Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006)

[John Cope]

I really don't understand what is troubling some people so much. What was expected? I've been looking forward to this film for a long time and I have to say that it appears to deliver exactly what I was hoping for.

I think perhaps the problem in part is that Mann does consistently employ the "heightened realism" aesthetic and for some this may be impossible to reconcile with his proposed serious intentions. But Vice's feel, at least based on the trailer, is perfectly in keeping with everything else he's ever done; why would he change now and why would he change for this?

This whole aspect of Mann's art has probably always been problematic and consequently misunderstood. Certainly he has expressed intense interest in the processes and techniques of men doing a job and he will surely maintain that here. But more than that, he has routinely explored the subjective myth makings of contemporary culture, the ways in which people cast the events of their lives as having monumental importance, as representative of archetypal realities. That is really the whole point of Vice. It's about men immersed in role playing; they do not own the cars or the boats, but they must make themselves believe that they do. Their constructed identity must become second nature to them; it must eclipse whatever they once were and yet at the same time it absolutely cannot. This tension has potentially grave consequences for the maintenance of any kind of personal value system or the sincerity of interpersonal relationships. Because this is such a deeply subjective world, we are as submerged in it as the characters are and it is our knowledge of what is truly at stake that gives weight to the proceedings (think of Max in Collateral, learning the pleasures of power so easily available within Vincent's persona). As for the dialogue being overcooked: good; it should be. This is an act after all and Mann never lets us forget that.

In films like The Insider it is easier to accept Mann's particular vision. The heightened style is just as subjective but it more clearly emanates from a particular psyche (as indicated during the scene in which tormented Wigand observes the burning car) and is less all encompassing. But the less subtle, more vulgar Vice satisfies because it does not allow for distancing. Mann forces his point. The aesthetic can only work on us if we allow ourselves to recognize the ways in which we too inhabit roles that are not completely authentic and inhabit vistas of reality against which the vision of our own significance predominates.

[TedW]

But more than that, he has routinely explored the subjective myth makings of contemporary culture, the ways in which people cast the events of their lives as having monumental importance, as representative of archetypal realities. That is really the whole point of Vice. It's about men immersed in role playing...

I don't feel Mann has "explored" this idea so much as participated in it. There's a difference between the idea of subjective myth making, as you put it, and making myths, or at least attempting to. To explore the former in dramatic form requires a kind of distance that I don't see in his work. This is problematic for the argument that Mann is some great artist. I don't think he is. A superior craftsman, certainly; an accomplished dramatist, yes; but no artist. He's too interested in the tough-guy dialogue, too fetishistic and in love with tough guys, the treatment of the material too pulpy. His style is actually strikingly out-of-vogue, if you think about it, which doesn't bode well for the box office of the new one. (His personal circumstances and demeanor bear this out as well.) It's not using the form to say something about human nature -- it's just an excellent example(s) of the form.

I like his movies, always have... I just think he's taken a little more seriously than he should be.

[John Cope]

You make some good and valid points but overall I have to disagree with you. These themes we're talking about are always subtextualized in Mann's films. Even Vice, which I anticipate will forground the issue more, is not likely to confront it in any kind of direct way or even indicate a position in respect to it. But this is why I see Mann as a great artist. Obviously it's an argument to make but I believe that the inner coherence and continuity of all his work reveals someone who is not just a master craftsman or tough guy stylist with a weakness for workplace detail but someone well aware of the implications of creating whole worlds and the toll it takes on characters who do it. No, he doesn't demand an active intellectual investment in working through these ideas but they are articulated in great, florid excess for those inclined to do so and there are ample rewards to be made upon reflection for those who do.

I should add that, yes, Mann does participate in and is complicit with his characters' myth making but that is an acknowledgment of a human propensity. There is a sense in which he clearly believes that these lives are as deserving of such treatment as any and have just as much to tell us. He embraces myth making and evokes its inherent solipsism as well as the allure of its grand narrative power. He is not purely critical of it, he allows it to comment on itself.

[TedW]

Here's a fan trailer that makes the movie bridge the gap a little better...

