Miloš Forman

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Miloš Forman
Milos Forman.jpg
Forman at the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2009
Born
Jan Tomáš Forman

(1932-02-18)18 February 1932
Čáslav, Czechoslovakia
(now the Czech Republic)
Died13 April 2018(2018-04-13) (aged 86)
Danbury, Connecticut, U.S.[1]
OccupationActor, director, screenwriter
Years active1953–2011
Known for
Spouse(s)
Jana Brejchová
(m. 1958; div. 1962)

Věra Křesadlová
(m. 1964; div. 1999)

Martina Zbořilová
(m. 1999; died 2018)
Children4
Signature
Miloš Forman (signature).svg

Jan Tomáš Forman (Czech: [ˈmɪloʃ ˈforman]; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech American film director, screenwriter, actor and professor who, until 1968, lived and worked primarily in the former Czechoslovakia.

Forman was an important component of the Czechoslovak New Wave. His 1967 film The Firemen's Ball, on the surface a naturalistic representation of an ill-fated social event in a provincial town, was seen by both film scholars and authorities in Czechoslovakia as a biting satire on Eastern European Communism. As a result, it was banned for many years in Forman's home country.

After Forman left Czechoslovakia for the United States, two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984), acquired particular renown, and both gained him an Academy Award for Best Director. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest became the second film to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Leading Role, Actress in Leading Role, Director, and Screenplay) after It Happened One Night in 1934—an accomplishment not repeated until 1991, by The Silence of the Lambs.

Forman was also nominated for a Best Director Oscar for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). He also won Golden Globe, Cannes, Berlinale, BAFTA, Cesar, David di Donatello, European Film Academy, and Czech Lion awards.[2]

Career[edit]

Along with future favorite cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček and longtime schoolfriend Ivan Passer, Forman filmed the silent documentary Semafor about Semafor theater.[3] Forman's first important production was the documentary Audition whose subject was competing singers.[4] He directed several Czech comedies in Czechoslovakia. However, during the Prague Spring and the ensuing 1968 invasion, he was in Paris negotiating the production of his first American film.[5] His employer, a Czech studio, fired him, and he then decided to move to the United States.[6] He moved to New York, where he later became a professor of film at Columbia University in 1978 and co-chair (with his former teacher František Daniel) of Columbia's film department.[5] One of his protégés was future director James Mangold, whom Forman had mentored at Columbia.[7]

In 1977, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[4]

In 1985, he headed the Cannes film festival and in 2000 did the same for the Venice festival.[8] He presided over a ceremony of Caesar in 1988.[9]

In 1997, he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[10] Forman performed alongside actor Edward Norton in Norton's directorial debut, Keeping the Faith (2000), as the wise friend to Norton's conflicted priest.[8]

In April 2007, he took part in the jazz opera Dobře placená procházka, itself a remake of the TV film he made in 1966.[11] It premiered at the Prague National Theatre, directed by Forman's son, Petr Forman.[11]

Forman received an honorary degree in 2009 from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, US.[12]

He regularly collaborated with cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček.[6]

Films[edit]

Loves of a Blonde (1965)[edit]

Loves of a Blonde is one of the best–known movies of the Czechoslovak New Wave, and won awards at the Venice and Locarno film festivals. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967.[13]

The Firemen's Ball (1967)[edit]

Main article: The Firemen's Ball

A 1967 Czechoslovak–Italian co-production, this was Forman's first color film. It is one of the best–known movies of the Czechoslovak New Wave. On the face of it a naturalistic representation of an ill-fated social event in a provincial town, the film has been seen by both film scholars and the then-authorities in Czechoslovakia as a biting satire on East European Communism, which resulted in it being banned for many years in Forman's home country.[8] The Czech term zhasnout (to switch lights off), associated with petty theft in the film, was used to describe the large-scale asset stripping that occurred in the country during the 1990s.[6]

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.[14]

Taking Off (1971)[edit]

The first movie Forman made in the United States, Taking Off won the Grand Prix at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. The film starred Lynn Carlin and Buck Henry, and also featured Linnea Heacock as Jeannie. The film was critically panned and left Forman struggling to find work.[4] Forman later said that it did so poorly he ended up owing the studio $500.[5]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)[edit]

Main article: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)

