Michael Mann Biography

Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has been nominated for four Oscars for writing, directing and producing during the 72nd and 77th Oscars in 1999 and 2004 respectively. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later went on to receive a graduate degree at the London International Film School.

Mann is now known primarily as a feature film director. He is considered one of America's top filmmakers. He has a very distinct style that is reflected in his works. His trademarks include ethereal synth scores, such as Jan Hammer's theme to Miami Vice or the New Age score to Manhunter.
***

***
Dante Spinotti is a frequent cinematographer of Mann's pictures. Mann has an affinity for stark urban landscapes. Mann's visual style often times places an emphasis on soft blues and harsh, sterile whites.

He spent 7 years in the United Kingdom, then moved back to the United States and began career as a writer on such shows as Vega$ and Starsky and Hutch. His first feature movie was a made-for-TV special called The Jericho Mile. His television work also includes having acted as director and producer on such shows as Miami Vice and Crime Story.

Mann is best known for making gritty crime dramas. The two films that cemented this reputation were Thief and Manhunter. They feature intense performances from James Caan and William Petersen respectively and showcase Mann's ability to write realistic, thought-provoking dialogue and create incredibly atmospheric worlds for his characters to inhabit. Thief focuses on Frank (Caan), a master safe-cracker who makes a Faustian deal with the Mob only to realizes that he has lost his independence at the price of material gain.

Manhunter is a chilling trip into the mind of a serial killer who butchers whole families to fuel his fantasies. William Petersen plays a profiler named Will Graham who must come out of retirement and use his special ability to empathize with murderers. It is the first film to feature the character Hannibal Lecter (played by Brian Cox) or Lektor as he was renamed for this version of Thomas Harris' 1990 novel Red Dragon. Red Dragon was later remade by producer Dino De Laurentis and director Brett Ratner with Edward Norton in the pivotal role of Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins returning as Hannibal Lector. Manhunter, though, remains arguably the best film in the Lector series, with a cult following across the globe.

The film that Mann is probably most remembered for is Heat which features the legendary, first time on-screen together, pairing of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. This movie is a cops and robbers epic with an impressive bank heist sequence that is one of the very best of its kind ever put on screen. The themes of duality and personal philosophies, such as impulse and methodicalism are explored while clashing with gritty realism.

Based on a true story, The Insider, a searing indictment of the tobacco industry and of TV network censorship, is perhaps Mann's masterwork. Russell Crowe plays high-level tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand who is unfairly fired from his job. He meets with a 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) and blows the whistle, stating that tobacco companies know cigarettes are addictive and continues to sell them to the public at large anyway. CBS gets cold feet and censors the interview, destroying Wigand's life in the process. Bergman, understandably upset, sets out to clear Wigand's name and get his interview back on the air.

While it received mixed reviews from the critics and a lukewarm reception at the box office, Ali is an absorbing historical biopic in the grand tradition of Oliver Stone. It is an epic with an all-star cast. Will Smith goes all out with his portrayal of Muhammad Ali. The problem inherent with doing a movie like this is that there is so much documented footage of the real Ali that any fictionalized account is going to have tough fight against it.

Michael Mann shooting Collateral with the Thompson Viper.Collateral is a tightly-wound thriller shot on the streets of Los Angeles with state-of-the-art digital cameras. Tom Cruise turns in one of his best performances as Vincent, a coldly efficient hitman in town to take out five witnesses in a high profile case. He forces Max, a cab driver (Jamie Foxx) to drive him around the city to each of his murders. The film catapulted Jamie Foxx to fame, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performace.

MICHAEL MANN PICTURES

MICHAEL MANN BIOGRAPHY