Like so many of his older counterparts in Hollywood, Michael Igor Peschkowsky—better known by his Americanized name as Mike Nichols—was a refugee from Nazi Germany who made a career for himself in both theater and cinema. On the stage, he worked first in improvisational comedy and later as a director of some of Neil Simon’s most successful comedies, but, as a film director, Nichols is much harder to characterize, having worked in practically every genre that was available to him. His 22 films span a 38-year period, ending with his death in 2014, and during that period he won just about every award a director can win on both the stage and the screen. The films we will view represent a selection of both his more popular and his more challenging works: The Graduate, Working Girl, Wolf, Wit and Closer.
Course Code
500751