Robert Altman
Robert Altman | |
---|---|
Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Years active | 1947–2006 |
Known for | M*A*S*H (1970) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) The Long Goodbye (1973) Nashville (1975) 3 Women (1977) The Player (1992) Short Cuts (1993) Gosford Park (2001) The Company (2003) |
Spouses | |
Children | 6, including Thirteenth Air Force 307th Bombardment Group |
Battles/wars |
|
Awards |
Robert Bernard Altman (/ˈɔːltmən/ AWLT-mən; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era. His most famous directorial achievements include M*A*S*H (1970), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975), 3 Women (1977), The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Gosford Park (2001), and The Company (2003).
Altman's style of filmmaking covered many genres, but usually with a "subversive" or "anti-Hollywood" twist which typically relied on satire and humor to express his personal views. Actors especially enjoyed working under his direction because he encouraged them to improvise. He preferred large ensemble casts for his films, and developed a multitrack recording technique which produced overlapping dialogue from multiple actors. This produced a more natural, more dynamic, and more complex experience for the viewer. He also used highly mobile camera work and zoom lenses to enhance the activity taking place on the screen. Critic Pauline Kael, writing about his directing style, said that Altman could "make film fireworks out of next to nothing."[1]
In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Altman's body of work with an Academy Honorary Award. He never won a competitive Oscar despite seven nominations. His films M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye and Nashville have been selected for the United States National Film Registry. Altman is one of three filmmakers whose films have won the Golden Bear at Berlin, the Golden Lion at Venice, and the Palme d'Or at Cannes (the other two being Henri-Georges Clouzot and Michelangelo Antonioni).
Early life
Altman was born on February 20, 1925, in
Soon after graduation, Altman joined the United States Army Air Forces at the age of 18. During World War II, Altman flew more than 50 bombing missions as a co-pilot of a B-24 Liberator with the 307th Bomb Group in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies.[8][9] Upon his discharge in 1947, Altman moved to California. He worked in publicity for a company that had invented a tattooing machine to identify dogs. He entered filmmaking on a whim, selling a script to
Altman also had a career directing plays and operas parallel to his film career. While Altman was employed by the Calvin Company, he began directing plays at the Resident Theatre of the Jewish Community Center. These plays allowed him to work with local actors, such as fellow future director Richard C. Sarafian, whom he directed in a production of Richard Harrity's Hope Is the Thing with Feathers. Sarafian would later marry Altman's sister and follow him to Hollywood.[12]
Career
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2021) |
1950s
Altman's first forays into television directing were on the
1960s
By the 1960s, Altman established himself as a television director due to his ability to work quickly and efficiently on a limited budget. Though he was frequently fired from television projects for refusing to conform to network mandates, Altman always was able to land new assignments. In 1964, the producers decided to expand "Once Upon a Savage Night", one of his episodes of Kraft Suspense Theatre, for release as a television film under the title Nightmare in Chicago. In a 1963 episode, "The Hunt", his cast included James Caan and Bruce Dern.
Two years later, Altman was hired to direct the low-budget space travel feature Countdown, but was fired within days of the project's conclusion because he had refused to edit the film to a manageable length. He worked with Caan again, who led the cast with Robert Duvall. He did not direct another film until That Cold Day in the Park (1969), which was a critical and box-office disaster.
During the decade, Altman began to express political subtexts within his works. In particular, he expressed anti-war sentiments regarding the Vietnam War. Because of this, Altman's career would somewhat suffer as he came to be associated with the anti-war movement.
1970s
In 1969, Altman was offered the script for
Now recognized as a major talent, Altman notched critical successes with McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), a revisionist Western in which the mordant songs of Leonard Cohen underscore a gritty vision of the American frontier; Images, his single, Bergman-inspired attempt at making a horror film, The Long Goodbye (1973), a controversial adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel (scripted by Leigh Brackett) now ranked as a seminal influence on the neo-noir subgenre; Thieves Like Us (1974), an adaptation of the Edward Anderson novel previously filmed by Nicholas Ray as They Live by Night (1949); California Split (1974), a gambling comedy-drama shot partially on location in Reno, Nevada; and Nashville (1975), which had a strong political theme set against the world of country music. The stars of the film wrote their own songs; Keith Carradine won an Academy Award for the song "I'm Easy". Altman's next film, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, won the Golden Bear at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival.
