James Mangold is an American film and television director. He has made a lot of critically acclaimed and commercial successful films.
Who can forget Walk the Line, Logan and 3:10 to Yuma. So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the director.
- James Mangold was born on December 16, 1963
- He is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer
- He is best known for directing the films Logan (2017, for which he wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay), Cop Land (1997, which he also wrote), Girl, Interrupted (1999, co-written), Kate & Leopold (2001, co-written), Walk the Line (2005, co-written), and 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
- Mangold directed two superhero films based on the Marvel Comics character Wolverine
- These are The Wolverine (2013) and Logan (2017)
- His writing work on Logan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
- He also produced and directed pilots for the television series Men in Trees (2006–2008), NYC 22 (2011–2012), and Vegas (2012–2013)
- Mangold was born in New York City in 1963
- He is the son of artists Robert Mangold and Sylvia Plimack Mangold
- His mother is Jewish and he describes himself as “half-Jewish”
- He was raised in New York State’s Hudson River Valley
- He graduated from Washingtonville High School
- He was admitted into and later attended the California Institute of the Arts film/video program
- While there, he mentored under Alexander Mackendrick
- During Mangold’s third year, Mackendrick suggested that he should study at CalArts School of Theater as an actor
- Alongside his regular film studies
- In 1985, Mangold secured a writer/director deal at Disney
- He wrote a television movie and co-wrote the animated feature Oliver and Company
- A few years later, Mangold moved to New York and applied to Columbia University’s film school
- There he graduated with an MFA in film
- While there, he studied under Miloš Forman and developed both Heavy and Cop Land
- He has worked as a feature writer and director since 1995
- His first feature is the independent film Heavy
- Heavy won the best directing prize at the Sundance Film Festival
- Mangold subsequently wrote and directed Cop Land (1997)
- In the film stars Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Liotta
- Girl, Interrupted, which won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1999 for Angelina Jolie
- Kate & Leopold, starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman
- For this film Jackman was nominated for a Golden Globe as best actor in a musical or comedy in 2001
- And the 2003 thriller Identity which starred John Cusack
- In 2005, Mangold co-wrote (with Gill Dennis) and directed Walk the Line
A film about the young life of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash and his relationship with June Carter Cash - It stars Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon
- It was released on November 18, 2005
- He also served as producer under his production banner, Tree Line Film
- The was nominated for five Oscars
- Witherspoon won Best Actress for her performance as June Carter Cash
- Mangold also appeared as an actor in The Sweetest Thing as a doctor and love interest to Christina Applegate
- As well as in his own Kate & Leopold playing a movie director
- In 2009, Mangold was signed by Universal Pictures to direct Juliet
- The film was based on a novel by the Danish author Anne Fortier
- In 2011 Paramount acquired the rights of the movie with the writers Eyal Podell, Jonathon E. Stewart, Aryan Saha, Chad and Dara Creasey on board to develop the script
- In June 2011, Mangold was hired, initially just to direct the X-Men movie The Wolverine
- Along with screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie, Scott Frank and Mark Bomback
- Mangold also adapted the screenplay based upon Frank Miller and Chris Claremont’s Japanese Wolverine saga and entered production in Japan and Australia in July 2012
- He completed photography in November of the same year
- On release, it was a box office success
- Ending up with a worldwide gross of $414,828,246 with a budget of $120 million, according to Box Office Mojo
- Following the box office success and moderate critical response to The Wolverine, Mangold signed on to write the story and direct the sequel, Logan (2017)
- The film marked Mangold and Jackman’s third collaboration
- Scott Frank was hired to return as co-screenwriter
- Working as a team with Mangold and Michael Green
- The development of the film was lengthy, with Jackman citing his and Mangold’s desire to do the character justice for his last time in the role
- The film incorporated elements from Mark Millar’s Old Man Logan run on the comics
- Mangold has stated that the plot primarily focuses on character development, rather than superhero spectacle
- Logan was a commercial success
- It received high praise for its gritty approach on the titular character and emotional depth
- Often called one of the greatest superhero films of all time
- The movie also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay
- Thus, becoming the first live-action superhero movie to be nominated for Adapted Screenplay
- It was also Mangold’s first Oscar nomination
- In March 2017, Mangold was in negotiations with Fox to develop and direct an adaptation of Don Winslow’s upcoming novel The Force about corrupt NYPD officers
- In June 2017, Fox set a release date for The Force for March 1, 2019
- Later in February 2018, it was announced that Mangold was set to direct a film about the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans
- With Christian Bale and Matt Damon starring as Ken Miles and Caroll Shelby respectively
- And Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller writing the script
- In 1999, he married film producer Cathy Konrad
- They have 2 sons
- First child Hudson Mangold hopes to play professional baseball
- In 2014, the couple announced that they were divorcing
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