Robert Altman

Question 1;
Who is Robert altman?

Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.

His films MASH, Nashville and McCabe and Mrs. Miller have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.


Altman's ancestry was German, English and Irish, his paternal grandfather, Frank Altman, changed the family name from "Altmann" to "Altman". Although he would not go on to practice Catholicism in later life, Altman had a strong Catholic upbringing.He was educated at Rockhurst High School, a Jesuit school in Kansas City, prior to joining the Army at the age of 18; over the course of World War II, Altman flew over 50 bombing missions in Borneo and the Dutch East Indies. Upon his discharge in 1946, Altman moved to California and worked in publicity for a company that had invented a tattooing machine designed for the identification of dogs. entered filmmaking only as a whim, selling to RKO the script for the 1948 picture Bodyguard, which he co-wrote with George W. George. Altman's immediate success encouraged him to move to New York City, where he attempted to forge a career as a writer; he enjoyed little luck, however, and in 1949 he returned to Kansas City, accepting a job as a director and writer of industrial films for the Calvin Company. Here he had his first experiences working with film technology, as well as with actors.


In 1969 Altman was offered the script for MASH, an adaptation of a little-known Korean War-era novel satirizing life in the armed services, which had already been passed over by over a dozen other filmmakers. Altman agreed to direct the project, and though production was so tumultuous that stars Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland even attempted to have Altman fired over his unorthodox filming methods, MASH was widely hailed as an immediate classic upon its 1970 release. It won the Grand Prix for the Best Film at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival and netted six Academy Award nominations. It was also Altman's highest grossing film. Now recognized as a major talent, Altman's career took firm hold with the success of MASH, and he followed it with other critical breakthroughs such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975), which made the distinctive, experimental "Altman style" well known.

In 1980, he directed the musical Popeye, based on the comic strip/cartoon of the same name, which starred Robin Williams in his big-screen debut. Though seen as a failure by some critics, the film did make money, and was in fact the second highest grossing film Altman directed to that point


Altman died on November 20, 2006, at age 81 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to his production company in New York, Sandcastle 5 Productions, he died of complications from leukemia.
Film director Paul Thomas Anderson dedicated his 2007 film There Will Be Blood to Altman.He was employed as a standby director for A Prairie Home Companion (2006) for insurance purposes, and in the event that ailing 80-year-old Altman was unable to finish shooting.

2, Films he is involved with;

MASH
Brewster McCloud
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Images
The Long Goodbye
Thieves Like Us
A Perfect Couple

And many more

3, What kind of comments can you find to help to describe his style of filmmaking?

Elliot Gould Donald Sutherland "unorthadox filming methods"

4. How did Robert Altman come to direct M*A*S*H?

In 1969 Altman was offered the script for MASH, an adaptation of a little-known Korean War-era novel satirizing life in the armed services, which had already been passed over by over a dozen other filmmakers. Altman agreed to direct the project, and though production was so tumultuous that stars Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland even attempted to have Altman fired over his unorthodox filming methods, MASH was widely hailed as an immediate classic upon its 1970 release. It won the Grand Prix for the Best Film at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival and netted six Academy Award nominations. It was also Altman's highest grossing film. Now recognized as a major talent, Altman's career took firm hold with the success of MASH, and he followed it with other critical breakthroughs such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Thieves Like Us (1974) and Nashville (1975)

5, How old was ALtman while directing M*A*S*H?

Altman was 44 when he directed MASH

6, What did ALtman do prior to M*A*S*H

in the 1950's in his home town Kansas City Altman made industrial and documentary films for the Calvin Comapany

7, Interviews from Donald Sutherland and Elliot Guold explaining what happened during the filming of M*A*S*H in regards to Robert Altman and the crew


Elliott Gould tells a story about how he and Sutherland tried to get Altman fired because they thought he didn't know what he was doing. Gould said they were a couple of prima donnas.We Don't know Sutherland's feelings but he never worked with Altman again.

8, Wich film studio produced M*A*S*H and what was the estimated budget for the film?


The film was produced by 20th Century Fox with a budget of $3,500,000.