A student of London's International Film School, Michael Mann began his career in the late 70s, writing for TV shows like Starsky and Hutch. He directed his first film, the award-winning prison drama The Jericho Mile, in 1979. He followed that in 1981 with his first theatrical release, Thief starring James Caan as a safecracker who falls under the spell of the mob. He followed with The Keep, an adaptation of F. Paul Wilson's novel about a mysterious force within a Nazi fortress. He hit it big in 1984, when he produced and created the long-running TV series Miami Vice, which made Don Johnson a household name. He followed that up in 1986 with a disastrous, lesser-known TV series, Crime Story, and the superb thriller Manhunter a precursor of The Silence of the Lambs. He spent the next few years involved in television, directing films like Crimewave and producing films like the Emmy-winning Drug Wars: The Camarena Story. In 1992, he returned to feature film with the box-office hit The Last of the Mohicans, which starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.


Ali (2001): $5,000,000

Born at 12:45am-CWT. Was Will Smith's personal choice to direct Ali (2001). Spike Lee campaigned vigorously against Mann, saying that only a black director could do Ali's story justice. Got an impressive knowledge about criminality and police procedures. Is one of Robert De Niro's favourite directors. Directed the first Hannibal Lecter film (Manhunter (1986)), and produced The Aviator (2004), which at one point he had been attached to direct. Jonathan Demme, who directed The Silence of the Lambs (1991), also directed Melvin and Howard (1980), which also featured the character Howard Hughes. In 1985, sued William Friedkin for plagiarism, claiming that Friedkin stole the entire concept of "Miami Vice" (1984) when he made the movie To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) (which, ironically, starred William Petersen, who later played Will Graham in Manhunter (1986)). Mann lost the lawsuit. Despite this, the two directors are close friends nowadays. Friedkin even tease Mann in several interviews by saying "Michael Mann is one of my favorite directors because he tries to make films like mine!". Tried to make an epic film about drug-trade in Southern California with screenwriter Shane Salerno. But they abandoned the project after 'Steven Soderbergh''s rival project, Traffic (2000), got green-lighted. Frequently uses the "thumbs up" sign after he feels that last take was the one. During production of Manhunter (1986), he wanted Francis Dollarhyde (Tom Noonan) to have a tattoo of William Blake's "Red Dragon" painting on his back, but ended up discarding the idea after deciding the tattoo trivialized Dollarhyde's inner struggles. In the film's remake, Red Dragon (2002), director Brett Ratner decided to include the tattoo. Has Ukrainian roots from his father's side. As of 2007, he has used Mick Gould as a technical advisor on three of his films: Heat (1995), Collateral (2004) and Miami Vice (2006). For all three of these films, Gould served as a weapons trainer, instructing cast members how to properly handle firearms.