News 28. 3. 2015
Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček
Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček, longtime collaborator of Miloš Forman, died today at the age of 80.
They collaborated on many movies, for example Amadeus, which has had a 30 years anniversary since the Oscars ceremony this Wednesday. After more than 30 years of waiting, Miroslav Ondříček had a chance to watch Czech premiere of the movie Ragtime in 2012.
News 25. 3. 2015
Amadeus received 8 Oscars before 30 years
It has been 30 years since movie Amadeus received 8 Oscars today. Imagine you are in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles for a while and watch Miloš Forman accepting The Academy Award for Best Directing.
LinkNews 6. 9. 2014
Czech art director Karel Černý died yesterday at the age of 92
Czech art director Karel Černý died yesterday at the age of 92. He was a longtime collaborator of Miloš Forman and Oscar winner for the movie Amadeus.
News 5. 1. 2014
Producer Saul Zaentz dies at 92
Producer and friend of Miloš Forman, Saul Zaentz, died on January 3, 2014 at the age of 92.
„It was a wonderful collaboration. Usually there is some friction between the producer and director or whatever. But with him, never.“
News 4. 2. 2013
DGA Lifetime Achievement Award
Miloš Forman was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award yesterday evening.
“No matter what subject or genre he tackles, Miloš finds the universality of the human experience in every story, allowing us – his rapt audience – to recognize ourselves within the struggle for free expression and self-determination that Miloš so aptly portrays on the silver screen,” said DGA President Taylor Hackford.
News 11. 12. 2012
Director Milos Forman to Receive Guild’s Highest TributeAt 65th Annual DGA Awards
Forman Becomes 34th Director Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award For Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction.
Los Angeles – Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced that Milos Forman will receive the Guild’s top honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction, at the 65th Annual DGA Awards on February 2, 2013.
“It is a tremendous privilege to present the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award for feature film to one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, Milos Forman,” said Hackford. “No matter what subject or genre he tackles, Milos finds the universality of the human experience in every story, allowing us – his rapt audience – to recognize ourselves within the struggle for free expression and self-determination that Milos so aptly portrays on the silver screen.”
The DGA Lifetime Achievement Award winner is selected by the present and past presidents of the Guild. In the Guild’s 76-year history, only 33 other directors have been recognized with the honor, including Cecil B. DeMille (1953), Frank Capra (1959), Alfred Hitchcock (1968), Orson Welles (1984), Billy Wilder (1985), Akira Kurosawa (1992), Stanley Kubrick (1997), Francis Ford Coppola (1998), Steven Spielberg (2000), Martin Scorsese (2003), Clint Eastwood (2006), and most recently, Norman Jewison (2010).
Forman is perhaps best known for directing the outstanding feature films One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, for which he twice won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film. His films have garnered 33 Academy Award nominations and 13 Academy Awards, and the filmmaker himself has been nominated for three Best Director Awards, winning twice for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest became only the second film in history to sweep the top five Academy Award categories in one year.
After graduating from the University of Prague’s Film Institute, Forman began writing screenplays and making short semi-documentaries. He directed his first feature, Black Peter, in 1963, which garnered success at film festivals at Cannes, Montreal and New York, and brought him to the United States for the first time. His next two films, Loves of a Blonde and Fireman’s Ball, were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, after which Forman moved to New York to make his first American feature, Taking Off.
In 1973, producers Michael Douglas and Saul Zaentz contacted Forman about directing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which garnered Forman his first DGA Award, five Academy Awards including Best Director, and four additional nominations. Forman next turned long-running musical Hair into a feature film and followed that with Ragtime, which was nominated for eight Academy Awards. 1984’s Amadeus brought more critical acclaim, a second DGA Award, and eight Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture. Forman’s most recent films include Valmont; The People vs. Larry Flynt, for which Forman received his third Academy Award nomination for Best Director; Man in the Moon and Goya’s Ghosts. He also spent many years teaching and running the film studies program at Columbia University.
Forman joined the DGA in 1970 and served two terms on the National Board. A longtime champion of artist’s rights, Forman became personally involved with the issue of unauthorized film alteration after his film version of Hair was broadcast with half of its musical scenes removed without his authorization. He was a Charter Benefactor of the Artists Rights Foundation, a Governor of the Artists Rights Education and Legal Defense Fund Council at The Film Foundation, and a member of the DGA President’s Committee on Film Preservation. In 2009, Forman gave the keynote address at the CISAC World Copyright Summit in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the DGA expressing concern about how rampant digital theft would impact the ability of artists to be compensated for their work. Forman was awarded the John Huston Award for Artists Rights in 1997 and the DGA Honor in 2008.
The award will be presented at the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.
Trivia 19. 2. 2012
Goya’s Ghosts
The 13th Count of Salvatierra, Cayetano Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart acted in the movie. He is the youngest son of the Duchess of Alba who is one of the richest women in the world (and whose ancestor was allegedly Goya's lover). Forman, Cayetano, and his then-fiancée Genoveva Casanova y González met during a trip to Spain. Genoveva showed Forman around the Duchess of Alba’s private art collection, which included several of Goya’s paintings. Afterwards, Genoveva invited Forman to her wedding with Martínez. The director promised to attend if they would both act in his movie. Cayetano played Wellington and Genoveva played a harlot to be shipped with other prostitutes to America.
Trivia 18. 2. 2012
Man on the Moon
While shooting “Man on the Moon” Carrey allegedly requested two trailers on set – one for „Andy Kaufman“, and one for Kaufman's obnoxious lounge singer persona „Tony Clifton“. Carrey refused to be called by his real name and insisted on being dealt with as Andy Kaufman on and off the set.
