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Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director,
screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...
, and
producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films '' Thief'' (1981), '' Manhunter'' (1986), '' The Last of the Mohicans'' (1992), '' Heat'' (1995), '' The Insider'' (1999), ''
Collateral Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collate ...
'' (2004), and '' Public Enemies'' (2009). He is also known for his role as
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
on the popular TV series '' Miami Vice'' (1984–89), which he adapted into a 2006 feature film. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cannes, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As a producer, Mann has twice received nominations for the
Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...
, first for ''The Insider'' and then '' The Aviator'' (2004), which Mann had been hired to direct before the project was transferred to Martin Scorsese. ''Total Film'' ranked Mann No. 28 on its 2007 list of the 100 Greatest Directors Ever, and ''
Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' ranked him No. 5 on their list of the 10 Best Directors of the Last 25 Years (for the years 1977–2002).


Early life and education

Mann was born February 5, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Jewish grocers Esther and Jack Mann. Mann studied
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.Wildermuth, p. 2 While a student, he saw
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
's '' Dr. Strangelove'' and fell in love with movies. In an '' L.A. Weekly'' interview, he described the film's impact on him: Mann graduated from Wisconsin with a B.A. in 1965. In 1967 he earned an M.A. from the
London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.
. His daughter Ami Canaan Mann is also a film director and producer.


Career


Early work

Mann later moved to London in the mid 1960s to go to graduate school in cinema. He went on to receive a graduate degree at the
London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.
in 1967. He spent seven years in the United Kingdom going to film school and then working on commercials along with contemporaries Alan Parker,
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
and
Adrian Lyne Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941) is an English film director, writer and producer. Having begun his career directing 1970s television commercials, Lyne made well-received short films which were entries in the London Film Festival. He started mak ...
. 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 ''Jaunpuri'' which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
. 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-O'' veteran
Robert Lewin Robert Lewin (23 December 1918 – 17 May 2004) was a Polish art dealer and philanthropist. Biography Born Boruch Lewin in Warsaw, Poland, Lewin was the son of a Polish-Jewish banker Jacob, and Yochewet. With the rise of Hitler's anti-Jewish ...
gave Mann a shot and a crash course on television writing and story structure. Mann wrote four episodes of ''
Starsky and Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...
'' (three in the first season and one in the second) and the pilot episode for '' Vega$''. Around this time, he worked on a show called '' Police Story'' with cop-turned-novelist
Joseph Wambaugh Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. (born January 22, 1937), is a best-selling American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States. Several of his early novels were set in Los Angeles and its surroun ...
. ''Police Story'' concentrated on the detailed realism of a real cop's life and taught Mann that first-hand research was essential to bring authenticity to his work. Mann also wrote an early draft of the 1978 film '' Straight Time''.


1980s

His first feature movie was a television special called ''
The Jericho Mile ''The Jericho Mile'' is a 1979 Emmy Award-winning United States made for TV crime film, directed by Michael Mann. The film won five awards, including three Emmy Awards. The story is set at Folsom Prison, where the film was shot on location in the ...
'', which was released theatrically in Europe. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special 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 was not the creator of these shows, but the executive producer and
showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
, produced by his production company. Mann's debut feature in cinema as director was '' Thief'' (1981) starring James Caan, a relatively accurate depiction of thieves that operated in New York City and Chicago at that time. Mann used actual former professional burglars to keep the technical scenes as genuine as possible. His next film was '' The Keep'' (1983), a supernatural thriller set in Nazi-occupied Romania. Though it was a commercial flop, the film has since attained cult status amongst fans. In 1986, Mann was the first to bring Thomas Harris' character of serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the screen with '' Manhunter'', his adaptation of the novel '' Red Dragon'', which starred Brian Cox as Hannibal. 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 him to complete a film; Petersen believes that this is why Mann does not make films very often.


