his 2009 releases are an untitled Nancy Meyers comedy at Columbia starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, and Wes Anderson's animated "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," voiced by Streep and George Clooney and written by Noah Baumbach, who is also set to direct his next original, "Greenburg," for Rudin.
The Coen brothers are adapting Michael Chabon's "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," as well as Western classic "True Grit" for their Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men" producer. Steve Zaillian is adapting "A Thousand Splendid Suns" at Sony, while bestseller "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" is set up at Miramax with "The Motorcycle Diaries" writer and director Jose Rivera and Walter Salles.
Quote from: MacGuffin on October 29, 2008, 12:20:17 AM
Several Kurosawa films have been remade by Hollywood, "Rashomon" ("The Outrage"). Steven Spielberg is developing a remake of "Ikiru" at DreamWorks, possibly to direct. And the Weinstein Co. has been developing another "Seven Samurai" remake.
Didn't know about Rashomon/The Outrage or Spielberg/Ikiru.
Fox sets Mike Nichols for 'Deep Water'
Helmer to adapt Patricia Highsmith novel
Source: Variety
Fox 2000 has set Mike Nichols to direct and Joe Penhall to write "Deep Water," an adaptation of the 1957 Patricia Highsmith novel.
Penhall most recently adapted the Cormac McCarthy novel "The Road." John Hillcoat directed the film, which stars Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron.
"Deep Water" will be a co-production of Film Rites and Film 360, the film production division of Management 360. Steve Zaillian, Nichols and Ben Forkner will produce.
Guymon Casady and Garrett Basch are executive producers.
Highsmith wrote the thrillers "Strangers on a Train" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley." In "Deep Water," a couple in a loveless marriage hang on through an arrangement whereby the husband permits the wife to take lovers. Suspense builds as those lovers begin dying.
In landing Nichols, Fox 2000's Elizabeth Gabler and Carla Hacken continue their momentum of attracting top-tier filmmakers to their projects. The duo also developed the Jonathan Tropper script for "Harvey," to which Steven Spielberg committed as his next film, a co-production between Fox and DreamWorks (Daily Variety, Aug. 3).
Mike Nichols in Talks to Direct 'One Last Thing Before I Go' for Bad Robot, Paramount
Source: TheWrap
Mike Nichols is in talks to direct "One Last Thing Before I Go" for J.J. Abrams and Paramount, according to multiple individuals with knowledge of the project.
The film would be Nichols' first since "Charlie Wilson's War," which opened in 2007 and is one of two films the director of "The Graduate" and "The Birdcage" has made over the past decade.
Nichols has alternated between film and theater, directing a revival of "Death of a Salesman" last year. He is currently directing Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz in "Betrayal," and has discussed this new project with Craig as well.
No deal has been made for Nichols, but Abrams' Bad Robot production company is serious enough about the project that it has also begun reaching out to actors.
Abrams is producing the film through Bad Robot, which has a deal with Paramount. The adult drama, based on Jonathan Tropper's sixth novel, would be an outlier at a studio focused on big-budget action franchises ("Transformers") and microbudget horror films and comedies ("Paranormal Activity").
The story chronicles Drew Silver, a lovable, neer-do-well divorcee who discovers he needs emergency heart surgery. Silver opts against the procedure, and tries to use his remaining time on earth to better his relationshisp with hsi family. His wife, Denise, is about to be remarried while his teenage daughter, Casey, is pregnant.
TCA: HBO Reveals Details Of Mike Nichols/Meryl Streep 'Master Class'
via Deadline
HBO parsed out some details on Mike Nichols directing of Meryl Streep in the network's adaptation of Master Class, Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play about Maria Callas. The project is a reteaming of Nichols and Streep, who worked together on the premium channel's Angels In America nearly a decade ago. Master Class begins production in early '15, depicting the master classes the operatic great gave to hand-picked students at the Juilliard School in the early 1970s.