Although his films were often met with divisive notices, and some, like
1980s
In 1980, he directed the musical film
In 1981, the director sold Lion's Gate to producer
Unable to secure major financing in the post-New Hollywood
In 1982, after finishing work on Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Altman travelled to Dallas to film his next film,
After the critical success of his three successive theatrical adaptations, Altman attempted to return to Hollywood with the
While O.C. and Stiggs was shelved, Altman returned to theatrical adaptations and to the University of Michigan to film Secret Honor, using his students as crew members. Based on a one man-play about former president Richard Nixon, the film starred Philip Baker Hall as the ex-president. In 2008, the University of Michigan Library acquired Altman's archive.[18]
Adapted by Altman and
Disappointed by his string of critical and commercial failures, including the still-unreleased O.C. and Stiggs, Altman moved to Paris. There, he shot another television film, The Laundromat, which he completed before Fool for Love. He then wrote and directed Beyond Therapy, which proved to be one of his biggest failures. Altman then mounted his second production of The Rake's Progress, this time at the prestigious Opéra de Lille. The Opéra was undergoing financial collapse at the time, and its failure to regain money through ambitious productions caused it close later that year. Altman also used a selection from Jean-Phillipe Rameau's Les Boréades as the basis for his contribution to Aria, which was shown at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival to mixed reception. Altman made his next television film, Basements, based on two plays by Harold Pinter. Though Pinter wrote the screenplay himself, this film became the latest of Altman's failures. The long-awaited release of O.C. and Stiggs that year was also panned.
Altman finally regained a modicum of critical favor in 1988 for his television work. He returned to America early that year to shoot the
1990s
In 1990, Altman directed Vincent & Theo, a biographical film about Vincent van Gogh that was intended as a television miniseries for broadcast in the United Kingdom. A theatrical version of the film was a modest success in the United States, marking a significant turning point in the director's critical resurgence.[a][b]
He revitalized his career in earnest with
Altman then directed
Between shooting and editing Short Cuts, Altman made his return to opera as the director and co-librettist of McTeague. Altman was hired on the project by William Bolcom, who had been commissioned with his regular librettist, Arnold Weinstein, to write an opera by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Bolcom, a teacher at the University of Michigan, had admired Altman's first production of The Rake's Progress a decade prior and asked him for help adapting Frank Norris's novel.[21] After finishing Short Cuts, Altman directed two episodes of Great Performances. The first was an R&B revue; the second was a television adaptation of McTeague.
The rest of the 1990s saw limited success for Altman. His 1994 release
He did close the decade on a high note, with 1999's Cookie's Fortune, a quirky black comedy about the suicide of a wealthy dowager, his first film in almost 6 years to make back its budget, and which earned him generally positive praise from critics. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.[22]
2000s
Though Altman's first film of the new millennium,
Altman returned to the stage twice more. In 2004 He reunited with Bolcom, Weinstein, and the Lyric Opera to adapt his 1978 film, A Wedding, as an opera. It was generally well received.
Working with independent studios such as the now-shuttered Fine Line, Artisan (which was absorbed into today's
In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Altman an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement. During his acceptance speech, he revealed that he had received a heart transplant approximately ten or eleven years earlier. The director then quipped that perhaps the academy had acted prematurely in recognizing the body of his work, as he felt like he might have four more decades of life ahead of him.
Directing style and technique
Maverick and auteur
Following his successful career in television, Altman began his new career in the film industry when he was in middle-age. He understood the creative limits imposed by the television medium, and now set out to direct and write films which would express his personal visions about American society and Hollywood. His films would later be described as "auteuristic attacks" and "idiosyncratic variations" of traditional films, typically using subtle comedy or satire as a way of expressing his observations.[1]
His films were typically related to political, ideological, and personal subjects, and Altman was known for "refusing to compromise his own artistic vision."[26] He has been described as "anti-Hollywood," often ignoring the social pressures that affected others in the industry, which made it more difficult for him to get many of his films seen. He said his independence as a filmmaker helped him overall:
I don't think there's a filmmaker alive, or who ever lived, who's had a better shake than I've had. I've never been without a project and it's always been a project of my own choosing. So I don't know how much better it could be. I have not become a mogul, I don't build castles and I don't have a vast personal fortune, but I have been able to do what I've wanted to do and I've done it a lot.[27]
"Altman was a genuine movie maverick," states author Ian Freer, because he went against the commercial conformity of the film industry: "He was the scourge of the film establishment, and his work generally cast an astute, scathing eye over the breadth of American culture, often exploding genres and character archetypes; Altman was fascinated by people with imperfections, people as they really are, not as the movies would have you believe."[28] Director Alan Rudolph, during a special tribute to Altman, refers to his moviemaking style as "Altmanesque."[29]
With his independent style of directing, he developed a bad reputation among screenwriters and those on the business side of films. He admits, "I have a bad reputation with writers, developed over the years: 'Oh, he doesn't do what you write, blah blah blah.' ...