Despite the failure of Taking Off, producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz hired him to direct the adaptation of Ken Kesey's cult novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Forman later said they hired him because he was in their price range.[5] Starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, the adaptation was a critical and commercial success. The film won Oscars in the five most important categories: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. One of only three films in history to do so (alongside It Happened One Night and The Silence of the Lambs), it firmly established Forman's reputation.[4]

Hair (1979)[edit]

Main article: Hair (film)

The success of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest allowed Forman to direct his long-planned film version of Hair in 1979, a rock musical based on the Broadway musical by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot. The film starred Treat Williams, John Savage and Beverly D'Angelo. It was disowned by the writers of the original musical, and, although it received positive reviews, it did not do well financially.[6]

Amadeus (1984)[edit]

Main article: Amadeus (film)

Forman's next important achievement was an adaptation of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. Retelling the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, it starred Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, and F. Murray Abraham. The film was internationally acclaimed and won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (for Abraham).[5]

Valmont (1989)[edit]

Main article: Valmont (film)

Forman's adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's novel Les Liaisons dangereuses had its premiere on November 17, 1989. Another film adaptation by Stephen Frears from the same source material had been released the previous year and overshadowed Forman's adaptation.[5] The film starred Colin Firth, Meg Tilly, and Annette Bening.[4]

The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)[edit]

Main article: The People vs. Larry Flynt

The 1996 biographical film of the pornography mogul Larry Flynt brought Forman another Oscar nomination.[2] The film starred Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton, but although it was critically acclaimed, made only $20 million at the box office.[5]

Man on the Moon (1999)[edit]

Main article: Man on the Moon (film)

The biography of famous actor and avant-garde comic Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey, who won a Golden Globe for his performance) premiered on December 22, 1999. The film also starred Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, and Paul Giamatti. Several actors from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest appeared in the film, including DeVito.

Goya's Ghosts (2006)[edit]

Main article: Goya's Ghosts

This biography of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya (an American-Spanish co-production) premiered on November 8, 2006. The film starred Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård and Randy Quaid. It struggled at the box office.[5]

Unfinished projects[edit]

In the late 1950s, Forman and Josef Škvorecký started adapting Škvorecký's short story Eine kleine Jazzmusik for the screen. The script, named Kapela to vyhrála (The Band Won It), tells the story of a student jazz band during the Nazi Occupation of Czechoslovakia. The script was submitted to Barrandov Film Studios. The studio required changes and both artists continued to rewrite the script. Right before the film started shooting, the whole project was completely scrapped, most probably due to intervention from people at the top of the political scene, as Škvorecký had just published his novel The Cowards, which was strongly criticized by communist politicians.[15] The story Eine kleine Jazzmusik was dramatized as a TV film in the 1990s.[16] In the spring and summer of 1968, Škvorecký and Forman cooperated again by jointly writing a script synopsis to make a film version of The Cowards. After Škvorecký fled the Warsaw Pact invasion the synopsis was translated into English, but no film was made.

In the early 1990s, Forman co-wrote a screenplay with Adam Davidson. The screenplay, titled Hell Camp, was about an American-Japanese love affair in the world of sumo wrestlers. The picture was funded by TriStar Pictures and cancelled just four days before shooting because of the disapproval of the Japan Sumo Association, while Forman refused to make the changes requested by the association.[15]

In the early 2000s, Forman developed a film project to be titled Ember, adapted by Jean-Claude Carrière from Hungarian novelist Sándor Márai’s novel. The film was about two men in the former Austria-Hungary Empire from different social backgrounds who become friends in military school and meet again 41 years later. Forman cast Sean Connery and Klaus Maria Brandauer as well as Winona Ryder. Several months before shooting, Sean Connery and the Italian producer had a disagreement and Connery withdrew from the project. Forman was so convinced that Sean Connery fit the role that he didn’t want to shoot the film without him and cancelled the project a few days before the shooting was due to start.[15]

In the late 2000s, the screenplay for Ghost of Munich was written by Forman, Jean-Claude Carriere, and Vaclav Havel (the former Czech president and writer, who had studied at school with Forman), inspired by the novel by the French novelist Georges-Marc Benamou. The story takes a closer look at the events that surrounded the Munich Agreement. The role of the French Prime Minister was supposed to have been played by the French actor Mathieu Amalric with his older self played by Gérard Depardieu. However, the production company Pathé was not able to fund the project.[15]

Miloš Forman Cinema in Čáslav[edit]

In Forman's hometown, there is a cinema bearing his name – Kino Miloše Formana (Cinema of Miloš Forman). It is not directly connected with him, but as a prominent native, his legacy has been honored. The cinema has seventeen rows and a total of 199 seats, including 8 double seats for couples. The doubles are still not quite common in such small cinemas. Between 2011 and 2013, the cinema was gradually renovated. In particular, there was a change of seats, floors and new modern air-conditioning was introduced. There was also a new possibility of screening in 3D. The investment was around three million Czech crowns (US$120,000) to that date.

