30 Facts About Michael Mann

1.

Michael Kenneth Mann was born on February 5,1943 and is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for his stylized crime dramas.

2.

Michael Mann's most acclaimed works include the films Thief, Manhunter, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, Collateral, and Public Enemies.

3.

Michael Mann is known for his role as executive producer on the popular TV series Miami Vice, which he adapted into a 2006 feature film.

4.

Michael Mann is the son of Jewish grocers Esther and Jack Mann.

5.

Michael Mann later moved to London in the mid 1960s to go to graduate school in cinema.

6.

Michael Mann went on to receive a graduate degree at the London Film School in 1967.

7.

Michael Mann spent seven years in the United Kingdom going to film school and then working on commercials along with contemporaries Alan Parker, Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne.

8.

Michael Mann returned to United States after divorcing his first wife in 1971.

9.

Michael Mann went on to direct a road trip documentary, 17 Days Down the Line.

10.

Three years later, Hawaii Five-O veteran Robert Lewin gave Michael Mann a shot and a crash course on television writing and story structure.

11.

Michael Mann wrote four episodes of Starsky and Hutch and the pilot episode for Vega$.

12.

Michael Mann wrote an early draft of the 1978 film Straight Time.

13.

Michael Mann's first feature movie was a television special called The Jericho Mile, which was released theatrically in Europe.

14.

Michael Mann used actual former professional burglars to keep the technical scenes as genuine as possible.

15.

In 1986, Michael Mann was the first to bring Thomas Harris' character of serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the screen with Manhunter, his adaptation of the novel Red Dragon, which starred Brian Cox as Hannibal.

16.

Michael Mann gained widespread recognition in 1992 for his film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel into the epic historical drama The Last of the Mohicans starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

17.

In 1999, Michael Mann filmed The Insider about the 60 Minutes segment about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower in the tobacco industry.

18.

In 2004, Michael Mann produced The Aviator, based on the life of Howard Hughes, which he had developed with Leonardo DiCaprio.

19.

Michael Mann was producer with Peter Berg as director for The Kingdom and Hancock.

20.

Michael Mann makes a cameo appearance in the film as an executive.

21.

Michael Mann signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski in 2009, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.

22.

The series was an hour-long HBO production, and Michael Mann directed the series' pilot.

23.

On February 14,2013, it was announced that Michael Mann had been developing an untitled thriller film with screenwriter Morgan Davis Foehl for over a year, for Legendary Pictures.

24.

In May 2013, Michael Mann started filming the action thriller, named Blackhat, in Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Jakarta.

25.

Michael Mann directed the first episode of the 2022 crime series Tokyo Vice for HBO Max.

26.

Michael Mann's trademarks include powerfully-lit nighttime scenes and unusual scores, such as Tangerine Dream in Thief and the new-age score to Manhunter.

27.

Michael Mann's films have been noted for their realism when it comes to capturing the sounds of gunfire, with him preferring to use raw audio captured from the scene, rather than a sound mix.

28.

Michael Mann directed the 2002 "Lucky Star" advertisement for Mercedes-Benz, which took the form of a film trailer for a purported thriller featuring Benicio del Toro.

29.

Michael Mann directed the 2008 promotional video for Ferrari's California sports car.

30.

Michael Mann's daughter Ami Canaan Michael Mann is a film director and producer.