His reputation among actors was better. With them, his independence sometimes extended to his choice of actors, often going against consensus.
You know, all this talk about Bob being this kind of irascible, difficult kind of person? Well, he was never that way with an actor or with a creative person that I saw. Never, never, never. He saved all that for the money people.[32]: 431
Director
Sally Kellerman, noting Altman's willful attitude, looked back with regret at giving up a chance to act in one of his films:
I had just finished filming Last of the Red Hot Lovers when Bob called me one day at home. "Sally, do you want to be in my picture after next?" he asked. "Only if it's a good part," I said. He hung up on me.
Bob was as stubborn and arrogant as I was at the time, but the sad thing is that I cheated myself out of working with someone I loved so much, someone who made acting both fun and easy and who trusted his actors. Bob loved actors. Stars would line up to work for nothing for Bob Altman.[33]
Themes and subjects
Unlike directors whose work fits within various film genres, such as Westerns, musicals, war films, or comedies, Altman's work has been defined as more "anti-genre" by various critics.[26] This is partly due to the satirical and comedy nature of many of his films. Geraldine Chaplin, daughter of Charlie Chaplin, compared the humor in his films to her father's films:
They're funny in the right way. Funny in a critical way — of what the world is and the world we live in. They were both geniuses in their way. They alter your experience of reality. They have their world and they have their humor. That humor is so rare.[32]: 287
Altman made it clear that he did not like "storytelling" in his films, contrary to the way most television and mainstream film are made. According to Altman biographer Mitchell Zuckoff, "he disliked the word 'story,' believing that a plot should be secondary to an exploration of pure (or, even better, impure) human behavior."[32]: xiii Zuckoff describes the purposes underlying many of Altman's films: "He loved the chaotic nature of real life, with conflicting perspectives, surprising twists, unexplained actions, and ambiguous endings. He especially loved many voices, sometimes arguing, sometimes agreeing, ideally overlapping, a cocktail party or a street scene captured as he experienced it.[32]: xiii Julianne Moore, after seeing some of his movies, credits Altman's style of directing for her decision to become a film actress, rather than a stage actress:
I felt it really strongly. And I thought, "I don't know who this guy is, but that's what I want to do. I want to do that kind of work." From then on I'd see his films whenever I could, and he was always my absolute favorite director, for what he said thematically and emotionally and how he felt about people.[32]: 324
Film author Charles Derry writes that Altman's films "characteristically contain perceptive observations, telling exchanges, and moments of crystal clear revelation of human folly."[26] Because Altman was an astute observer of society and "especially interested in people," notes Derry, many of his film characters had "that sloppy imperfection associated with human beings as they are, with life as it is lived."[26] As a result, his films are often an indirect critique of American society.
