Director Anthony Minghella Dies at 54
Director
Anthony Minghella, who won an Academy Award for directing the 1996 epic
The English Patient, has died at age 54, his agent announced Tuesday. No other details, including the exact date or cause of death, were available at press time. A director who worked in theater and television (most notably for the series
Inspector Morse) during the 80s, Minghella made his feature film directorial debut with the ghost story/romance
Truly, Madly, Deeply, which starred
Juliet Stevenson and
Alan Rickman. The film won Minghella a BAFTA award for his screenplay and effectively launched his film career. The little-seen indie romance
Mr. Wonderful followed in 1993, but it was three years later that Minghella had his biggest success with
The English Patient, an adaptation of the novel by
Michael Ondaatje. Aggressively marketed by Miramax and arriving near the height of the independent film movement (though the film, with its epic scope, pushed the definition of indie filmmaking), the film became a surprise success, ultimately taking in $78 million in the US and winning a whopping nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture as well as Director and Adapted Screenplay for Minghella. Three of the film's stars,
Ralph Fiennes,
Kristin Scott-Thomas and
Juliette Binoche, were Oscar-nominated, with Binoche taking home the Best Supporting Actress award in a shocking upset over Hollywood legend
Lauren Bacall.
Minghella followed up that success in 1999 with the moody thriller
The Talented Mr, Ripley, another book-to-film adaptation based on the novel by
Patricia Highsmith. Though the film starred high-profile actors
Matt Damon and
Gwyneth Paltrow, it was the then little-known
Jude Law who walked away with the film with his role as a callow, rich playboy. The film earned Law a Best Supporting Actor nomination and Minghella another Adapted Screenplay nod. Minghella tried to replicate his successful literary adaptation formula with
Cold Mountain, a high-profile version of the bestselling Civil War novel that, ironically, was filmed partly in Romania. Despite another big (and some said, overly aggressive) push by Miramax and a cast that included
Nicole Kidman,
Jude Law,
Renee Zellweger,
Natalie Portman and
Philip Seymour Hoffman, the movie was considered a major flop, though it did earn $95 million in the US alone and a Supporting Actress Oscar for Zellweger; however, major nominations for Best Picture or Director failed to materialize. Minghella worked on a smaller scale with the London-based drama
Breaking and Entering, which reteamed him with both Law and Binoche, and had just completed filming on
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, the pilot for a TV series based on the novel by Alexander McCall Smith. Beginning in 2000, Minghella also became a producer, with credits including
The Quiet American,
The Interpreter, and the recent Oscar winner
Michael Clayton. In 2005, Minghella also staged an acclaimed version of the opera
Madame Butterfly, which played at the English National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.
Minghella is survived by his wife, choreographer Carolyn Choa, and their daughter, Hannah.
--Mark Englehart, IMDb staff
at 54!?
