Miloš Forman

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Miloš Forman
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
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • screenwriter
  • professor
Years active1953–2018
Known for
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1958; div. 1962)​

Věra Křesadlová
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1999)​

Martina Zbořilová
​
​
(m. 1999)​
Children4
Signature

Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (/ˈmiːloʊʃ/;[1] Czech: [ˈmɪloʃ ˈforman]; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech-American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who lived and worked primarily in Czechoslovakia until 1968.

Forman was an important figure in the Czechoslovak New Wave. Film scholars and Czechoslovakian authorities saw his 1967 film The Firemen's Ball as a biting satire on Eastern European Communism, and it was banned for many years in his home country. He left Czechoslovakia for the United States, and 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 was 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

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

Black Peter (1963)

Black Peter is one of the first movie of the Czechoslovak New Wave and the debut of the Feature film it is the main representative. It won the Golden Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival. Reality movie of a few days in the life of a Czech teenager when he starts work. In Czechoslovakia in 1963, an aimless youth named Petr (Ladislav Jakim) begins his first job as a security guard in a busy self-service supermarket; unfortunately, he's so shy that even when he sees shoplifters, he can't bring himself to confront them. He's similarly tongue-tied around the lovely Asa (Pavla Martinkova), and during the lectures about personal responsibility and the dignity of labor that his blustery father (Jan Vostrcil) regularly delivers at home.

Loves of a Blonde (1965)

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)

Main article: The Firemen's Ball

A 1967 originally 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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 Édouard Daladier 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

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

Forman gave his 18-year-old sister-in-law Hana Brejchová her first film role in 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) to Anna Švábová Forman who ran a summer hotel. When young, he believed his biological father to be professor Rudolf Forman.[18] During the Nazi occupation, Rudolf Forman was arrested for distributing banned books, and he died while being interrogated by the Gestapo in the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in 1944.[19][20] Forman's mother had died in Auschwitz 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 was a painter 12, and he emigrated to Australia after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.[3] Forman later discovered that his biological father was in fact Jewish architect Otto Kohn, a survivor of the Holocaust,[21][23] and Forman was thus a half-brother of mathematician Joseph J. Kohn.[3]

In his youth, Forman wanted to become a theatrical producer. After the war, he attended the King George boarding school in 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 Alfréd Radok, creator of Laterna Magika. He left Europe for the United States during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in summer 1968.[citation needed]

Forman's first wife was Czech movie star Jana Brejchová. They met while making Štěňata (1957). They divorced in 1962. Forman had twin sons with his second wife Czech actress Věra Křesadlová. They separated in 1969. Their sons Petr and Matěj (born 1964) are both involved in the theatre. Forman married Martina Zbořilová on November 28, 1999, and they also had twin sons Jim and Andy (born 1999).[5]

Forman was professor emeritus of film at Columbia University.[25] In 1996, asteroid 11333 Forman was named after him.[6] He wrote poems and published the autobiography Turnaround in 1994.[6] After a short illness, he died at Danbury Hospital near his home in Warren, Connecticut on Friday, 13 April 2018 at age 86.[26][27][28][29]

Filmography

Year Film[30] Director Writer Notes Ref.
1955 Nechte to na mně (Leave it to me) Yes [31]
1958 Štěňata (Puppies) Yes [31]
1964 Konkurs (Audition) Yes Short film [32]
Kdyby ty muziky nebyly (Why do we need the bands?) Yes Short film [33]
Black Peter (Černý Petr) Yes Yes [32]
1965 Loves of a Blonde (Lásky jedné plavovlásky) Yes Yes [32]
1966 Dobře placená procházka (A well paid walk) Yes TV movie [11]
1967 The Firemen's Ball (Hoří, má panenko) Yes Yes [34]
1971 Taking Off Yes Yes [32]
I Miss Sonia Henie Yes Short film [35]
1973 Visions of Eight Yes Documentary;
Segment "The Decathlon" 		[32]
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Yes [32]
1979 Hair Yes [32]
1981 Ragtime Yes [32]
1984 Amadeus Yes [32]
1989 Valmont Yes Yes [32]
1996 The People vs. Larry Flynt Yes [32]
1999 Man on the Moon Yes [32]
2006 Goya's Ghosts Yes Yes [32]

