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Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5 , 1943 in Chicago ) is an American Film Director , Screenwriter , and Producer . He has been nominated for four Oscar s for writing, directing and producing during the 72nd and 77th Academy Awards in 1999 and 2004 respectively. BIOGRAPHY His father, Jack, was a Russian emigrant and World War II veteran and his mother, Esther, a local Chicago girl. Mann was close to his father and his paternal grandfather, Sam Mann. Mann grew up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and immersed himself in the burgeoning Chicago blues-music scene as a teenager. He studied English at the '' if you wanted to work in the main stream film industry, or be reduced to niche filmmaking if you wanted to be serious about cinema. So that’s what Kubrick meant, aside from the fact that ''Strangelove'' was a revelation." Mann later moved to London in the mid-1960s to go to graduate school in cinema. Additionally, he was opposed to the war in Vietnam. (for which he was ineligible because of going to film school and then working on commercials along with contemporaries Alan Parker , Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne . In 1968, footage he shot of the Paris student revolt for a documentary, ''Insurrection'', aired on NBC 's ''First Tuesday'' news program and he developed his '68 experiences into the short film "Juanpuri," which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1970. Mann returned to United States after divorcing his first wife in 1971. He went on to direct a road trip documentary, ''17 Days Down the Line''. Three years later, '' Hawaii Five-0 '' veteran Robert Lewin gave Mann a shot and a crash course on television writing and story structure. Mann wrote the first four episodes of '' Starsky And Hutch '' and the pilot episode for '' Vega$ ''. Around this time, he worked on a show called '' Police Story '' with cop-turned-novelist Joseph Wambaugh . ''Police Story'' concentrated on the detailed realism of a real cop's life and taught Mann the essential for first-hand research to bring authenticity to his work. His first feature movie was a Made-for-TV special called ''The Jericho Mile'', which was released theatrically in Europe. It won the Emmy for best MOW in 1979 and the DGA Best Director award. His television work also includes being the executive producer on '' Miami Vice '' and '' Crime Story ''. Contrary to popular belief, he is not the creator of these shows but the executive producer and the showrunner. They were produced by his production company. However, his cinematic influence is felt throughout each show in terms of casting and style. Mann is now known primarily as a score to '' Manhunter ''. Dante Spinotti is a frequent cinematographer of Mann's pictures. Mann has an affinity for stark Urban landscapes and a visual style which often places an emphasis on soft blues and harsh, sterile whites. Mann's first cinema feature as director was '' Thief '' starring James Caan - a commercially overlooked gem that set the blueprint for many of Mann's later works and has a central performance that Caan has said he is most proud of after '' The Godfather ''. 1983's '' The Keep '' was in retrospect an uncharacteristic choice, being that it is a supernatural thriller set in Nazi occupied Romania . It was a commercial flop and provoked almost universal confusion in those who did manage to see it. Though it is believed that the 96 minute released cut was significantly shorter than Mann had intended. Mann was the first to bring Thomas Harris 's character of Hannibal Lecter to the screen with his adaptation of novel Red Dragon, as Manhunter , the film was quite different from the future, more successful entries to the series and starred Brian Cox as a more down-to-earth Hannibal. The story was remade less than 20 years after it came out by Brett Ratner presumably because Anthony Hopkins reprisal of the role in Ridley Scott 's Hannibal had made the character a highly lucrative property. In an interview on the ''Manhunter'' DVD, star William Petersen comments that because Mann is so focused on his creations, it takes several years for Mann to complete a film; Petersen believes that this is why Mann doesn't make films very often.''Inside Manhunter: Interviews with stars William Petersen, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, and Tom Noonan'' His biggest critical successes began in the 1990s with the release of '' Heat '' in 1995 and '' The Insider '' in 1999. The films, both of which featured Al Pacino along with Robert DeNiro in ''Heat'' and Russell Crowe in ''The Insider'', showcased Mann's cinematic style and adeptness at creating rich, complex storylines as well as directing actors. ''The Insider'' was nominated for seven Academy Awards as a result, including a nomination for Mann's Direction . With his next film '' Ali '' starring Will Smith in 2001, he started experimenting with digital cameras. Smith was nominated for an Academy Award. On '' Collateral '' he shot all of the exterior scenes digitally (with the Viper Video Stream camera) so that he could achieve more depth and detail during the night scenes while shooting most of the interiors on film stock. The film helped catapult Jamie Foxx to greater fame, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. In 2004, Mann was nominated for producing Best Picture nominee The Aviator , a film he had developed with Leonardo DiCaprio with Mann at the helm, he then decided it was too similar in content to the biopic Ali, decided to direct Collateral and left the director's chair to now-frequent DiCaprio collaborator Martin Scorsese Since '' Collateral '' Mann has made '' Miami Vice '', the film adaptation of the hit TV series of the Same Name which Mann executive produced. It stars a completely new cast with Colin Farrell in Don Johnson 's role and Jamie Foxx filling Philip Michael Thomas ' shoes. |
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