Personal life[edit]

Actress Hana Brejchová was Forman's 18-year-old former sister-in-law at the time she was given her first film role in his international success Loves of a Blonde, which earned her third place in the Best Actress category at the Venice Film Festival.[17]

Forman was born in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), the son of Anna (née Švábová), who ran a summer hotel. When young, he believed his biological father to be Rudolf Forman, a professor.[18]

Both Rudolf and Anna were Protestant. During the Nazi occupation, as a member of the anti-Nazi Underground, Rudolf Forman was arrested for distributing banned books, and died while being interrogated by the Gestapo in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, in 1944.[19][20] Forman's mother had died in Auschwitz in the previous year.[21] Forman said that he did not fully understand what had happened to them until he saw footage of the concentration camps when he was 16.[20]

Forman was subsequently raised by two uncles, and by family friends.[22] His older brother, Pavel Forman, a painter 12 years his senior, immigrated to Australia after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.[3] Forman later discovered that his biological father was in fact a Jewish architect, Otto Kohn, a survivor of the Holocaust;[21][23] Forman was thus a half-brother of the mathematician Joseph J. Kohn.[3]

In his youth, Forman wanted to become a theatrical producer. After the war, he attended the elite King George boarding school in the spa town Poděbrady, where his fellow students included Václav Havel, the Mašín brothers and future film-makers Ivan Passer and Jerzy Skolimowski.[24]

He later studied screenwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He was assistant of Alfred Radok, creator of Laterna Magika. During the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in summer 1968, he left Europe for the United States.[citation needed]

Forman's first wife was Czech movie star Jana Brejchová. They met during the making of the movie Štěňata (1957). They divorced in 1962. Forman had twin sons with his second wife, Czech actress Věra Křesadlová. They separated in 1969. Their twin sons, Petr and Matěj Forman (born 1964), are both involved in the theatre.

Forman married Martina Zbořilová on November 28, 1999. They also had twin sons, Jim and Andy (born 1999).[5]

Forman was professor emeritus of film at Columbia University.[25] Forman was a mentor to future director James Mangold, who studied under Forman.

In 1996, he had an asteroid, 11333 Forman, named after him.[6]

In 2009, a documentary film about Forman directed by Miloš Šmídmajer was produced – Miloš Forman: Co te nezabije....[citation needed]

Forman wrote poems and, in 1994, published an autobiography called Turnaround.[6]

After a short illness, he died at Danbury Hospital near his home in Warren, Connecticut, on Friday, 13 April 2018, at the age of 86.[1][26][27][28]

Filmography[edit]

Year Film[29] Oscar nominations Oscar wins Director Writer Actor Role
1954 Slovo dělá ženu (A Woman as Good as Her Word)[30] Yes
1954 Stříbrný vítr (Silver wind)[30] Yes
1955 Nechte to na mně (Leave it to me)[30] Yes
1958 Štěňata (Puppies)[30] Yes
1963 Kdyby ty muziky nebyly (Why do we need the bands?)[31] Yes
Konkurs (Audition)[32] Yes
1964 Black Peter (Černý Petr)[32] Yes Yes
1965 Loves of a Blonde (Lásky jedné plavovlásky)[32] 1 Yes Yes
1966 Dobře placená procházka (A well paid walk)[11] Yes
1967 The Firemen's Ball (Hoří, má panenko)[33] 1 Yes Yes
1971 Taking Off[32] Yes Yes
I Miss Sonia Henie (Short Film)[34] Yes
1973 Visions of Eight[32] Yes
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest[32] 9 5 Yes
1979 Hair[32] Yes
1981 Ragtime[32] 8 Yes
1984 Amadeus[32] 11 8 Yes
1986 Heartburn[32] Yes Dmitri
1989 Valmont[32] 1 Yes Yes
New Year's Day[32] Yes Lazlo
1996 The People vs. Larry Flynt[32] 2 Yes
1999 Man on the Moon[32] Yes
2000 Keeping the Faith[32] Yes Father Havel
2006 Goya's Ghosts[32] Yes Yes
2008 Chelsea on the Rocks[32] Yes
2009 Peklo s princeznou (Hell with a Princess)[30] Yes
2011 The Beloved (Les Bien-aimés)[32] Yes Jaromil

