For over 40 years, Michael Mann has been one of the American cinema’s most meticulous writer-directors, a filmmaker whose rigor and specificity have yielded classics like “Thief,” “Manhunter,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” and “Heat.”
Cinephiles and other filmmakers have long obsessed over Mann’s oeuvre and his process, devouring interviews with the director and the detailed supplementary features that typically appear on his physical media releases, but they’ve never had anything like the Michael Mann Archives. A brand new online resource devoted to Mann’s most recent film, “Ferrari,” the website is a treasure trove that draws on the director’s personal papers and behind-the-scenes footage to provide a comprehensive view of his process from script to screen.
As one would expect from Mann, the site is both elegantly designed and packed with information, filled with interviews and production documents illuminating his process. Key set pieces like the tragic Guidizzolo crash and the opera sequence are broken down element by element so that the viewer can explore not only Mann’s decision-making process (on everything from where to place his cameras to what to tell the actors and how to modulate the sound) but his reference points and sources of inspiration. Hundreds of pages of documents include historical research materials, annotated script pages, character breakdowns, storyboards, shot lists, tech scout notes, and much more.
The Michael Mann Archives also provide a wealth of video content in the form of 18 documentaries that explicate Mann and his collaborators’ process from a wide array of perspectives including acting, production design, cinematography, and props.
Each documentary is essential viewing for Mann enthusiasts, as the featurettes have been assembled with utmost concision and clarity — Mann is as generous with his resources here as he is articulate about his process, and he’s as passionate and detailed when breaking down a complex car crash as he is when delving into the delicate nuances of a two-person dialogue scene. It all adds up to a revelatory and unique interactive experience that’s essential for anyone who wants to understand Mann’s process in all its breadth and depth.
Head over to the Michael Mann Archives via the official website, which launched on July 16, here.
