Bennett Miller
Bennett Miller ( born December 30, 1966 in New York, New York ) is an American film director and cinematographer.
- 2.1 As a director
- 2.2 As a cameraman
- 3.1 Oscar
- 3.2 British Academy Film Award
- 3.3 Further
Life
Childhood and education
The enthusiasm for the film discovered Bennett Miller, who grew up in a suburb of New York in a Jewish home, at the age of twelve years, when he was busy with a Super -8 camera. At the same time he made the acquaintance of the later actor and screenplay writers Dan Futterman, whom he met in the library of Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont (New York). While the two boys the same age together the Mamroneck high school attended, Miller and Futterman engaged intensively in the theater group their school. In 1984, Bennett Miller met together with Dan Futterman in the camp of a summer theater in Saratoga Springs (New York) at the same age Philip Seymour Hoffman. The trio used over the years the common friendship, even if at the end of the summer, both Miller and Futterman and Hoffman went their separate ways.
First success as a documentary filmmaker
After his high school graduation in 1985, Bennett Miller was able to secure a place in the Theatre Seminar at New York University, but moved shortly thereafter to film seminar. He studied for several years, but later gave the study because he spent according to his own admission, more time with the homeless chess in Washington Square Park to play, rather than attend classes. In the coming years, Bennett Miller gained professional experience in the film industry and took in several productions at odd jobs. Mid-1990s, met the former film student in New York on Timothy "Speed" Levitch, a former friend of Miller's younger brother 's childhood. The eccentric Levitch worked as a tour guide for Gray Line New York firm that offers trips with double-decker buses through Manhattan. Miller spent some time with the swaggering friend and came to the conclusion that Levitch would make an ideal subject for a documentary. 1996 Miller, Levitch began to accompany the film camera, but destroyed the material after it had failed at the perfectionist prone young director. A year later he tried again on a documentary about Timothy Levitch and took over seventy hours of footage on. The 76- minute documentary called The Cruise, where Levitch indulges in historical and philosophical views on New York and reported his unusual lifestyle, was awarded a prize among other things, at the Newport International Film Festival and celebrated a little later its theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York. Here, the nearly 139,000 -US-dollar film with a box office of over 238,000 U.S. dollars was even able to make a profit and was later awarded prizes at the Berlinale and for a Satellite Award (then Golden Satellite Award) nominated one year.
Breakthrough with Capote
The success of The Cruise gave Bennett Miller some lucrative contracts for the creation of commercials, inter alia, for ready-made meals. This was followed by increased orders with major U.S. advertising agencies across the country. During this time, the now renowned commercial director was looking for a script out that he could use as the basis for his first feature film. His childhood friend, Dan Futterman, who had worked as an actor and now tried as a screenwriter, his script called Capote offered to him, at the biography Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke is based. The script, which describes the research work of Truman Capote grabbing at his sensation historical novel In Cold Blood (1966 ), convinced Miller, and succeeded in the two childhood friends, Philip Seymour Hoffman to win for the lead role of Truman Capote, who had been their first choice for the lead role had. The shooting of the independent film Capote began in late October 2004 in Winnipeg ( Canada) and were completed within 36 days of shooting.
Capote, who on 30 September 2005 its U.S. debut, the birthday of Truman Capote died in 1984, was praised by critics, particularly the acting of Hoffman. Directed by debutant Bennett Miller received positive reviews for his first feature film, and the drama awards include the price of the National Society of Film Critics 2005, and five nominations for the main British Film Awards BAFTA and the same number of nominations for the Oscars 2006. Among the nominees was also Bennett Miller, who is in the category Best director Ang Lee ( Brokeback Mountain) had to admit defeat, while lead actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was able to accept the award. Miller had already drawn the short straw at the award ceremony of the Directors Guild of America against the Taiwanese.
After the great success of Capote Bennett Miller is currently working on the completion of his second documentary and devote himself to the lucrative work in the advertising industry.
Filmography
As a director,
As a cameraman
Awards
Oscar
- 2006: nominated for Best Director for Capote
British Academy Film Award
- 2006: nominated for Best Director for Capote
More
International Film Festival Berlin
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
- 2006: Most Promising Filmmaker for Capote
Directors Guild of America
- 2006: nominated for Best Director for Capote
Gotham Awards
- 2005: Best Film and Breakthrough Director Award for Capote
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
- 2005: Best debut for Capote
Newport International Film Festival
Online Film Critics Society Awards
- 2006: nominated for Best Breakthrough Filmmaker for Capote
Satellite Awards
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
- 2005: Best debut for Capote