Documentary of Key Scenes with Michael Mann and Actors

For as long as these videos are available online, you can treat yourself to some old but powerful Michael Mann interviews with some of our best loved Michael Mann scenes. This is wonderful footage, including actor interviews about the Tiger scene from Manhunter and that extraordinarily charged cliff scene in Last of the Mohicans. It includes scenes from Heat, and also the Insider. Actors speak about who they feel Michael Mann is, with some superb quotes to take away that sum up our favourite director. Get Michael Mann's inside story. Essential viewing, enjoy. I did... immensely. (Anyone know where these were first broadcast and who by?).


Part 1


"Les Réalisateurs" - Michael Mann (1/3) by SoWiFo


Part 2


"Les Réalisateurs" - Michael Mann (2/3) by SoWiFo

Part 3


"Les Réalisateurs" - Michael Mann (3/3) by SoWiFo

Testing the "truth" of Michael Mann's "The Insider"

This blog already establishes the brilliance of Michael Mann's storytelling ability. Yet all good things eventually get put to the test, as if they need to be scratched below the surface to see if it really can be as true as it sounds good. Goodness has always been something to be suspicious of, because if we are brutally honest, the world we live in is rarely straight and true, no matter how we aspire it to be. Events are never what they seem. People are never what they appear to be. Hidden rhythms are often at work inside all of our hearts and all of our motivations. It makes the world the complex and often heartbreaking, as well as joyful place we exist in.

The reason I write about this is because of an article I found which delves under the factual content of Michael Mann's The Insider. When The Insider was released as a dramatized version of events surrounding Jeffery Wigand, Lowell Bergman and Brown & Williamson it was immediately open to scrutiny, mainly from the real life characters the film served to depict. Wallace was particularly unhappy. All these criticisms have been openly reported and Mann has responded to them honestly and admirably.

However, the article I have found is useful as a way of understanding indirectly some of Michael Mann's approach to "truth" and his philosophy and purposes towards storytelling. Revisionist history is always never far away from film creation. Click here for the article, but a brief excerpt is below to set the scene.

[11] But then all of a sudden something even more astonishing occurred to me. Instead of objectively seeking out the truth behind The Insider like I had planned, I had fallen victim to the lure of Michael Mann's convincing enplotment! By immersing myself in the movie, I had unknowingly accepted Mann's filmic version of the truth. Because I formed an emotional attachment to the likable characters of Wigand and Bergman, I never once hesitated to believe their stories. Thankfully, extensive research forced me to be a more critical analyst, and I saw how Mann had twisted and manipulated various scenes and real-life characters to his advantage as a filmmaker.

"Michael Mann's The Insider - History Redefined." 123HelpMe.com. 23 Mar 2011
    http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=20638

Michael Mann's The Insider Cinematography

Here is a good find on the net. A useful blog featuring top cinematography stills from history's most memorable movies. Featured amongst the greats is Michael Mann's The Insider - a personal favourite. The blogger also has a video of Quentin Tarantino giving his top 20 films. I am pleased to see The Insider at number 11. See it below this post or go to the link here.

Evan, the blogger, commented on The Insider stills in the following way:

It was shot 2:35. Unfortunately it hasn’t been released in an HD format yet except on tv. So this is an HD tv rip and they pretty much always use the same 16:9 aspect ratio for all their television releases. When it is released on blu-ray I’ll post it again. But it’s better than nothing for now.

In his later years Sydney Pollack would purposely frame shots with people at opposite edges of the frame so that his movies couldn’t be cropped to a different aspect ratio.

Another blog, with an excellent comment on the art of cinematography, with a comment on Public Enemies can be found here.

Russell Crowe - The Insider

Russell Crowe is one of my favourite actors. His role in The Insider is in my opinion one of his finest performances, playing Dr Jeffery Wigand. The authenticity is outstanding in the character Crowe plays. When I say authenticity, I don't just mean emulating the real person the character is based on. It is the "truth" displayed in the character's emotional journey that is so extraordinary in Crowe's performance.

Here is what Michael Mann say's about Crowe:

"No training, no prior training, no theatricality is going to take you through this moment if you're an actor. You build it in yourself and you go through it. If he does it, the camera will see it. If he doesn't, it won't. Now, you go back and look at the moment and you know what's going on with this guy. And there are no tears, no bullshit, no burlesque. And then he gets up and he just walks away. That's the quintessence of Russell Crowe." - director Michael Mann explaining Crowe's technical work on "The Insider," in particular, the scene where Crowe is told his interview will not air on "60 Minutes." - Michael Mann

If you want to read some of Crowe's and Michael Mann's comments about The Insider, and reviews about the performance of Russel Crowe in it, then the following is a great webpage of information:

http://www.murphsplace.com/crowe/films/insider.html

You can read about the real Jeffrey Wigand here where he talks about the production of The Insider.

Michael Mann's The Insider script

If you want to study Michael Mann's script for The Insider (educational purposes), then you can find it by clicking here.