[The Invunche]

That was pretty bad, as anything with the word "fan" in it is these days.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

This is problematic for the argument that Mann is some great artist. I don't think he is. A superior craftsman, certainly; an accomplished dramatist, yes; but no artist. He's too interested in the tough-guy dialogue, too fetishistic and in love with tough guys, the treatment of the material too pulpy.

I disagree. If anything, Heat is proof that Mann is capable of raising pulpy material to an artistic level. The way he shoots his movies with such an attention to architecture, lighting and sound elevates his films above B movie material. One of the best descriptions I ever came across for Heat was (to paraphrase) that it was Kubrick's The Killing done on the scale of 2001.

What makes Mann's films so interesting is that he takes tough guys and the way they speak and act and explores it in such incredible detail and raises their actions to mythic levels. He also explores in his films what motivates these guys to do what they do.

I also think that what makes him an artist is the thematic preoccupations that he explores and how he examines them over many of his movies: the notion of professionalism, the bond between men and also how what they do defines them and how it conflicts against their personal lives/relationships. His films also explore the consequences when these protagonists finally make a choice to either be true to their profession and sacrifice everything else or go for the personal relationships in their lives.

[John Cope]

One of the best descriptions I ever came across for Heat was (to paraphrase) that it was Kubrick's The Killing done on the scale of 2001.

What makes Mann's films so interesting is that he takes tough guys and the way they speak and act and explores it in such incredible detail and raises their actions to mythic levels.

Yes. Exactly. Thanks for backing me up on this, Fletch.

[pzman84]

Just something to chew on

[che-etienne]

What makes this person a good judge...

seems like just another blogger to me...

She may know Michael Mann's name... she may have even seen his other films, but that doesn't mean she's a good judge. Anyone who understood "Collateral" (even if they disliked it) knows that Mann's pursual of this style in "Miami Vice" has nothing to do with just distancing himself from the show. I don't see what's wrong with changing something completely and keeping the title... I mean they still call a Ford a Ford... this is an evolution on a theme. Can people please get over it?

[pzman84]

What makes you a good judge

I wasn't saying what she said was the absolute truth. It was just something "to chew on." You want to disagree with her fine. All we are talking about is opinions. No one is absolute when it comes to opinions. So please don't resort to ad hominem or you will just be going down to my level.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

From FilmForce's website:

Our Mann in Miami
Helmer finds Vice "fabulously alluring."
by Stax

May 19, 2006 - The June issue of Premiere Magazine features interviews with writer-director Michael Mann and the cast of his big-screen version of Miami Vice. Mann advised Premiere that he has wanted to make a movie of Miami Vice ever since he first became involved with the TV series as its executive producer back in the mid-1980s.

"My first reaction was, 'Man, I want to make this a feature film,'" Mann said, adding, "The prose, the vibe, the sense of place – it's fabulously alluring to me."

For the film, starring Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell, Mann has ditched the series' pastel and Art Deco look for gritty realism. "I wanted to break down the walls and do it without limitations, in terms of true life, true violence, true language, and real relationships."

An infamous perfectionist who meticulously crafts and researches his films, Mann had Farrell and Foxx study with "heavy, heavy-duty undercover guys" from the ATF and DEA in order to properly portray detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, respectively.

"Crockett and Tubbs are the guys who have to float in between the lines," Foxx told Premiere, "because they know the drugs are never going to go away. Bad guys are never going to go away."

Gong Li, who plays Crockett's love interest Isabella, a key member of the drug organization Crockett and Tubbs are infiltrating, praised her co-star Farrell. "He uses his heart and soul to play his role," she said. "It's not acting anymore – it's real. Viewers will be moved."

[Fletch F. Fletch]

TV spots are online.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

From FoxNews gossip column so y'know it must be "legit" :

'Miami Vice': Summer's Biggest Bust?

[TedW]

This is where the media pile on Colin Farrell. In his defense (slightly), SWAT was not a flop. And did anyone really think The New World or Ask the Dust was going to put up huge numbers?

[Barmy]

I'm not sure I've ever seen Colin give a decent performance (other than parts of his sextape). He just doesn't project. I might go see this just for the Miami scenery.