Theatre work[edit]

  • Laterna magika (1958, writer)[35]
  • Laterna magika II (1960, writer)[35]
  • The Little Black Book (1972, director)[35]
  • A Walk Worthwhile (2007, director)[35]

Awards, nominations and honours[edit]

Academy Awards[edit]

Golden Globe Awards[edit]

Cannes Film Festival[edit]

Berlin Film Festival[edit]

British Academy Film Awards[edit]

César Awards[edit]

David di Donatello awards[edit]

Others[edit]

The state prize of Klement Gottwald[edit]

Czech Lion[edit]

List of Greatest Czechs[edit]

Doctor of Humane Letters[edit]

Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Forman, Oscar-winning director of 'Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus', dies at 86". Reuters. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b List of Milos Forman nominations Archived January 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.. Awardsdatabase.oscars.org (January 29, 2010). Retrieved on June 23, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "The Story of Famed Czech Director Miloš Forman". Cityspy. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e "The Story of Famed Czech Director Miloš Forman (Part II)". CitySpy. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Milos Forman, Oscar-Winning Director of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Milos Forman's Masterclass". Grapevine. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  7. ^ "A Visit to James Mangold's Office". Criterion.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Milos Forman, Oscar-Winning Director of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' Dies at 86". Variety.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  9. ^ "Présidences de Cérémonie". Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  10. ^ "KVIFF History". KVIFF.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  11. ^ a b c "A Walk Worthwhile". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  12. ^ "News Articles in 2009". Emerson College.
  13. ^ "The 39th Academy Awards (1967) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  14. ^ "The 41st Academy Awards (1969) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  15. ^ a b c d Miloš Forman: Unrealized Projects
  16. ^ ČSFD: Eine kleine Jazzmusik (TV film)
  17. ^ "Hana Brejchová". Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze. POMO Media Group. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  18. ^ Milos Forman biography; filmreference.com; retrieved June 23, 2011.
  19. ^ See entry Rudolf Forman in the memorial book of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp
  20. ^ a b Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. H. W. Wilson Company. 1988. 349–356.
  21. ^ a b Tugend, Tom. (July 19, 2007) Milos Forman directs Natalie Portman in 'Goya's Ghosts'—film melds art tour and history | Arts. Jewish Journal. Retrieved on June 23, 2011.
  22. ^ Milos Forman Biography, Britannica.com, February 14, 2018; retrieved February 25, 2018.
  23. ^ Turnaround Review – Milos Forman – Salem on Literature. Enotes.com. Retrieved on June 23, 2011.
  24. ^ I Had a Wild Life. The Guardian; retrieved June 23, 2011.
  25. ^ Milos Forman page at Columbia University. Directory.columbia.edu; retrieved June 23, 2011.
  26. ^ "Milos Forman, Oscar-winning director, dies at 86". The Boston Globe. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  27. ^ http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-milos-forman-obit-20180414-story.html
  28. ^ Forman, Oscar-winning director of 'Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus', dies at 86
  29. ^ "Miloš Forman". Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  30. ^ a b c d e "Filmography". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  31. ^ "Kdyby ty muziky nebyly". Zurich Film Festival. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Milos Forman". BFI. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  33. ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Fireman's Ball". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  34. ^ "I Miss Sonia Henie". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  35. ^ a b c d "Theatre Projects". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  36. ^ a b c d "Milos Forman". Golden Globes. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  37. ^ a b "Milos FORMAN -Festival de Cannes 2018". Cannes Festival. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  38. ^ "Berlinale: 1997 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  39. ^ a b c d "BAFTA AWards Search". BAFTA. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  40. ^ a b c d "Results Milos Forman". Academie des Arted de Cinema. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  41. ^ a b "Amadeus". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  42. ^ "Hair". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  43. ^ "Loves of a Blonde". MilosForman.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  44. ^ a b "Milos Forman named honorary citizen". Prague.tv. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  45. ^ "Největší Čech". Ceskatelvize.cz. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  46. ^ "University Commencement, Morningside Campus". columbia.edu.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miloš_Forman&oldid=871418519"