1990s

Mann gained widespread recognition in 1992 for his film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel into the
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...
'' The Last of the Mohicans'' starring Daniel Day-Lewis. The film is set during the French and Indian War. Film critic
Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of '' Entertainment Weekly'' described Mann's directorial style writing, "Mann, at his best, is a master of violence and lyrical anxiety". Peter Travers of '' Rolling Stone'' praised Mann's directing writing, "the action is richly detailed and thrillingly staged." This was followed by crime drama '' Heat'' (1995) starring
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
,
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
, and Val Kilmer. The film, a remake of his TV movie ''
L.A. Takedown ''L.A. Takedown'', also called ''L.A. Crimewave'' and ''Made in L.A.'', is a 1989 crime thriller. Originally filmed as an unsuccessful pilot for an NBC television series, it was reworked and aired as a stand-alone TV film. The film was later rel ...
'', was a critical success with Kenneth Turan of the '' Los Angeles Times'' calling the film a "sleek, accomplished piece of work, meticulously controlled and completely involving. The dark end of the street doesn't get much more inviting than this." Todd McCarthy of '' Variety'' wrote, "Stunningly made and incisively acted by a large and terrific cast, Michael Mann's ambitious study of the relativity of good and evil stands apart from other films of its type by virtue of its extraordinarily rich characterizations and its thoughtful, deeply melancholy take on modern life." In 1999, Mann filmed '' The Insider'' about the ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...
'' segment about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco industry.
Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...
portrayed Wigand, with
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
playing Lowell Bergman, and Christopher Plummer as Mike Wallace. The film showcased Mann's cinematic style and garnered the most critical recognition of his career up to this point. ''The Insider'' was nominated for seven Academy Awards as a result, including a nomination for Mann's direction. Critic
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the '' Chicago Sun-Times'' praised the film writing, "''The Insider'' had a greater impact on me than '' All the President's Men'', because you know what? Watergate didn't kill my parents. Cigarettes did."


2000s

With his next film, '' Ali'' (2001), starring Will Smith, Mann started experimenting with digital cameras. For his action thriller film ''
Collateral Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collate ...
'', which cast Tom Cruise against type by giving him the role of a hitman, Mann shot all of the exterior scenes digitally so that he could achieve more depth and detail during the night scenes while shooting most of the interiors on film stock. Jamie Foxx was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''Collateral''. In 2004, Mann produced '' The Aviator'', based on the life of Howard Hughes, which he had developed with Leonardo DiCaprio. ''The Aviator'' was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...
but lost to ''
Million Dollar Baby ''Million Dollar Baby'' is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection ''Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner' ...
''. After ''Collateral'', Mann directed the film adaptation of '' Miami Vice'' which he also executive produced. It stars a completely new cast with Colin Farrell as Don Johnson's character Sonny Crockett, and Jamie Foxx filling Philip Michael Thomas' shoes. Mann was producer with Peter Berg as director for '' The Kingdom'' and '' Hancock''. ''Hancock'' stars Will Smith as a hard-drinking superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public and who begins to have a relationship with the wife (
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...
) of a public relations expert (
Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...
), who is helping him to repair his image. Mann also makes a cameo appearance in the film as an executive. In 2009, Mann wrote and directed '' Public Enemies'' for Universal Pictures, about the Depression-era crime wave, based on
Bryan Burrough Bryan Burrough (born August 13, 1961, in Tennessee) is an American author and correspondent for '' Vanity Fair''. He has written six books. Burrough was a reporter for ''The Wall Street Journal'' in Dallas, Texas, between 1983 and 1992. He h ...
's nonfiction book, ''Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34''. It starred
Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
and Christian Bale. Depp played John Dillinger in the film, and Bale played Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent in charge of capturing Dillinger. Mann signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski in 2009, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.


2010s

In January 2010, it was reported by '' Variety'' that Mann, alongside David Milch, would serve as co-executive producer of new TV series '' Luck''. The series was an hour-long
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
production, and Mann directed the series' pilot. Although initially renewed for a second season after the airing of the pilot, it was eventually cancelled due to the death of three horses during production. On February 14, 2013, it was announced that Mann had been developing an untitled thriller film with screenwriter Morgan Davis Foehl for over a year, for
Legendary Pictures Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...
. In May 2013, Mann started filming the action thriller, named ''
Blackhat A Black Hat (Black Hat Hacker or Blackhat) is a computer hacker who usually violates laws or typical ethical standards. The term originates from the 1950s westerns, when bad guys typically wore black hats and good guys white hats. Black hat hacke ...
'', in Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
. The film, starring Chris Hemsworth as a hacker who gets released from prison to pursue a cyberterrorist across the globe, was released on January 16, 2015 by Universal. It received mixed reviews and was a commercial disaster, although several critics included it in their year-end "best-of" lists.


2020s

Mann directed the first episode of the 2022 crime series '' Tokyo Vice'' for HBO Max. In August 2022, Mann released ''Heat 2, a'' novel he had co-written with Meg Gardiner. The book takes place from 1988 to 2000, covering events that happen before and after the 1995 film. The same month, Mann began shooting his upcoming film ''
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
'' starring Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz in
Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
.