For many of Altman's films, the satirical content is evident:
When the picture opened, it was a big, big flop. ... I went to David Picker and said, "You can't do this. No wonder the fucking picture is failing. It's giving the wrong impression. You make it look like a thriller and it's not, it's a satire.[30]
Similarly, Altman also blames the failure of
Improvisation dialogue
Altman favored stories expressing the interrelationships among several characters, being more interested in character motivation than in intricate plots. He therefore tended to sketch out only a basic plot for the film, referring to the screenplay as a "blueprint" for action. By encouraging his actors to improvise dialogue, Altman thus became known as an "actor's director," a reputation that attracted many notable actors to work as part of his large casts. Performers enjoy working with Altman in part because "he provides them with the freedom to develop their characters and often alter the script through improvisation and collaboration," notes Derry. Richard Baskin says that "Bob was rather extraordinary in his way of letting people do what they did. He trusted you to do what you did and therefore you would kill for him."[26]
[32]: 282 Geraldine Chaplin, who acted in Nashville, recalls one of her first rehearsal sessions:
He said, "Have you brought your scripts?" We said yes. He said, "Well, throw them away. You don't need them. You need to know who you are and where you are and who you're with." ... It was like being onstage with a full house every second. All the circus acts you had inside your body you'd do just for him.[32]: 282
Altman regularly let his actors develop a character through improvisation during rehearsal or sometimes during the actual filming.[31] Such improvisation was uncommon in film due to the high cost of film production which requires careful planning, precise scripts, and rehearsal, before costly film was exposed. Nevertheless, Altman preferred to use improvisation as a tool for helping his actors develop their character.[38] Altman said that "once we start shooting it's a very set thing. Improvisation is misunderstood. We don't just turn people loose."[27] Although he tried to avoid dictating an actor's every move, preferring to let them be in control:
When I cast a film, most of my creative work is done. I have to be there to turn the switch on and give them encouragement as a father figure, but they do all the work. ... All I'm trying to do is make it easy on the actor, because once you start to shoot, the actor is the artist. ... I have to give them confidence and see that they have a certain amount of protection so they can be creative. ... I let them do what they became actors for in the first place: to create.[27]
Carol Burnett remembers Altman admitting that many of the ideas in his films came from the actors. "You never hear a director say that. That was truly an astonishing thing," she said.[32]: 328 Others, such as Jennifer Jason Leigh, became creatively driven:
He would inspire you out of sheer necessity to come up with stuff that you didn't know you were capable of, that you didn't know you had in you. He was so genuinely mischievous and so damn funny.[32]: 435
He liked working with many of the same performers, including Shelley Duvall and Bert Remsen (7 films each); Paul Dooley (6 films); Michael Murphy (5 films); Jeff Goldblum, Lily Tomlin, Lyle Lovett, Henry Gibson, David Arkin, and John Schuck (4 films each); Tim Robbins, Carol Burnett, Belita Moreno, Richard E. Grant, Geraldine Chaplin, Craig Richard Nelson, Sally Kellerman and Keith Carradine (3 films each). Krin Gabbard adds that Altman enjoyed using actors "who flourish as improvisers," such as Elliott Gould, who starred in three of his films, M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye and California Split.[31] Gould recalls that when filming M*A*S*H, his first acting job with Altman, he and costar Donald Sutherland didn't think Altman knew what he was doing. He wrote years later, "I think that in hindsight, Donald and I were two elitist, arrogant actors who really weren't getting Altman's genius."[32]: 174 Others in the cast immediately appreciated Altman's directing style. René Auberjonois explains:
We thought that's the way movies were. That they were that joyous an experience. If you had any kind of career, you quickly saw that most directors don't really trust actors, don't really want to see actors acting. That was the difference with Bob Altman. He loved actors and wanted to see acting.[32]: 175
Unlike television and traditional films, Altman also avoided "conventional storytelling," and would opt for showing the "busy confusion of real life," observes Albert Lindauer.[1] Among the various techniques to achieve this effect, his films often include "a profusion of sounds and images, by huge casts or crazy characters, multiple plots or no plots at all, ... and a reliance on improvisation."[1] A few months before he died, Altman tried to summarize the motives behind his filmmaking style:
I equate this work more with painting than with theater or literature. Stories don't interest me. Basically, I'm more interested in behavior. I don't direct, I watch. I have to be thrilled if I expect the audience to be thrilled. Because what I really want to see from an actor is something I've never seen before, so I can't tell them what it is. I try to encourage actors not to take turns. To deal with conversation as conversation. I mean, that's what the job is, I think. It's to make a comfort area so that an actor can go beyond what he thought he could do.[32]: 8
Sound techniques
Altman was one of the few filmmakers who "paid full attention to the possibilities of sound" when filming.[28] He tried to replicate natural conversational sounds, even with large casts, by wiring hidden microphones to actors, then recording them talking over each other with multiple soundtracks.[28] During the filming, he wore a headset to ensure that important dialogue could be heard, without emphasizing it. This produced a "dense audio experience" for viewers, allowing them to hear multiple scraps of dialogue, as if they were listening in on various private conversations. Altman recognized that although large casts hurt a film commercially, "I like to see a lot of stuff going on."[27]
Altman first used overlapping soundtracks in
