The Screengrab's Paul Clark is away from a workable computer, but asked me to post this tribute to Anthony Minghella:
MSN is reporting that Oscar-winning filmmaker Anthony Minghella passed away last night from a brain hemorrhage. Minghella, whose next film, the HBO/BBC production No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is set to premiere next month in the UK, was fifty-four years old.
To many moviegoers, Minghella was best known as the director of prestige pictures such as The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Cold Mountain. In fact, so associated was he with high-toned adaptations that he recently appeared as the moderator of a literary program in last year's Atonement. But his best work was not so easily pigeonholed. In his directorial debut, 1990's Truly Madly Deeply, Minghella employed a quirky sense of humor in service of a story about letting go of a departed loved one. In addition, to dismiss his best-known works as mere Oscar-bait is to overlook their emotional violence and often strange visions. Minghella's most recent film, the underseen Breaking and Entering, hinted at a move toward more personal projects.
Minghella began his career as a writer, writing numerous episodes of Jim Henson's The Storyteller for television and later serving as creator for The Storyteller: Greek Myths. He was also well-versed in theatre, having recently directed a production of Madame Butterfly for the New York Metropolitan Opera, and adapted Beckett's short drama Play for 2000's Beckett on Film Project. Minghella also headed the British Film Institute for a number of years.
My deepest condolences to Minghella's friends and family. For those of us who didn't know Minghella personally, there can be no greater tribute to his life than to celebrate his work. Personally, I plan to revisit Truly Madly Deeply, still my favorite film of his, and one that feels appropriate under the circumstances.