Acting Credits

Year Film[30] Role Ref.
1953 Slovo dělá ženu (A Woman as Good as Her Word) Young Worker [31]
1956 Stříbrný vítr (Silver wind) dustojník u Stanku [31]
1986 Heartburn Dmitri [32]
1989 New Year's Day Lazlo [32]
2000 Keeping the Faith Father Havel [32]
2008 Chelsea on the Rocks Himself [32]
2009 Peklo s princeznou (Hell with a Princess) Erlebub [31]
2011 Beloved (Les Bien-aimés) Jaromil [32]

Theatre work

Year Film[30] Director Writer Ref.
1958 Laterna magika Yes [36]
1960 Laterna magika II Yes [36]
1972 The Little Black Book Yes [36]
2007 A Walk Worthwhile Yes [36]

Awards, nominations and honours

Year Work Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe Awards
Nominations Wins Nominations Wins Nominations Wins
1965 Loves of a Blonde 1 1
1967 The Firemen's Ball 1
1971 Taking Off 6
1973 Visions of Eight 1 1
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 9 5 10 6 6 6
1979 Hair 2
1981 Ragtime 8 1 7
1984 Amadeus 11 8 9 4 6 4
1989 Valmont 1 1
1996 The People vs. Larry Flynt 2 5 2
1999 Man on the Moon 2 1
Total 33 13 27 10 30 14

Academy Awards

British Academy Film Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Cannes Film Festival

Berlin Film Festival

César Awards

David di Donatello Awards

Others

The state prize of Klement Gottwald

Czech Lion

List of Greatest Czechs

Doctor of Humane Letters

Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award

U.S. National Film Registry

See also

References

  1. ^ "Say How: F". National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  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 April 14, 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 April 14, 2018.
  7. ^ "A Visit to James Mangold's Office". Criterion.com. Retrieved April 14, 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 April 14, 2018.
  9. ^ "Présidences de Cérémonie". Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  10. ^ "KVIFF History". KVIFF.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c "A Walk Worthwhile". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 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 "Unrealized Projects :: Miloš Forman". milosforman.com.
  16. ^ ČSFD: Eine kleine Jazzmusik (TV film)
  17. ^ "Hana Brejchová". Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze. POMO Media Group. Retrieved November 1, 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. ^ "Forman, Oscar-winning director of 'Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus', dies at 86". Reuters. April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  27. ^ "Milos Forman, Oscar-winning director, dies at 86". The Boston Globe. April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  28. ^ Piccalo, Gina. "Miloš Forman, Oscar-winning Czech director of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' dies at 86". latimes.com.
  29. ^ "Forman, Oscar-winning director of "Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus",..." April 14, 2018 – via uk.reuters.com.
  30. ^ a b c "Miloš Forman". Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  31. ^ a b c d e "Filmography". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Milos Forman". BFI. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  33. ^ "Kdyby ty muziky nebyly". Zurich Film Festival. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  34. ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Fireman's Ball". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  35. ^ "I Miss Sonia Henie". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  36. ^ a b c d "Theatre Projects". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  37. ^ a b c d "BAFTA AWards Search". BAFTA. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  38. ^ a b c d "Milos Forman". Golden Globes. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  39. ^ a b "Milos FORMAN -Festival de Cannes 2018". Cannes Festival. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  40. ^ "Berlinale: 1997 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  41. ^ a b c d "Results Milos Forman". Academie des Arted de Cinema. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  42. ^ "Hair". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  43. ^ a b "Amadeus". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  44. ^ "Loves of a Blonde". MilosForman.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  45. ^ a b "Milos Forman named honorary citizen". Prague.tv. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  46. ^ "Největší Čech". Ceskatelvize.cz. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  47. ^ "University Commencement, Morningside Campus". columbia.edu.
  48. ^ Chow, Andrew R. (December 11, 2019). "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks". Time. New York, NY. Retrieved December 11, 2019.

External links

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