Why Michael Mann Gave The Aviator Away To Martin Scorsese
Warner Bros. By Jeremy Smith/June 20, 2022 9:08 pm EST
Michael Mann has made so many films about obsessives, it’s still rather stunning that he passed on the opportunity to direct “The Aviator.” After all, Howard Hughes was the ultimate obsessive, a man hellbent on the attainment of perfection in everything he did. Mann is known to share many of these traits. He pushed so hard for an authentic portrayal of drug trafficking in “Miami Vice” that cast and crew often felt imperiled (conditions during the Dominican Republic portion of the shoot sent co-star Jamie Foxx scrambling back to the United States).
But Mann insists his reticence had nothing to do with identifying too closely with the famed renaissance man. It was simply a matter of timing that led him to offer the project to Martin Scorsese.
Ali redux
Warner Bros.
In a DGA Quarterly Magazine interview with F.X. Feeney (whose Taschen book on the director’s work is a must-read), Mann observed, “Usually I think I know what I’m going to look for next, and usually that turns out to be wrong.” In this case, he’d just finished “Ali,” another biopic about a larger-than-life American icon. Though he loved John Logan’s screenplay for “The Aviator” and dearly wanted to work with Leonardo DiCaprio, he remarked that “I felt I would be doing a rerun of what I’d just done.”
Mann found himself enamored with a new project, a work of fiction about a taxi driver (Jamie Foxx) who picks up a lethal passenger (Tom Cruise) at LAX. According to Mann:
“What attracted me to ‘Collateral’ was the opportunity to do the exact opposite: a microcosm; 12 hours; one night; no wardrobe changes; two people; small lives; inside a cab; a small time frame viewed large. I very much admired the hard, gem-like construction of Stuart Beattie’s screenplay. There were a lot of modifications as we prepared to shoot, but the structure was there from the start — and it was tremendously appealing. That made my decision. I asked Marty [Scorsese] if he wanted to do ‘The Aviator.’”
Why Michael Mann Gave The Aviator Away To Martin Scorsese
Warner Bros.
By Jeremy Smith/June 20, 2022 9:08 pm EST
Michael Mann has made so many films about obsessives, it’s still rather stunning that he passed on the opportunity to direct “The Aviator.” After all, Howard Hughes was the ultimate obsessive, a man hellbent on the attainment of perfection in everything he did. Mann is known to share many of these traits. He pushed so hard for an authentic portrayal of drug trafficking in “Miami Vice” that cast and crew often felt imperiled (conditions during the Dominican Republic portion of the shoot sent co-star Jamie Foxx scrambling back to the United States).
But Mann insists his reticence had nothing to do with identifying too closely with the famed renaissance man. It was simply a matter of timing that led him to offer the project to Martin Scorsese.
But Mann insists his reticence had nothing to do with identifying too closely with the famed renaissance man. It was simply a matter of timing that led him to offer the project to Martin Scorsese.
Ali redux
In a DGA Quarterly Magazine interview with F.X. Feeney (whose Taschen book on the director’s work is a must-read), Mann observed, “Usually I think I know what I’m going to look for next, and usually that turns out to be wrong.” In this case, he’d just finished “Ali,” another biopic about a larger-than-life American icon. Though he loved John Logan’s screenplay for “The Aviator” and dearly wanted to work with Leonardo DiCaprio, he remarked that “I felt I would be doing a rerun of what I’d just done.”
Mann found himself enamored with a new project, a work of fiction about a taxi driver (Jamie Foxx) who picks up a lethal passenger (Tom Cruise) at LAX. According to Mann:
“What attracted me to ‘Collateral’ was the opportunity to do the exact opposite: a microcosm; 12 hours; one night; no wardrobe changes; two people; small lives; inside a cab; a small time frame viewed large. I very much admired the hard, gem-like construction of Stuart Beattie’s screenplay. There were a lot of modifications as we prepared to shoot, but the structure was there from the start — and it was tremendously appealing. That made my decision. I asked Marty [Scorsese] if he wanted to do ‘The Aviator.’”
Mann found himself enamored with a new project, a work of fiction about a taxi driver (Jamie Foxx) who picks up a lethal passenger (Tom Cruise) at LAX. According to Mann:
“What attracted me to ‘Collateral’ was the opportunity to do the exact opposite: a microcosm; 12 hours; one night; no wardrobe changes; two people; small lives; inside a cab; a small time frame viewed large. I very much admired the hard, gem-like construction of Stuart Beattie’s screenplay. There were a lot of modifications as we prepared to shoot, but the structure was there from the start — and it was tremendously appealing. That made my decision. I asked Marty [Scorsese] if he wanted to do ‘The Aviator.’”
It takes an obsessive to know an obsessive
You can’t help but wonder if the filmmaker had a healthy fear of flying too close to that flame.