[Jeff]

Of course, one must keep in mind that Roger Friedman is an idiot.

Here is what legitimate critic F.X. Feeney, who has seen a rough cut, had to say about the film to Jeffrey Welles.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Well, that is certainly reassuring. I dug Feeney's Taschen book on Polanski and am very eager to see what he has to say about Mann's films in his upcoming book.

If the trailers are any indication, the look of Vice certain is a continuation of the one from Collateral so it makes sense that thematically there would be some carryover as well.

[flyonthewall2983]

A bit off-topic, but has Michael ever spoken publicly about being offered the chance to direct Godfather III, while Coppola was not attached to the project?

[Fletch F. Fletch]

A bit off-topic, but has Michael ever spoken publicly about being offered the chance to direct Godfather III, while Coppola was not attached to the project?

Not to my knowledge. Where did you hear about this? I'm intrigued.

[flyonthewall2983]

I got it from imdb

Paramount tried to go ahead with the film for many years without either Francis Ford Coppola or Mario Puzo's involvement. No less than twelve scripts were written, including ones by Michael Eisner and Don Simpson. Most of the scripts had lots of international intrigue with the Corleone family, now led by Michael's son Anthony, battling the CIA, Castro's Cuban government, or South American drug cartels. Puzo handed in a script in 1978 that dealt with Anthony Corleone being recruited by the CIA to assassinate a Latin American dictator. He wrote another script in 1986 with producer Nicholas Gage that featured Sonny Corleone's bastard son Vincent Mancini while showing the early life of the young Sonny Corleone. When considering making this film without Coppola, Paramount considered directors Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Costa-Gavras, Alan J. Pakula, Robert Benton, Michael Cimino and Michael Mann. At one point they were even close to signing Sylvester Stallone to direct and star in the film.

It would be interesting to read some of these scripts, and I'm not even a big fan of the movies. It's also interesting to read about some of the early casting choices, like casting DeNiro in Andy Garcia's role, thus making Michael much older, and even Frank Sinatra wanting the Eli Wallach role but turning it down due to the money.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

An interview with the film's DP, here:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/how-did ... =fullpage#

Here's the excerpt that actually pertains to Mann's movie:

Miami Vice, a gritty movie version of the old television series, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, is another venture into high-definition film-making.

"If you know the TV series, you're not going to recognise the movie," Beebe says. "Essentially the characters have been lifted from the series and it's set in Miami but it's very contemporary - more in the vein of Collateral."

After months of testing cameras, the filmmakers settled on one that will give an almost 3D effect in major scenes.

"These cameras have enormous depth-of-field, Citizen Kane-type deep focus that's achieved because [they] photograph onto a small chip [rather than film stock or videotape]," he says. "You get this effect where you can see three inches in front of your face to infinity - all sharp, all in focus and with those dynamic Miami storm clouds. I think we got some unique results."

[Fletch F. Fletch]

David Poland posts an early review of the film:

http://www.moviecitynews.com/columnists ... ivice.html

[John Cope]

As does Jeffrey Wells:

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives ... e_vice.php

All sounds very good so far.

[Antoine Doinel]

From Slate:

Fleeing the Scene
How Jamie Foxx forced the macho Mann to change the ending of Miami Vice.
By Kim Masters
Posted Thursday, July 13, 2006, at 5:12 PM ET

Miami Vice. Click image to expand.Foxx and Farrell in Miami ViceIf it weren't for the talent of Michael Mann, a movie version of Miami Vice would almost certainly be as awful as it sounds. And even with the talent of Mann, Universal is fighting negative early buzz about the film. What's clear is that the movie is dark, R-rated, and hardly a nostalgia-fest for fans of the television show.

If Miami Vice doesn't work—artistically, at least—that would be a shame for those who toiled to get it made. If there were an Academy Award for on-set trauma, this movie could be a lock. Mann, a perfectionist, is known as one of the most difficult directors in the business. And on this film, according to a number of those who were present, he lived down to his reputation, berating crew members (and even the talent) and creating a sense of chaos as he went through his "process." The movie wound up going over schedule and dramatically over budget, with the final tally rumored to be more than $150 million. The studio says the number is actually $135 million.