Film historian/scholar Robert P. Kolker pointed out that the aural and visual simultaneity in Altman's films was critical as that represented an emphasis on the plurality of events, which required viewers to become active spectators.[40]
Ensemble casts
Overlapping dialogue among large groups of actors adds complexity to Altman's films, and they were often criticized as appearing haphazard or disconnected on first viewing. Some of his critics changed their minds after seeing them again. British film critic David Thomson gave Nashville (1975) a bad review after watching it the first time, but later wrote, "But going back to Nashville and some of the earlier films, ... made me reflect: It remains enigmatic how organized or purposeful Nashville is. ... The mosaic, or mix, permits a freedom and a human idiosyncrasy that Renoir might have admired."[41] During the making of the film, the actors were inspired, and co-star Ronee Blakley was convinced of the film's ultimate success:
Yes, I did think it was going to be great, all the work was so good, every actor was inspired, and Altman's team was intensely competent, and he was that rare kind of genius who knows what works and what doesn't at the moment it is happening.[42]
Thomson later recognized those aspects as being part of Altman's style, beginning with
Photography
Altman's distinctive style of directing carried over into his preferences for camerawork. Among them was his use of widescreen compositions, intended to capture the many people or activities taking place on screen at the same time. For some films, such as McCabe and Mrs. Miller, he created a powerful visual atmosphere with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, such as scenes using fluid camerawork, zoom lenses, and a smoky effect using special fog filters.[43] Director Stanley Kubrick told Altman that "the camerawork was wonderful," and asked, "How did you do it?"[44]
In Nashville, Altman used sets with noticeable colors of reds, whites and blues. For The Long Goodbye, he insisted that Zsigmond keep the camera mobile by mounting it to moving objects.[26] Zsigmond states that Altman "wanted to do something different" in this film, and told him he "wanted the camera to move — all the time. Up. down. In and out. Side to side."[44] Cinematographer Roger Deakins, discussing his use of zoom lenses, commented, "I would find it quite exciting to shoot a film with a zoom lens if it was that observational, roving kind of look that Robert Altman was known for. He'd put the camera on a jib arm and float across the scene and pick out these shots as he went along – quite a nice way of working."[43]
Zsigmond also recalls that working with Altman was fun:
We rather enjoyed doing things "improv." Altman is a great improviser. During the first few days of the shoot, he would "create" different approaches on a moment's notice. He would show me how he wanted the camera to move — always move. Which was fun. The actors loved it, and I was always challenged to find ways to shoot what Altman came up with.[44]
Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography in McCabe and Mrs. Miller received a nomination by the British Academy Film Awards.
Music scores
When using music in his films, Altman was known to be highly selective, often choosing music that he personally liked. Director
For Nashville (1975), Altman had numerous new country music songs written by his cast to create a realistic atmosphere. He incorporated a "hauntingly repeated melody" in The Long Goodbye (1973), and employed Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks to score Popeye (1980).[15]: 347
A number of music experts have written about Altman's use of music, including Richard R. Ness, who wrote about the scores for many of Altman's films in an article, considered to be a valuable resource for understanding Altman's filmmaking technique.
Jazz was also significant in
Influence
Directors who are influenced by Altman include Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Judd Apatow, Richard Linklater, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Noah Baumbach, David Gordon Green, the Safdie brothers, Harmony Korine, and Michael Winterbottom.[50][51] Altman gave several directors, including Alan Rudolph, Reza Badiyi, and Richard C. Sarafian, their starts in filmmaking.
Filmography
Awards and honors
Altman received various awards and nominations including seven
Year | Title | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
1970 | M*A*S*H | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
1971 | McCabe & Mrs. Miller | 1 | 1 | ||||
1972 | Images | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
1975 | Nashville | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 1 |
1977 | 3 Women | 1 | |||||
1978 | A Wedding | 2 | 1 | ||||
1982 | Come Back to the Five
and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean |
1 | |||||
1992 | The Player | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | |
1993 | Short Cuts | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
1994 | Prêt-à-Porter | 2 | |||||
2001 | Gosford Park | 7 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
Total | 21 | 3 | 30 | 6 | 33 | 6 |
Personal life
Family
Altman was married three times: His first wife was LaVonne Elmer. They were married from 1947 to 1949, and had a daughter, Christine. His second wife was Lotus Corelli. They were married from 1950 to 1955, and had two sons, Michael and
Kathryn Altman, who died in 2016, co-authored a book about Altman that was published in 2014.[55] She had served as a consultant and narrator for the 2014 documentary Altman, and had spoken at many retrospective screenings of her husband's films.[56]
Homes
In the 1960s, Altman lived for years in
Political views
In November 2000, Altman claimed that he would move to Paris if
Altman despised the television series M*A*S*H which followed his 1970 film, citing it as being the antithesis of what his movie was about, and citing its anti-war messages as being "racist". In the 2001 DVD commentary for M*A*S*H, he stated clearly the reasons for which he disapproved of the series.[64]
Death and legacy
Altman died from leukemia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006, at the age of 81.[65][66]
Fellow film director Paul Thomas Anderson dedicated his 2007 film There Will Be Blood to Altman.[67] Anderson had worked as a standby director on A Prairie Home Companion for insurance purposes in the event the ailing 80-year-old Altman would be unable to finish shooting.
