A Guide to Hollywood Film Practitioners - Michael Mann

rivals in Hollywood, but over the last few years he has been brought into the forefront

through his increasingly impressive work, which will hit a peak this year with the

release of his latest offering, Ali.

Mann was born in Chicago on 5th February, 1943. After High School, he

attended the University of Wisconsin, from there he moved to London, and the

London International Film School. All in all, Mann spent 7 years in London, attending

Film school, and also directing commercials and documentaries.

Mann moved back to USA after his time in England, and in the 70’s began writing for

American television, working on shows such as Starsky and Hutch. In 1979, Mann

directed his first TV movie, The Jericho Mile, which won him an award for

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Specials, and acted as a ‘springboard’ for his

move away from television, and towards Hollywood.

Mann’s first foray into film directing was Thief (1981). Even though this was a

critical success, the relatively unknown director, caused Thief to be a box-office

failure. One of the main things that Thief did was introduce many tropes th

. . .
Mann’s

work, both TV and film, centres on studying what makes a man a great man.

The Insider was another successful project for Mann, of critical and box office merit

both in the US and in Europe, but in his next film, Mann has the chance to break box

office records the world over. Now, with Ali he

proves that he can tackle the star vehicle entirely from his own perspective, finding

within the story of an icon, the tropes which underpin all his films. The

sometimes lightweight Will Smith was seen as a strange choice at first, but it was

clear that Smith not only shared Mann’s passion for the project, but also his obsession

for the need to represent Muhammad Ali as realistically as possible.

What Heat was memorable for was it’s direction and choreography and, again it is

Mann’s thematic tropes are there for everyone to see.

The introduction of Al Pacino into a Mann film was a welcome one, as Mann was

always searching for a dominating male figure to match the ones he wrote into his

films, and in Pacino he found one.

Ali is Mann’s latest offering, and combines many of the qualities that he has

brought to us in his previous films, and looks to have brought all these together to

form, possibly his best film yet.

Mann, in my opinion, has found his niche in Hollywood with The Insider and Ali, and

now he has settled into this role, I believe we have yet to see his best work and

hopefully we have not already seen his peak. What Mann actually did was churn out both a financial

and critical failure, with very few of the Mann traits that make his films

quintessentially his. Grossing over $70

million at the box office and $35 million in rentals, to a budget of under $40 million,

this was Mann’s first real Hollywood success. The Keep (1983) was a

bizarre film, and I am not going to waste your time by dwelling on it, but it does ask

the question of why Mann made this? As Ty Burr from Entertainment Weekly said

‘The Keep has something to do with WWII German Soldiers occupying a mysterious

Carpathian fortress only to come face to face with – a demon from hell? An alien

from space? A waiter from Schraffts? Damned if I can tell…. He has

made some of the most compelling studies of machismo through the use of various

male dominated roles, from Daniel Day-Lewis’ heroic Hawkeye in Last of the

Mohicans, to Will Smith’s quick-talking Muhammad Ali, in Ali, both of which I will

discuss further. at run

throughout Mann’s work to this day. Mann’s

films study men, and what it is that makes a man a great man.

Common topics in this essay:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Ali Mann, Schraffts Damned, Mother Nature, Thief Heat, Hollywood Manns, Insider Heat, Ali Manns, Pacino Mann, Muhammad Ali, box office, muhammad ali, manns films, dominant male character, daniel day-lewis, mann film, film manhunter, ali mann, film insider, film mann, dominant male,

Approximate Word count = 1725
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Already a member? Click here