Posted on 03/18/2008 7:47:26 AM PDT by Clemenza
Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, who turned such literary works as "The English Patient," "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain" into acclaimed movies, has died. He was 54.
Minghella's death was confirmed Tuesday by his agent, Judy Daish. No other details were immediately available.
"The English Patient," the 1996 World War II drama, won nine Academy Awards, including best director for Minghella, best picture and best supporting actress for Juliette Binoche.
Based on the celebrated novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, the movie tells of a burn victim's tortured recollections of his misdeeds in time of war.
Minghella (pronounced min-GELL'-ah) also was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay for the movie and for his screenplay for "The Talented Mr. Ripley."
His 2003 "Cold Mountain," based on Charles Frazier's novel of the U.S. Civil War, brought a best supporting actress Oscar for Renee Zellweger.
The 1999 "The Talented Mr. Ripley," starring Matt Damon as a murderous social climber, was based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith. It earned five Oscar nominations.
Among his other films were "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (1990), and last year's Oscar-nominated "Michael Clayton," on which he was executive producer.
Minghella was recently in Botswana filming an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith's novel "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." It is due to air on British television this week.
The book is the first in a series about the adventures of Botswanan private eye Precious Ramotswe; a 13-part television series was recently commission by U.S. network HBO.
Producer David Puttnam said Minghella was "a very special person."
"He wasn't just a writer, or a writer-director, he was someone who was very well-known and very well-loved within the film community," Puttnam told the BBC. "Frankly he was far too young to have gone."
Minghella also turned his talents to opera. In 2005, he directed a highly successful staging of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" at the English National Opera in London. The following year, he staged it for the season opener of New York's Metropolitan Opera. It was the first performance of the Met's new era under general manager Peter Gelb.
Jeff Ramsay, press secretary to Botswanan President Festus Mogae, called Minghella's death a "shock and an utter loss."
He said the director had been coming to the country ahead of the detective film and learning about Botswana.
Ramsay said Minghella had told him how he had been forced to shoot "Cold Mountain" in Romania and that it had "seemed wrong." He said this made the director "more sure that the film could only be shot in Botswana."
Born the second of five children to southern Italian emigrants, Minghella came to moviemaking from a flourishing playwriting career on the London "fringe" and, in 1986, on the West End with the play, "Made in Bangkok," a hard-hitting look at the sexual mores of a British tour group in Thailand.
He worked as a television script editor before making his directing debut with "Truly, Madly, Deeply," a comedy about love and grief starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman.
In a 1996 interview with The Associated Press, Minghella said "English Patient," which starred Binoche, Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas, was the pinnacle of his career at the time.
"I feel more naked and more exposed by this piece of work than anything I've ever been involved with," Minghella said.
He said too many modern films let the audience be passive, as if they were saying, "We're going to rock you and thrill you. We'll do everything for you."
"This film goes absolutely against that grain," he said. "It says, `I'm sorry, but you're going to have to make some connections. There are some puzzles here. The story will constantly rethread itself and it will be elliptical, but there are enormous rewards in that.'"
Now, I found his direction to be rather stilted, especially after such a promising debut ("Truly, Madly, Deeply", one of my fave romantic comedies). A skilled screenwriter who was better at directing operas than films.
Ping!
Kind of sad that he went just as he was hitting his stride.
30 minutes of this was enough to kill me.
Cold Mountain was a major disappointment. I lost all hope for Tony’s film directing after that. Why his work in Opera was so focused and expressive, while his film work was so stilted has been something I just can’t figure out.
You'll get no mocking from me. To each his own.
Of his movies, I enjoyed The English Patient the most. I still thought it was missing something, however, despite some good performances.
After slogging through that depressing tome (Cold Mountain) I couldn’t stand the thought of attempting to see it on film...but, that’s me.
The first scenes in Cold Mountain were really good. It then turned into a total bore.
Although Nicole Kidman was neeked!
Interesting. That is one of my favorite movies of all time and I’m a big movie buff. I know a lot of people that have it as in their top ten or 25 or whatever.
If you only watched 30 minutes, then like so many things, you can’t really make a judgment.
I am an avid reader and enjoy all genres. I know many people that will pick up a book and if it doesn’t start off with a big bang or spark they give up and they are missing a lot.
My beloved father, who just died on Friday, instilled in me a love for books and he taught me that when things start slow, they are usually the best. He was, as always, so right and true. And just to give you an example, think “Green Mansions” by Hudson. Movies are often similar.
It needed better editing and directorial organization than it received.
wow - so young. RIP
I was looking for something to impale myself on. The English Patient was painful.
He made panoramic chick flicks.
Some were great cinematography....RIP
Cold Mountain the novel was a lovely piece of work. Poetic and moving. The movie was impersonal and hollow.
Still R.I.P.
Talented Mr. Ripley...creepy!
Minghella is morally responsible for the decision to film that turgid monstrosity - and he really could have done more to tighten it up.
Also, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law had zero chemistry.
A distinguished, if narrow, genre.
It was schizophrenic - there were long passages of slogging through the mud of the prose and brief moments of highly lyrical description.
I feel like there was an excellent novella somewhere in that novel.
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