Nichols and May
eBook - ePub

Nichols and May

Interviews

  1. 328 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Nichols and May

Interviews

About this book

In the late 1950s, Mike Nichols (1931–2014) and Elaine May (b. 1932) soared to superstar status as a sketch comedy duo in live shows and television. After their 1962 breakup, both went on to long and distinguished careers in other areas of show business—mostly separately, but sporadically together again. In Nichols and May: Interviews, twenty-seven interviews and profiles ranging over more than five decades tell their stories in their own words. Nichols quickly became an A-list stage and film director, while May, like many women in her field, often found herself thwarted in her attempts to make her distinctive voice heard in projects she could control herself. Yet, in recent years, Nichols's work as a filmmaker has been perhaps unfairly devalued, while May's accomplishments, particularly as a screenwriter and director, have become more appreciated, leading to her present widespread acceptance as a groundbreaking female artist and a creative genius of and for our time. Nichols gave numerous interviews during his career, and editor Robert E. Kapsis culled hundreds of potential selections to include in this volume the most revealing and those that focus on his filmmaking career. May, however, was a reluctant interview subject at best. She often subverted the whole interview process, producing instead a hilarious parody or even a comedy sketch—with or without the cooperation of the sometimes-oblivious interviewer. With its contrasting selection of interviews conventional and oddball, this volume is an important contribution to the study of the careers of Nichols and May.

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Mike Nichols: Filmography
As Director
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
Warner Bros.
Producer: Ernest Lehman (uncredited)
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Ernest Lehman, after the play by Edward Albee
Cinematography: Haskell Wexler (black and white)
Editing: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Music: Alex North
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor (Martha), Richard Burton (George), George Segal (Nick), Sandy Dennis (Honey)
131 minutes
Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Elizabeth Taylor; Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Sandy Dennis; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Haskell Wexler; Best Art Direction–Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Richard Sylbert, George James Hopkins; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, Irene Sharaff
Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Ernest Lehman; Best Actor in a Leading Role, Richard Burton; Best Actor in a Supporting Role, George Segal; Best Director, Mike Nichols; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Ernest Lehman; Best Sound, George Groves; Best Film Editing, Sam O’Steen; Best Music, Original Music Score, Alex North
THE GRADUATE (1967)
Embassy Pictures
Producer: Lawrence Turman
Executive Producer: Joseph E. Levine (uncredited)
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Calder Willingham, Buck Henry; based on the novel by Charles Webb Cinematography: Robert Surtees (Technicolor)
Editing: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Music: Simon and Garfunkel; additional music by Dave Grusin
Cast: Anne Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson), Dustin Hoffman (Ben Braddock), Katharine Ross (Elaine Robinson), William Daniels (Mr. Braddock), Murray Hamilton (Mr. Robinson), Elizabeth Wilson (Mrs. Braddock)
106 minutes
Academy Award: Best Director, Mike Nichols
Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Lawrence Turman; Best Actor in a Leading Role, Dustin Hoffman; Best Actress in a Leading Role, Anne Bancroft; Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Katharine Ross; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Calder Willingham, Buck Henry; Best Cinematography, Robert Surtees
CATCH-22 (1970)
Filmways Productions / Paramount Pictures
Producers: John Calley, Martin Ransohoff
Associate Producer: Clive Reed
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Buck Henry; based on the novel by Joseph Heller
Cinematography: David Watkin (Technicolor, Panavision)
Editing: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Music: Richard Strauss (from Also Sprach Zarathustra)
Cast: Alan Arkin (Capt. John Yossarian), Martin Balsam (Col. Cathcart), Richard Benjamin (Maj. Danby), Art Garfunkel (Capt. Nately), Bob Newhart (Maj. Major Major), Anthony Perkins (Chaplain Capt. A. T. Tappman), Paula Prentiss (Nurse Duckett), Orson Welles (Brig. Gen. Dreedle)
122 minutes
CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971)
Embassy Pictures
Producer: Mike Nichols
Executive Producer: Joseph E. Levine
Associate Producer: Clive Reed
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Jules Feiffer
Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno (Technicolor, Panavision)
Editing: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Cast: Jack Nicholson (Jonathan), Ann-Margret (Bobbie), Art Garfunkel (Sandy), Candice Bergen (Susan), Rita Moreno (Louise), Cynthia O’Neal (Cindy), Carol Kane (Jennifer),
98 minutes
Academy Award Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Ann-Margret
THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN (1973)
Embassy Pictures
Producer: Robert E. Relyea
Executive Producer: Joseph E. Levine
Associate Producer: Dick Birkmayer
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Buck Henry, after the novel by Robert Merle
Cinematography: William A. Fraker (Technicolor, Panavision)
Editing: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Music: Georges Delerue
Cast: George C. Scott (Jake Terrell), Trish Van Devere (Maggie Terrell), Paul Sorvino (Curtis Mahoney), John Dehner (Wallingford), Severn Darden (Schwinn)
104 minutes
Academy Award Nominations: Best Sound, Richard Portman, Larry Jost; Best Music, Original Dramatic Score, Georges Delerue
THE FORTUNE (1975)
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Producers: Don Devlin, Mike Nichols
Executive Producer: Hank Moonjean
Associate Producer: Robert E. Schultz
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce)
Cinematography: John A. Alonzo (Technicolor, Panavision)
Editing: Stu Linder
Production Design: Richard Sylbert
Music: David Shire (uncredited)
Cast: Stockard Channing (Freddie), Jack Nicholson (Oscar), Warren Beatty (Nicky Stumpo), Ian Wolfe (Justice of Peace)
88 minutes
GILDA LIVE (DOCUMENTARY) (1980)
Broadway Productions / Warner Bros.
Producers: Ron Delsener, Lorne Michaels
Associate Producers: Barbara Burns, Burtt Harris
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Anne Beatts, Lorne Michaels, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Don Novello, Michael O’Donoghue, Gilda Radner, Paul Shaffer, Rosie Shuster, Alan Zweibel
Cinematography: Ted Churchill (Technicolor)
Editing: Ellen Hovde, Lynzee Klingman, Muffie Meyer
Production Design: Eugene Lee, Franne Lee
Music: Paul Shaffer, Michael O’Donoghue, Cheryl Hardwick, Marvin Hamilsch
Cast: Gilda Radner (Herself / Various Characters), Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci), Paul Shaffer (Don Kirshner / The Candy Slice Group), Howard Shore (The Candy Slice Group)
96 minutes
SILKWOOD (1983)
ABC Motion Pictures / Twentieth Century Fox
Producers: Michael Hausman, Mike Nichols
Executive Producers: Larry Cano, Buzz Hirsch
Associate Producers: Tom Stovall, Joel Tuber
Director: Mike Nichols
Screenplay: Nora Ephron, Alice Arlen
Cinematography: Miroslav OndrĂ­cek (Technicolor)
Editing: Sam O’Steen
Production Design: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Music: Geo...