During a celebration tribute to Altman a few months after his death, he was described as a "passionate filmmaker" and auteur who rejected convention, creating what director Alan Rudolph called an "Altmanesque" style of films.[29] He preferred large casts of actors and natural overlapping conversations, and encouraged his actors to improvise and express their innate creativity without fear of failing. Lily Tomlin compared him to "a great benign patriarch who was always looking out for you as an actor," adding that "you're not afraid to take chances with him."[68]
Many of his films are described as "acid satires and counterculture character studies that redefined and reinvigorated modern cinema."[68] Although his films spanned most film genres, such as Westerns, musicals, war films, or comedies, he was considered "anti-genre," and his films were "candidly subversive." He was known to hate the "phoniness" he saw in most mainstream films, and "he wanted to explode them" through satire.[65]
Actor Tim Robbins, who starred in a number of Altman's films, describes some of the unique aspects of his directing method:
He created a unique and wonderful world on his sets, ... where the mischievous dad unleashed the "children actors" to play. Where your imagination was encouraged, nurtured, laughed at, embraced and Altman-ized. A sweet anarchy that many of us hadn't felt since the schoolyard, unleashed by Bob's wild heart.[69]
Altman's personal archives are located at the University of Michigan, which include about 900 boxes of personal papers, scripts, legal, business and financial records, photographs, props and related material. Altman had filmed Secret Honor at the university, as well as directed several operas there.[18][70]
Since 2009, the Robert Altman Award is awarded to the director, casting director, and ensemble cast of films at the yearly Independent Spirit Awards.
In 2014, a feature-length documentary film, Altman, was released, which looks at his life and work with film clips and interviews.[71]
See also
Notes
- ^ Powerfully realized study of Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo marks a return to the mainstream arena for director Robert Altman. Brilliantly acted, splendid film fare should be welcomed in specialty houses and beyond.[19]
- ^ When The Player came out in 1992, it was greeted as a welcome comeback for director Robert Altman, who spent much of the previous decade working small—making filmed plays instead of the ambitious, character-heavy genre reinventions he'd been known for in the 1970s. But Altman actually reclaimed his "critics' darling" status two years earlier with Vincent & Theo, a luminous biopic about painter Vincent Van Gogh (played by Tim Roth) and his art-dealer brother (Paul Rhys).[20]
References
- ^ a b c d e f John Wakeman, ed. World Film Directors – Vol. 2, H. W. Wilson Co., N.Y. (1988) pp. 29–39
- ^ Lemons, Stephen. "Robert Altman". Salon.com. p. 2. Archived from the original on December 8, 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
- ^ a b The Daily Telegraph (November 22, 2006). "Robert Altman, 81, Mercurial Director of Masterworks and Flops". The New York Sun. Archived from the original on January 16, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "The Religious Affiliation of Robert Altman". Adherents.com. July 28, 2005. Archived from the original on February 4, 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Interview: Robert Altman", The Guardian
- ^ "Spotlight: Catholics at the Movies". Catholichistory.net. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
- ^ Butler, Robert W. (March 5, 2006). "Finally, An Attitude Adjustment: Hollywood's Establishment Now Embraces Rebel Director Altman". The Kansas City Star. p. 5.
- ^ Robert Altman, 81. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
- ^ "Famous B-24/PB4Y Crew Members". B-24 Best Web. 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
- ^ "Fan uncovers Robert Altman's first film". Content.usatoday.com. March 14, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
- ^ "Robert Altman's Lost Classic: 'Modern Football'". Forbes. March 13, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-307-38791-2.
- ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
- ISBN 0-520-23265-8.
- ^ a b McGilligan, Patrick (1989). Robert Altman: Jumping off the cliff. Macmillan.
