Mike Nichols
Birthday:
6 November 1931, Berlin, Germany
Birth Name:
Michael Igor Peschkowsky
Height:
180 cm
He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later worked in legitimate theater a...
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He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later worked in legitimate theater as an actor before entering into a very successful comedy duo with Elaine May. The two were known as "the world's fastest humans". Show less «
A movie is like a person. Either you trust it or you don't.
A movie is like a person. Either you trust it or you don't.
It's not a film-maker's job to explain his technique, but to tell his story the best way he can.
It's not a film-maker's job to explain his technique, but to tell his story the best way he can.
I've never understood that aspect of DVDs, where you suddenly put back the things you took out that could go. Why ruin your movie? With mate...Show more »
I've never understood that aspect of DVDs, where you suddenly put back the things you took out that could go. Why ruin your movie? With material that you've taken out? I never get that. I don't have that impulse... To put them back seems very unpleasant to me. And pointless. It's like when you've written something, when you cut a paragraph, doesn't it seem dead to you? Doesn't it look like something you'd never want to include, because the point is, it could go? You'll never see anything in my pictures, the stuff that came out, stays out. Show less «
If everybody's adorable, you can't go anywhere, you can't have any events.
If everybody's adorable, you can't go anywhere, you can't have any events.
I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That's the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.
I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That's the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein.
When I was 17, for my first job, I worked at the midtown Howard Johnson's. A customer asked me what our ice-cream flavor of the week was, wh...Show more »
When I was 17, for my first job, I worked at the midtown Howard Johnson's. A customer asked me what our ice-cream flavor of the week was, which was a dumb question, because there was a huge banner showing that it was maple. So I told him that it was chicken. The customer laughed, but the manager fired me immediately. They were bastards there. Show less «
[Part of 2005 Tony Award acceptance speech] "God, my head is totally empty. I had a thing I was going to say, and I have forgot it, because ...Show more »
[Part of 2005 Tony Award acceptance speech] "God, my head is totally empty. I had a thing I was going to say, and I have forgot it, because I had given up so long ago. But the first thing to say is thank you. To the other members of my category, my friends Jack and James and Bartlett, I guess you are thinking age before beauty, me too! My congratulations to the winners. My love to those who have not won tonight. I just want to remind you of my motto: Cheer up, life isn't everything. It always stands me in good stead." Show less «
[on working with Orson Welles on Catch-22 (1970)] We were talking about Jean Renoir one day on the set and Orson said, very touchingly, that...Show more »
[on working with Orson Welles on Catch-22 (1970)] We were talking about Jean Renoir one day on the set and Orson said, very touchingly, that Renoir was a great man but that unfortunately Renoir didn't like his pictures. And then he said, "Of course, if I were Renoir I wouldn't like my pictures either". Show less «
[on Jack Nicholson] Jack is the sort of guy who takes parts others have turned down, might turn down, and explodes them into something nobod...Show more »
[on Jack Nicholson] Jack is the sort of guy who takes parts others have turned down, might turn down, and explodes them into something nobody could have conceived of. All his brilliance of character and gesture is consumed and made invisible by the expanse of his nature. Show less «
[on Elizabeth Taylor] There are three things I never saw Elizabeth Taylor do: Tell a lie; be unkind to anyone; and be on time.
[on Elizabeth Taylor] There are three things I never saw Elizabeth Taylor do: Tell a lie; be unkind to anyone; and be on time.
[on Stanley Kubrick] In the end, I think he began to have trouble, because if you can't leave home, you lose track of reality, and I think t...Show more »
[on Stanley Kubrick] In the end, I think he began to have trouble, because if you can't leave home, you lose track of reality, and I think that happened to him. Still, he made great movies and he was a completely gifted director. If you look at 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), you suddenly realize: My God, there's nobody in this movie! Show less «
[on his experience judging a limerick contest] It was easy. We just threw out the dirty limericks and gave the prize to the one that was lef...Show more »
[on his experience judging a limerick contest] It was easy. We just threw out the dirty limericks and gave the prize to the one that was left. Show less «
[on developing an act with Elaine May] We were winging it, making up as it went along, It never crossed our minds that it had any value beyo...Show more »
[on developing an act with Elaine May] We were winging it, making up as it went along, It never crossed our minds that it had any value beyond the moment. We were stunned when we got to New York. Never for a moment did we consider that we would do this for living. It was just a handy way to make some money until we grew up. Show less «
Do you know my theory about '[Who's Afraid of] Virginia Woolf' which I think I only developed lately? It may be the only play - certainly th...Show more »
Do you know my theory about '[Who's Afraid of] Virginia Woolf' which I think I only developed lately? It may be the only play - certainly the only play I can think of, including Shakespeare - in which every single thing that happens is in the present. Even the beautiful reminiscences of the past are traps being set in the present, sprung in the present, having violent effect in the present. It's why you can't hurt it. It's now. It's the one thing plays have the hardest time with. Show less «
[on coming to New York as a child] American society to me and my brother was thrilling because, first of all, the food made noise. We were s...Show more »
[on coming to New York as a child] American society to me and my brother was thrilling because, first of all, the food made noise. We were so excited about Rice Krispies and Coca-Cola. We had only silent food in our country, and we loved listening to our lunch and breakfast. Show less «
[on firing Mandy Patinkin during making of Heartburn (1986)] I loved Mandy then, and I love him now. It was awful to have to replace him, bu...Show more »
[on firing Mandy Patinkin during making of Heartburn (1986)] I loved Mandy then, and I love him now. It was awful to have to replace him, but on film I couldn't see the chemistry I wanted. I don't know how many days it was, but to save the damn thing, I had to move fast to get Jack [Nicholson]. Mandy was, of course, devastated, and I've felt awful about it all my life. Show less «
Mike Nichols's Photos