Filming style and themes

His trademarks include powerfully-lit nighttime scenes and unusual scores, such as Tangerine Dream in '' Thief'' and the new-age score to '' Manhunter''. A common stylistic device in several films (''Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Manhunter, The Insider, Miami Vice'') is to show principal characters being forced to make critical decisions affecting the plot while overlooking large bodies of water. Dante Spinotti is a frequent cinematographer of Mann's films. F.X. Feeney describes Mann's body of work in '' DGA Quarterly'' as "abundantly energetic in its precision and variety" and "psychologically layered". '' Indiewire'''s 2014 retrospective of the director's filmography focused on the intensity of Mann's ongoing interest in "stories pitting criminals against those who seek to put them behind bars (''Heat, Public Enemies, Thief, Collateral, Miami Vice''). His films frequently suggest that in fact, at the top of their respective games, crooks and cops are not so dissimilar as men: they each live and die by their own codes and they each recognize themselves in the other." Mann's films have been noted for their realism when it comes to capturing the sounds of gunfire, with him preferring to use raw audio captured from the scene, rather than a sound mix. Many of his films feature practical effects to produce the action scenes, with actors attending boot camps for weapons handling and firing 'full load' blanks in scenes to accurately represent the sound of live ammunition.


Advertising

Mann directed the 2002 "
Lucky Star Lucky Star, The Lucky Star or Lucky Starr may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Anime and manga * ''Lucky Star'' (manga), a manga, anime, and video game series * "Lucky Star", one of the Angel Frames from the anime and manga series ''Galaxy ...
" advertisement for Mercedes-Benz, which took the form of a film trailer for a purported thriller featuring Benicio del Toro. In the fall of 2007, Mann directed two commercials for Nike. The ad campaign "Leave Nothing" features football action scenes with former
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
players Shawne Merriman and
Steven Jackson Steven Rashad Jackson (born July 22, 1983) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams. He played college football at Oregon State and was sele ...
, as well as using the score "Promontory" from the soundtrack of ''The Last of the Mohicans''. Mann also directed the 2008 promotional video for
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
's California sports car.


Favorite films

In 2012, Mann participated in the '' Sight & Sound'' film polls of that year. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice. Mann gave the following ten in alphabetical order. * '' Apocalypse Now'' (1979) directed by
Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...
* '' Avatar'' (2009) directed by
James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...
* '' Battleship Potemkin'' (1925) directed by Sergei Eisenstein * ''
Biutiful ''Biutiful'' is a 2010 psychological drama film directed, produced and co-written by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Javier Bardem. The project marks González Iñárritu's first film in his native Spanish language since his debut ...
'' (2010) directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu * ''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'' (1941) directed by Orson Welles * '' Dr. Strangelove'' (1964) directed by
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
* ''
My Darling Clementine ''My Darling Clementine'' is a 1946 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp during the period leading up to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The ensemble cast also features Victor Mature (as Doc Hollid ...
'' (1946) directed by John Ford * '' The Passion of Joan of Arc'' (1928) directed by
Carl Theodor Dreyer Carl Theodor Dreyer (; 3 February 1889 – 20 March 1968), commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his movies are noted for their emotional aus ...
* '' Raging Bull'' (1980) directed by Martin Scorsese * '' The Wild Bunch'' (1969) directed by Sam Peckinpah


Filmography


Awards and nominations


Bibliography

*Wildermuth, Mark E. (2005). ''Blood in the Moonlight: Michael Mann and Information Age Cinema'' (Paperback Ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Company and Inc. . *F. X. Feeney, Paul Duncan (2006). ''Michael Mann'' (Hardcover Ed.) Taschen. . *Cadieux, Axel (2015). ''L'Horizon de Michael Mann'', Playlist Society. *Jean-Baptiste Thoret, ''Michael Mann. Mirages du contemporain'', Flammarion, 2021.Mirages du contemporain : Michael Mann dans le regard de Jean-Baptiste Thoret, franceculture.fr
/ref>


References


External links

*
Michael Mann on Instagram

Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database

Literature on Michael Mann
Interviews
''Entertainment Weekly: Part I''''Part II''

''L.A. Weekly''

DGA magazine

Salon

"Paint It Black" – ''Sight and Sound''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Michael 1943 births Alumni of the London Film School Film producers from Illinois Jewish American screenwriters American male screenwriters Television producers from Illinois American television writers American people of Russian-Jewish descent American expatriates in England Filmmakers who won the Best Film BAFTA Award Golden Globe Award-winning producers Film directors from Illinois Living people American male television writers Primetime Emmy Award winners University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Writers from Chicago Action film directors Screenwriters from Illinois 21st-century American Jews