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Introduction
  6. Mike Nichols: Chronology
  7. Elaine May: Chronology
  8. Mike Nichols: Filmography
  9. Elaine May: Filmography
  10. Profile: A Tilted Insight
  11. Elaine May: Q & A about Her Play
  12. The Cold Loneliness of It All
  13. Mike Nichols: Director as Star
  14. Whatever Happened to Elaine May?
  15. Elaine May Has a Thing on Not Talking to Press: Nonlinear Interview with Elaine May
  16. It Depends on How You Look at It
  17. On Location with Catch-22
  18. How to Succeed in Interviewing Elaine May (Try, Really Try)
  19. The Misfortune of Mike Nichols: Notes on the Making of a Bad Film
  20. Elaine May: Too Tough for Hollywood? Or, The Benadryl Tapes 80 Michael Rivlin (interview by Leonard Probst) / 1975
  21. Elaine May: A New Film, but Not a New Leaf
  22. Mike Nichols
  23. Mike Nichols: The Special Risks and Rewards of the Director’s Art
  24. Did Mike Nichols Squander His Luck on Heartburn?
  25. The Road to Ishtar: How Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, and Elaine May Made a Farce in the Desert for Just $40 Million
  26. Mike Nichols: A New Feeling about Films
  27. Nichols, May Honored by TV, Radio Museum
  28. Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
  29. They All Have a Secret
  30. Of Metaphors and Purpose: An Interview with Mike Nichols
  31. City of Angels
  32. Elaine May in Conversation with Mike Nichols
  33. Elaine May Salutes Mike Nichols at the AFI Life Achievement Award
  34. Blind Camels, Idiot Execs, and Five Other Ishtar Revelations from Director Elaine May
  35. Who’s Afraid of Nichols and May?
  36. A Lovingly Obsessive Tribute to Mike Nichols, by Elaine May
  37. Additional Interviews and Profiles
  38. About the Editor