- Country Music Television. November 21, 2006. Archived from the originalon November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
- ^ Stephenson, Hunter. "The Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Saga of O.C. and Stiggs". collectivecargo.com. Apology Magazine. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
- ^ a b "Altman at the University of Michigan" (online exhibit). The many hats of Robert Altman: A life in cinema. University of Michigan.
- ^ Kelleher, Ed (November 1, 1990). "Buying and Booking Guide: Vincent & Theo". The Film Journal. 93 (10): 38–39.
- ^ Murray, Noel (March 30, 2015). "Vincent & Theo". The Dissolve. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016.
- ^ Christiansen, Richard (October 25, 1992). "'McTeague' for Two : Filmmaker Robert Altman teams with composer William Bolcom to create an opera out of a tragic turn-of-the-century tale of greed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 18, 2006. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
- ^ Hoffman, Gary; Tommasini, Anthony (December 13, 2004). "A Wedding in Chicago: Two Reviews". operatoday.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-307-38791-2.
- ^ Green, Willow (October 6, 2006). "Robert Altman Has A Hard Body". Empire. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hillstrom, Laurie Collier, ed. (1997). International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Vol. 2. St. James Press. pp. 12–17.
- ^ a b c d e Stevens, George Jr. (2012). Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers. Random House. pp. 3–16.
- ^ a b c Freer, Ian (2009). Moviemakers. London, UK: Quercus. pp. 106–109.
- ^ a b Carr, David (February 21, 2007). "A very Altmanesque tribute to Altman". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d Thompson, David, ed. (2010). Altman on Altman (ebook ed.). Faber & Faber.
- ^ a b c d e Armstrong, Rick, ed. (2011). Robert Altman: Critical essays. McFarland. pp. 12, 21.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-307-26768-9.
- ^ Kellerman, Sally (2013). Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood life. Weinstein Books. p. 146.
- ^ Wood, Robin (November 23, 1973). "Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism" (PDF). 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 20, 2013.
- ^ Kennedy, Matthew (April 2001). "The Nashville Chronicles: The making of Robert Altman's masterpiece". book review.
- ^ "A Wedding". Rotten Tomatoes (film review). August 29, 1978.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (April 10, 1992). "The Player". The New York Times (movie review).
- ^ Sterritt, David (2004). Screening the Beats: Media culture and the beat sensibility. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 70.
- ^ Barson, Michael (1995). The Illustrated Who's-Who of Hollywood Directors. Noonday Press. pp. 12–15.
- JSTOR j.ctt1b7x793.7. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
- ^ a b Thomson, David (2002). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 13–14.
- ^ "Ronee Blakley Reflects About Robert Altman's epic film 'Nashville'" Archived November 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Indiewire, November 3, 2013
- ^ a b Frost, Jacqueline B. (2009). Cinematography for Directors: A guide for creative collaboration. Michael Wiese Productions. pp. 46, 221.
- ^ a b c Rogers, Pauline S. (2000). More Contemporary Cinematographers on Their Art. Focal Press. pp. 178–179.
- ^ Simmons, Sylvie (2012). I'm Your Man: The life of Leonard Cohen. Random House. Chapter 13.
- ^ Ness, Richard R. (2011). "Doing Some Replacin'". In Rick Armstrong McFarland (ed.). Robert Altman: Critical Essays. pp. 38–59.
- ^ "Krin Gabbard". Cultural Analysis and Theory. Stonybrook.edu. Faculty. Stony Brook University. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
- ^ Self, Robert T. (2002). Robert Altman's Subliminal Reality. Univ. of Minnesota Press. p. 9.
- ^ Altman, Robert (2000). Robert Altman: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 212.
- ^ "Robert Altman: the genius who 'reinvented the language of cinema". The Guardian. March 19, 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
- ^ James, Caryn (July 29, 2014). "New Documentary Focuses on Director Robert Altman". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
- ^ Lyman, Rick (November 21, 2006). "Robert Altman, iconoclastic director, dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
- ^ "Director Robert Altman dies at 81". Today.com. MSNBC. November 22, 2006. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ "Altman obituary". CNN. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 21, 2006.
- ISBN 978-1-4197-0777-3.
- ^ Weber, Bruce (March 18, 2016). "Kathryn Reed Altman, film director's widow and archivist, dies at 91". The New York Times.