Mann is gifted enough that actors entrust themselves to him. Clearly Jamie Foxx did, returning to work with Mann after making Collateral and getting a supporting-actor nomination out of it. But on Miami Vice things went so wrong that Foxx ended up leaving in the middle of production, after a shooting (and we don't mean the kind with a camera) took place during filming in the Dominican Republic. Foxx refused to return for any more work outside the United States, meaning that Mann had to rewrite the ending, eliminating a version that was to have been shot in Paraguay.
Click Here!

"The whole of making this movie was filled with adversity," Mann says. But he adds that whatever the crew might have endured, it was all in the service of making a great film. "Sometimes folks are going to join this unit and they may have a tough time," he says. "Guess what? They're on the wrong movie."

Sources on the set say things got off to a rough start with Foxx. For one thing, after signing for the film, Foxx won the Oscar for his performance in Ray. He was a bigger star than before, and according to members of the production team, he showed up with an entourage and something of an attitude. Foxx balked at flying commercial to Miami (Universal finally gave him the jet). And there was an early problem because Foxx was getting paid less than Farrell even though he was now an Academy Award winner. Foxx got a big raise while Farrell took a bit of a cut.

Despite that and his hard-partying reputation, Farrell was very well-behaved, according to crew members. "Yes, Colin comes to play around, but he always showed up on time and prepared," one says. "Jamie is more of a diva in the sense that he was afraid of boats, afraid of planes—there were a lot of things where he was afraid for himself. Colin will do anything."

Mann is a macho guy, so perhaps it's not surprising that sparks flew between him and the balky Foxx. Mann won't comment on the situation with Foxx other than to talk about his admiration of the actor's talent. "I'm not going to dish dirt about Jamie," he says. "He has a unique process of acting, and most people don't understand it. He and I are real close. … That allows us to disagree about stuff."

Certainly, clashing with Mann was not for Foxx alone. "Michael dressed down everybody and humiliated everybody," says a crew member. "He's an equal-opportunity guy."

Mann has his defenders. Maria Chavez, a location manager who's worked with Mann all the way back to the days of the Miami Vice television show, says her boss was "very intense" but not unfair. "It's about stretching when you work with him," she says. "His expectations might be high because he's so creative. It's just a standard he sets."

Crew members say the situation was complicated in part because Mann went through dozens of script changes. "It was being written essentially by Michael on the fly," a crew member says. He changed his mind constantly about locations (and, to the bitter end, was toying with multiple edits). "He was almost like a kid in a candy shop," this individual says. "That kind of indecision becomes a systemic thing. It's hard, at the last minute, to make deals with vendors, rent a plane, to close down a freeway."

But Mann is unapologetic. "You try to get the best out of a scene," he says. "You try to get the best experience for an audience. And you don't settle. It's really tempting to settle. And it's really embarrassing to not settle."

Universal Chairman Marc Shmuger only assumed his job in time to work with Mann on postproduction. But he says he's become an enthusiastic backer of the director's methods. Rather than finding Mann indecisive, Shmuger says, "I actually marvel at his ability to keep all of his creative options open. He's fearless. He is willing to try everything. That's a process that does involve wear and tear on everybody."

Mann poured his many instructions into a small recorder. "The next day, you get that all typed out verbatim, even the uhs and ahhs," says a crew member. The instructions were sometimes unclear, sometimes contradictory, and sometimes inaccurate. But if there was an error, few dared to speak up. "No one says, 'Punta del Este is not in the Dominican Republic. Didn't you mean Uruguay?' " he says.

Maria Chavez says she found those transcripts helpful, though she can see where some might find them overwhelming. "He might say, 'I like it blue. No, I like it yellow,' " she says. "You have to really focus on [the transcription]. … For me, it was a very important reference." If not many dared to challenge Mann, Chavez says, it's because people are scared. But she says Mann is open to discussion. Competence is the key. "You're not going to bullshit Michael Mann," she says.

Another crew member agrees that it is possible to win an argument. "If you go at him and you know you're right, he'll accept it," he says. "If he detects the slightest weakness and lack of clarity, you're dead. … You just have to submit to the fact that he's king of everything. Everyone was pushed to the edge of whatever their emotional makeup is. … It unhinged my boss."

