New Michael Mann Site Now Live

It took a while but at long last I have migrated this Michael Mann blog site to a new, cleaner website platform at

www.michael-mann.net

At some point I will have to delete this site, but for now can you kindly refer to the new site for fresh, up-to-date information. I will NOT be adding further to this site, but will be updating www.michael-mann.net instead.

For all the latest news in Cyber/Black Hat, Witness and other Michael Mann information, please see the new website.

Please help me spread the news and share this with all your friends.

Thank you.

Website Redesign

I am currently very limited with how I develop the current Michael Mann website, so I am moving it over to a different platform. You can still access the blog at www.michael-mann.blogspot.com, but I am moving the domain michael-mann.net to the new site in development.

The aim is to improve the entire look and navigation of the site, with new additional reference type content. Hopefully, this will become a site that is more befitting of the subject matter. I am also keen to make the material more easily accessible on smartphones, so I will implement a responsive design.

It's about time I tackled several years worth of content and take more time to compile a more useful reference style  resource of information.

Keep in touch via my twitter account @michaelmannblog

Michael Mann Latest News

Michael Mann set to produce new HBO Pilot
Michael Mann is set to be producing a new HBO pilot and possibly series on a futuristic crime story. The series touted as "Buda Bridge" is being directed by fresh talent Michael Roskam, whose latest directing work was on the Oscar nominated 'Bullhead" last year.

Keeping irons in his fire, Roskham is also to direct "The Tiger", which was originally linked with Darren Aronofsky who is currently shooting "Noah" with Russell Crowe in Iceland. No doubt due to that commitment, Aronofsky is instead intending to produce for Roskham.

The Last of the Mohicans
Further excellent news is that The Last of the Mohicans in Blu-ray format is making its way here to the United Kingdom with a release date soon for October 8th. Unlike the US edition which is distributed by 20th Century Fox, the UK edition will be distributed by Warner Brothers. There are no details of what bonus features may or may not appear.

For fans of The Last of The Mohicans, here is a great page of trivia about the movie and its historical context. Fascinating reading. Click here to go to the page.

Michael Mann interview about the now late HBO Luck

For those who know Michael Mann's films, you will know that he uses the term "Time is Luck", quite often. It relates so vividly to this situation. Did you know that this term probably relates to a Biblical verse in Ecclesiastes 9:11. Read that verse, and you can directly apply that to what happened on the now unfortunately named "Luck".

Despite the horribly disappointing end to the making of Luck, I am ready for more Michael Mann material. The truth is, the end of Luck was a devastating blow to all involved in the project, and it was further marred by ill reported stories that I had no appetite to blog. This was supposed to be Mann's nine hour movie - to use the amazing opportunity such time presents to the storytelling creative director/producer. We all feel robbed of that same rush of enthusiasm to see and experience that happen. It is therefore poignant to post an excellent interview to be seen in full between Michael Mann and Tavis Smiley about the making and development of Luck. I may have even posted it before. But here it is, to help me move on to what is the next "thing". In the interview Mann says more than once how "careful" they are with the horses.

Going back to the interview, here it is below. Asked what movies he is likely to work on he mentions Agincourt, but adds a new story to his already large list in waiting: The Tam. He refers to Alex Sage, writing a story in Indonesia on the South China Sea. 

Watch Writer-director-producer Michael Mann on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.

Go Like Hell

Apparently, with the F1 film Rush having been announced, the studios have put Mann's project "Go Like Hell" on ice, until it has passed through. The Rush article can be read here:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118051278?refCatId=13

In the article, it is reported that "Michael Mann's 'Go Like Hell', about the Ferrari vs. Ford rivalry for supremacy at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race during the 1960s was close to being set up at Fox last year, but is reportedly on hold until 'Rush' is finished." I tweeted the Variety link a few days ago, but for those just looking at the blog, this is the latest I have on that project. If anybody knows more, let me know.

Michael & Ami Canaan Mann interview

There is an indepth interview with Michael & Ami Canaan Mann that gives considerable enlightenment on how the father and daughter team came up with and executed the project, The Texas Killing Fields. It obviously took a great deal of Michael's time to help develop the movie. With typical attention to detail, Michael goes into how the entire movie was written, cast, shot and distributed. For those wanting to know every nuance about the working approach of Michael Mann as producer, it is worth waiting through the introduction. It will be interesting to see how Ami Mann's career develops.

Michael Mann to work on documentary about modern war photographers

Michael Mann is enjoying his freedom with HBO and according to Hollywood Reporter has teamed up on another reported collaboration on the making of a documentary about a new generation of combat documentary photographers. It takes Mann back to his early roots of documentary filmmaking of riots in Paris, France and feeds his appetite for men in extreme scenes of conflict both internally and externally. He is teaming up with documentary director David Frankham.

It looks an exciting project, and could take documentary film making to a completely different level. In an earlier post I shared my thrill and depth of emotional experience at watching Mugabe and the White African, which was cinematic in its appearance, and breathtaking in its story telling. As someone who studied photography, I have admired war photographers. Being British, some of the shots by Don McCullin were of great interest and are extraordinary in capturing the haunting effects of shell shock, having seen his exhibition in London some years ago now.

This is definitely a Mann fit project, taking in South America, where drug lords are something of an interest to Mann. Read the full news piece to get the details.