- ^ Peter Biskind, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, New York: Touchstone Books, 1998
- ^ Harris, Lew (September 16, 2009). "Obit: 'Laugh-In's' Henry Gibson Dies at 73". Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ "Inboxer Rebellion". snopes.com. March 13, 2002.
- ^ "NORML Advisory Board". Norml.org. Archived from the original on November 26, 2002. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ Suzie Mackenzie (May 1, 2004). "Still up to mischief (Suzie Mackenzie interviewing Altman)". The Guardian. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
Still, it's worth noting that by the age of 20 this whistle-blower had resisted two of the most powerful institutions – church and army, both. He is an atheist, "And I have been against all of these wars ever since."
- ^ "20 Questions, 2 Choices". The Birmingham News. June 3, 2005.
- ^ "Robert Altman". The Guardian. Interview. London, UK.[dead link]
- ^ "'MASH' filmmaker says he hates series". January 16, 2002.
- ^ a b Lyman, Rick (November 22, 2006). "Robert Altman, Director With Daring, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ^ Ebert, Roger; Madsen, Virginia (November 10, 2008). "Robert Altman (1925–2006): His dangerous angel remembers". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-905674-61-9.
- ^ a b "Remembering Robert Altman" Archived April 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Entertainment Weekly, November 24, 2006
- ^ "An Altmanesque celebration for a maverick American director: Robert Altman, 1925–2006". Indiewire. February 21, 2007.
- ^ "K.C. native Altman's papers heading for Michigan, not K.C." Kansas City Star. April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on June 10, 2009. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
- ^ Mann, Ron (November 4, 2014). "Altman". IMDb.com. Michael Murphy, Robert Altman, Kathryn Reed. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
Bibliography
- "Robert Altman Bibliography". U.C. Berkeley.
- ISBN 978-83-60236-36-9.
- Caso, Frank (2015). Robert Altman in the American Grain. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78023-522-6.
- The director's commentary on the McCabe & Mrs. Miller DVD, while focusing on that film, also to some degree covers Altman's general methodology as a director.
- Judith M. Kass. Robert Altman: American Innovator early (1978) assessment of the director's work and his interest in gambling. Part of Leonard Maltin's Popular Library filmmaker series.
- The English band Maxïmo Park have a song named "Robert Altman," a b-side to their single "Our Velocity."
- The Criterion Collection has released several of Altman's films on DVD (Short Cuts, 3 Women, Tanner 88, Secret Honor) which include audio commentary and video interviews with him that shed light on his directing style.
- Warren, Charles (2006). Crouse, Jeffey (ed.). "Cavell, Altman and Cassavetes". Film International. Stanley Cavell special issue. Vol. 4, no. 22. pp. 14–20.
- Rick Armstrong, "Robert Altman: Critical Essays" Actors, historians, film scholars, and cultural theorists reflect on Altman and his five-decade career... (McFarland, February 18, 2011.)
- Mitchell Zuckoff, Robert Altman: The Oral Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. ISBN 978-0-307-26768-9
- Description and details on the Short Cuts Soundtrackfor more in-depth information about this title.
- Helene Keyssar, Robert Altman's America. Oxford, 1991.
External links
- Finding Aids for the Robert Altman Papers (1945–2007), Special Collections Library, University of Michigan
- Robert Altman at IMDb
- Robert Altman at the Internet Broadway Database
- Robert Altman at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Robert Altman at the Criterion Collection
- Listen to Robert Altman discussing his career
- Archived January 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine – a British Library recording.
- Robert Altman bibliography via UC Berkeley Media Resources Center.
- Still up to mischief – The Guardian, May 1, 2004.
- Reverse Shot interview
- Ebert's Altman Home Companion
- Archived February 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- Gerald Peary interview
- Literature on Robert Altman
- "Altman: Would you go to a movie that was hailed as a masterpiece?" by Roger Ebert
- Archived July 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- Bomb magazine interview
- Archived November 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Artist of the Month: Robert Altman at Hyena Productions
- Archived November 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- The films of Robert Altman, Hell Is For Hyphenates, June 30, 2014.
- Robert Altman Obituary, by Stephen Rea, 'Field Day Review 3' (Dublin, 2007)
- Robert Altman receiving the Academy Honorary Award in 2006 on YouTube, 11 min.
- Robert Altman on the Dick Cavett Show on YouTube, 7 min.
- Documentary on the making of Robert Altman's Short Cuts on YouTube, 90 min.
- Documentary: Robert Altman in England on YouTube, 60 min.