Description
Minghella (1954-2008) was a highly regarded British playwright (Made in Bangkok), and television writer (Inspector Morse) before turning to film directing with his quirky, highly regarded first film, Truly, Madly, Deeply, in 1990. He went on to direct an extraordinary trilogy of large-scale films, all adapted from significant works of contemporary literature. Minghella's 1996 adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's poetic novel The English Patient was the director's most critically and commercially successful film and went on to win dozens of awards around the world, including nine academy awards. Minghella followed this film with his entertaining, elegant adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, a film that enjoyed great critical and commercial success and featured some of the best acting of the 1990s by its talented cast of young, rising stars, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Minghella's ambitious adaptation of Charles Frazier's American Civil War romance, Cold Mountain, was released in 2003, and firmly marked Minghella as a director of intimate, yet large-scale epic cinema worthy of David Lean.
Although Minghella was a successful film director and producer, he was also an important part of the cultural life of the U.K. He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2001 for his contributions to culture, and he was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute from 2004 to 2007.
About the Author
Mario Falsetto (1950-2020) was professor of film studies at Concordia University (Montreal) for over thirty years. He is author of several books, including The Making of Alternative Cinema: Volume 1: Dialogues with Independent Filmmakers and Stanley Kubrick: A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis.
Book Information
ISBN 9781496858009
Author Mario Falsetto
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint University Press of Mississippi
Publisher University Press of Mississippi
Series Conversations with Filmmakers Series