Description:
Born on Dec. 16, 1963 in New York, NY, Mangold grew up an outcast in his blue collar hometown. Both his parents were painters - his father, Robert, was an abstract minimalist and his mother, Sylvia, painted landscapes. Meanwhile, the neighboring parents were cops or firefighters; a reality that made Mangold feel like an outsider at a very young age. When he was 12, his dad bought the family a Super-8 camera, which the young Mangold used to make short films. He even directed a short in high school starring the jocks that picked on him and the cheerleaders who would not give him the time of day. Called "Growing Up," the
Born on Dec. 16, 1963 in New York, NY, Mangold grew up an outcast in his blue collar hometown. Both his parents were painters - his father, Robert, was an abstract minimalist and his mother, Sylvia, painted landscapes. Meanwhile, the neighboring parents were cops or firefighters; a reality that made Mangold feel like an outsider at a very young age. When he was 12, his dad bought the family a Super-8 camera, which the young Mangold used to make short films. He even directed a short in high school starring the jocks that picked on him and the cheerleaders who would not give him the time of day. Called "Growing Up," the short gave Mangold unusual control over elements from his life where he previously had none. After high school, he attended the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, earning his bachelor's degree in film and video in 1985. On graduation day, Mangold was chosen by Cal Arts' president to sit at a table of trustees that included Michael Eisner, Barry Diller and agent Jeff Berg. The sit-down gained Mangold his first entrée into Hollywood, resulting in representation from Berg and a contract from Eisner.
But just as quickly, Mangold was tossed out the same door he entered. He helped write a moderately successful animated feature, "Oliver & Company" (1988), a revamping of Charles Dickens' classic story starring a kitten taken in by a pack of pickpocket dogs. Though the movie took in over $50 million at the box office, Disney was no longer interested in working with Mangold. They fired him three days into his first directing gig and cast him aside once his contract expired. He retired to a North Hollywood apartment to write a novel, but soon realized that the same frustrations existed in the publishing world as they did in Hollywood. After a good talking-to from a writer friend, Mangold entered Columbia University with renewed vigor and earned his master's degree in film under the tutelage of Oscar-winning director Milos Foreman, who oversaw an advanced writing and directing workshop. And it was at Columbia that Mangold began writing the script for "Heavy" (1995), the film that ultimately launched his Hollywood career.
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Tags: American (4), Director (4), Born 1963 (3), PLEASE STOP (3), Writer (2), Turd (2), Was Expecting A Lower Listal Rating (2), 16 December (1), Great (1), Directed A Best Picture Nominee (1), Oscar Nominated Director (1), Walk The Line (1), Don't Stop (1), The Wolverine (1), Was Expecting A Higher Listal Rating (1), 3:10 To Yuma (1), Logan (1), Columbia University (1), Girl Interrupted (1), Ivy League (1)
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