Christopher Plummer Releases Autobiography

Christopher Plummer, who brilliantly played Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's The Insider, has written his autobiography. I quote from the The Chicago Tribune below:

Surveying his film career — Plummer has been in more than 100 movies, from Stage Struck in 1958 to The Last Station, due out this year, in which he plays Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy — he can name a few favorite roles. One came in The Insider (1999), an intense true story of a tobacco company whistleblower betrayed by CBS and 60 Minutes. He played TV newsman Mike Wallace with verve and verisimilitude.

"It was one of the better roles," Plummer says. "My fellow artists — Al Pacino and Russell Crowe and the director Michael Mann — were superb."

In www.MovieMorlocks.com there is also an interview with Plummer:

TCM: I’m going to jump ahead to something more recent, your performance as “60 Minutes” Reporter Mike Wallace in THE INSIDER. Was that intimidating to play someone who is still quite active and visible in their profession and would probably see your performance?

CP: Well, it was kind of dangerous and I like danger because, you know, I think you have to go in where angels fear to tread. And I met Michael and have even been interviewed by him. And I watched him when I was a youngster…and he was barely a youngster too then…as the angry young man of television. So I didn’t have to do much research because I remembered very well how his voice sounded…and how he attacked everybody and was an extraordinary, probing commentator. No, that was wonderfully challenging and greatly helped I was by Michael Mann [the director] who kept me from imitating him. He insisted that I put some of my own personality into the Mike Wallace character which is correct..because otherwise that’s just a simple imitation of the man and that’s cheap. So he guided me very well though that and I admired him. And of course my friendship began with Russell Crowe and Al Pacino, both of whom I admire enormously. It goes without saying about Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, who is probably the most talented leading man that Hollywood has had in a long time. 

Lisa Gerrard - Sacrifice from The Insider

The most powerful track from Mann's movie The Insider is that of Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke's Sacrifice. It is so incredibly moving, and I admit to it bringing tears to my eyes on many occasion whilst listening to it. It is used powerfully in The Insider. The beautiful and the tragic are two themes Michael Mann seems to include in his movies, and I feel both these themes are contained in this piece of music too. The concept of sacrifice is often an alien one to our performance orientated, celebrity culture but is the ultimate demonstration of the depth of humanity. It is the concept of sacrifice that sets humanity apart from animals, and challenges the archaic notion of survival of the fittest. The Insider explores this to an extent. Sacrifice is tragic but also beautiful... beautiful because sacrifice is always in service to another but at a cost. What a meaningful end to the movie, when Wigand finally see's his children recognise their father being extolled on television. Dignity is restored after great indignity was suffered. His life finally meant something to him and his children. I would be interested to hear comments about how this track has touched your emotions. Here is Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke playing Sacrifice live for TV:

Michael Mann's The Insider - Favourite scene

It is tough to pull out favourite scenes from any of Mann's movies, as there are so many sublime moments. But the following ranks very highly: What an awesome bit of movie making this is. It is the apex of The Insider, when each character reaches the climax of their respective dilemmas and find a commonality with each other, despite their different backgrounds and personalities. The beach images and atmosphere generated between these two contrasting locations (the hotel) are just superb. Pure genius.

Lisa Gerrard Sanctuary featuring Michael Mann

Lisa Gerrard has long been a Michael Mann favourite for soundtrack composition. I haven't myself seen it yet, but here is a trailer for a documentary made about Lisa Gerrard called, Sanctuary. It features various comments from artists including I believe Michael Mann. If you watch the YouTube clip of the trailer you will understand, if you don't already, how Michael Mann's films are made so evocatively using her unique vocal creativity.



Here are some other snippets to enjoy too!

Michael Mann Heat and Insider Interview

Here is a gem of a surprise for all Michael Mann fans. A superb video interview (broadcast for a French audience) that I have not seen before with not only Michael Mann, but some cast members of Heat and the Insider. Mann talks about why he took his name off the "mutilated" TV version of Heat, which was cut down. Mann looks visibly upset talking about it. But more positively, there are some exceptional inside looks at some of the scenes and character developments in each film, along with clips of those scenes. Cast members (some will really surprise you!) from previous films convey their experiences of the director and offer insights into what makes mann so successful and driven. If you are a Mann fan, look at this - very informative.

"Les Réalisateurs" - Michael Mann (3/3)
by SoWiFo

The Insider Michael Mann Interview

Tonight I discovered this interview about The Insider with Michael Mann, which was interesting, so I thought I would share it, if you click here.

Interviews with Michael Mann

The Insider is a film which is full of special moments and incredibly complex in script and direction. Here is a fascinating interview - it is frustrating that the sound quality is so poor however.




This interview clip with Michael Mann, seemingly from French TV (but in English) goes back to 2004, discussing his film Collateral. Worth watching, as he explains briefly the character of Vincent.



Here is an insightful series of interviews with the cast from Heat, regarding the relationship between DeNiro and Pacino.