Again, Mann is unrepentant. "The degree of difficulty was tough," he says. "It's hard on everybody. … Everybody has their moments and they get cranky."

Throughout the arduous shoot, Mann says, safety was of paramount concern to him. But some on the crew say they thought the director took scary risks. For example, the production was filming during hurricane season in Miami, and some crew members thought work continued even when conditions were unsafe. During one squall associated with Tropical Storm Dennis, Farrell and Foxx drove along the street in a Ferrari with the convertible top down. As they made their way along the block, the windows were blown out of a tall building and glass rained down, damaging the car and just missing the stars. "The wind was blowing so hard we could hardly get our gear back on the truck," a crew member says.

"You bet it was dangerous," says Mann, who was some distance away when the incident occurred. "As soon as we heard there were winds that high, we immediately wrapped."

Then there were the issues that arose while shooting was under way in the Dominican Republic. There was a private security force comprised of individuals from a variety of countries. Its members were armed and aggressive but, for a time, worked in plainclothes so they were not that easy to identify. Their presence made the situation seem extremely volatile to several crew members. Sources also say Mann shot in a square in Santo Domingo that even the police avoid, drafting gang members to work as security.

Mann says security was planned with great care, though perhaps not everyone on the crew knew that. "They don't have the big picture or they'd be making the movie," he says. "We had meetings and communicated what we were doing. [But] it's really tough for the average person on that crew to understand all the things we have in place."

The irony, in Mann's view, was that when the production moved to a relatively upscale area, a local man—a police officer—approached the set, got into a quarrel with a guard (one supplied by the Dominican military), and allegedly pulled a gun. The man was shot and wounded. "It was very scary," Mann acknowledges. "What if this guy has six brothers? What if they blamed us? … All these questions rush into your head." He says care was taken to ensure that the cast and crew could leave the set safely that day.

But immediately after that incident, Foxx and his entourage packed up and left for good. "Jamie basically changed the whole movie in one stroke," a crew member says—and not, in his opinion, for the better. The ending that was supposed to be shot in Paraguay would have been "much more dramatic."

Asked about Foxx's departure, Mann doesn't speak for a moment and then says, "You hear the sound of silence."

Even before going to the Dominican Republic, Mann had written an ending set in Miami but then decided to go to Paraguay, then to remain in Miami, and then again to film in Paraguay. Now he went back to the Miami ending. "It was like turning an oil tanker around on a dime," he says. "But the Miami ending worked out to be the better ending. It brought all the conflicting characters together in one arena."

A few days before cast and crew were to start filming the final conflict, Hurricane Wilma struck Miami, heavily damaging the production office. At that point, Mann says, the power was out and "the city was dark." A high-level studio insider says this is where Mann's personality actually paid off: "Were it not for his insanity, his dedication, his knowledge as a producer, we would have been shut down," this executive says. "Michael was able to regroup in a week and restage the entire finale. … Any other director would just have to sit and figure it out. But for Michael's indomitable bullheadedness, it would have been much worse."

While the executive concedes that Mann's methods cost the studio time and money, Universal held on to the hope that the film, once put together, would be good enough to make the investment worthwhile. Mann's track record in terms of box office isn't that strong, but studio Chairman Shmuger says it's not all about lines at movie houses.

"The key on looking at the profitability of Michael's movies is that they've got a very long tail, well after the theatrical run," Shmuger maintains. "Everybody's seen Heat. Everybody's seen Last of the Mohicans. … [The films] do fantastically well in video, on all television outlets, overseas."

Universal knew going in that making an R-rated Miami Vice would chip away at the potential grosses, he adds. But the studio was committed to Mann's vision, "an extremely dark journey into the world of undercover." As a testament to the studio's belief in Mann, Shmuger says, Universal is making another film with the director called The Kingdom, about an FBI investigation of a bombing in Saudi Arabia. This time Mann is producing, not directing. The star is Jamie Foxx.

[John Cope]

Wow. Here's one time where the inevitable making of doc on the DVD will actually be worth seeing.