Screen LibraryNichols and May : interviews /
"In the late 1950s, Mike Nichols (1931-2014) and Elaine May (b. 1932) soared to superstar status as a sketch comedy duo in live shows and television. After their 1962 breakup, both went on to long and distinguished careers in other areas of show business-mostly separately, but sporadically toge...
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| Group Author: | |
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| Published: |
University Press of Mississippi,
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| Publisher Address: | Jackson, Mississippi : |
| Publication Dates: | [2020] |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Series: |
Conversations with filmmakers series
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| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
"In the late 1950s, Mike Nichols (1931-2014) and Elaine May (b. 1932) soared to superstar status as a sketch comedy duo in live shows and television. After their 1962 breakup, both went on to long and distinguished careers in other areas of show business-mostly separately, but sporadically together again. In Nichols and May: Interviews, twenty-seven interviews and profiles ranging over more than five decades tell their stories in their own words. Nichols quickly became an A-list stage and film director, while May, like many women in her field, often found herself thwarted in her attempts to make her distinctive voice heard in projects she could control herself. Yet, in recent years, Nichols's work as a filmmaker has been perhaps unfairly devalued, while May's accomplishments, particularly as a screenwriter and director, have become more appreciated, leading to her present widespread acceptance as a groundbreaking female artist and a creative genius of and for our time. Nichols gave numerous interviews during his career, and editor Robert E. Kapsis culled hundreds of potential selections to include in this volume the most revealing and those that focus on his filmmaking career. May, however, was a reluctant interview subject at best. She often subverted the whole interview process, producing instead a hilarious parody or even a comedy sketch-with or without the cooperation of the sometimes-oblivious interviewer. With its contrasting selection of interviews conventional and oddball, this volume is an important contribution to the study of the careers of Nichols and May"-- |
| Carrier Form: | lviii, 267 pages ; 23 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: |
9781496831040 1496831047 9781496828330 149682833X |
| Index Number: | PN1998 |
| CLC: |
K837.125.78 K835.165.78 |
| Call Number: | K835.165.78/N621 |
| Contents: |
Mike Nichols: Chronology -- Elaine May: Chronology -- Mike Nichols: Filmography -- Elaine May: Filmography -- Profile: A tilted insight / Elaine May: Q&A about her play / The cold loneliness of it all / Mike Nichols: director as star / Whatever happened to Elaine May? / Elaine May has a thing on not talking to press: nonlinear interview with Elaine May / It depends on how you look at it / On location with Catch-22 / How to succeed in interviewing Elaine May (try, really try) / Elaine May: too tough for Hollywood? or, the Benadryl Tapes / Elaine May: a new film, but not a New Leaf / Mike Nichols / Mike Nichols: the special risks and rewards of the director's art / Did Mike Nicholas squander his luck on Heartburn? / The road to Ishtar: how Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, and Elaine May made a farce in the desert for just $40 million / Mike Nichols: a new feeling about films / Nichols, May honored by TV, radio museum / Who's afraid of the big bad Wolf? / They all have a secret / Of metaphors and purpose: an interview with Mike Nichols / City of angels / Elaine May in conversation with Mike Nichols / Elaine May salutes Mike Nichols at the AFI Life Achievement Award / Blind camels, idiot execs, and five other Ishtar revelations from director Elaine May / Who's afraid of Nichols and May? / A lovingly obsessive tribute to Mike Nichols, by Elaine May / |