From stage to screen
Director Mike Nichols has a knack for both
By Stephanie Snipes
CNN
 |  Mike Nichols, center, jokes around with "Closer" stars Natalie Portman and Jude Law. |
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| | FACT BOX |  "Eye on Entertainment" talks about the weekend's happenings on CNN's "Live Today" between 10 a.m. and noon ET Thursday. |
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(CNN) -- Nearly four decades ago, Mike Nichols made his directorial debut with the Oscar-winning film version of the Edward Albee play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Now, the versatile director delivers the film "Closer," another story that got its start on the stage.
Born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin in 1931 (his family fled Germany for the States in 1939), Nichols got his start as a stage performer, and in the 1950s teamed with Elaine May, Alan Arkin, Barbara Harris and Paul Sills to found the comedy troupe Second City. The Chicago-based laugh factory has honed such comedic talents as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and Mike Myers.
For years, Nichols was prized for his partnership with May. The duo performed their signature improvisational skits in theaters, on radio, TV, even appearing in a Broadway production called "An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May."
In 1961, he and May ended their partnership, and Nichols turned to directing with stage productions such as Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" (1963), "Luv" (1964) and "The Odd Couple" (1965).
"Woolf," his 1966 film debut that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as a quarreling couple, earned Nichols the first of five Academy Award nominations for direction. (The film took home five statuettes, including one for leading lady Taylor.)
Through the years the director delighted movie fans with films such as "Working Girl" (1988), "The Graduate" (1967), "Carnal Knowledge" (1971) and the recent Emmy winner "Angels in America," which took home best actor trophies for Meryl Streep and Al Pacino, and a best director award for Nichols.
While his name might not roll off audiences' tongues as quickly as a Spielberg or Scorsese would, his work does make an impression. Nichols is one of the few artists to win all four major entertainment awards -- an Oscar ("The Graduate"), Emmy ("Wit," "Angels in America"), Grammy ("An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May") and Tony (six to be exact, including wins for "Annie" and "Plaza Suite").
And the two actresses in "Closer" love him.
On a recent episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Julia Roberts said the 73-year-old Nichols is "heaven," and Natalie Portman said, "Mike is the person I trust most in the world."
Eye on Entertainment takes a seat in the director's chair.
Eye-opener
Adapted from Patrick Marber's Tony-nominated play, "Closer" is the edgy, provocative story of four people whose emotionally charged love lives intermingle in a web of deceit.
The film stars Roberts as Anna, a successful photographer who marries Larry, played by Clive Owens ("The Bourne Identity"). Throughout the marriage, Anna has an affair with Dan (Jude Law, "Alfie"), an obit writer who is involved with Alice (Portman, "Garden State"). Alice then gets involved with Larry.
"I remember one of the first days of rehearsal, and Mike said, 'This movie is all beginnings and endings. There's no middle. Middle's boring. Everybody sits around doing middle all day long,' Roberts told Winfrey.
In an interview last month with the Los Angeles Times, Nichols discusses his reason for adapting plays. "It's what I feel I'm good at. ...," he said. "It's a wonderful thing to engage in because so many things are spoken in plays that you don't have to speak in a movie because looking into someone's eyes is so different from seeing their profile on stage."
Past stage works-turned-feature films include "Biloxi Blues," "Wit," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "Gilda Live," and "Angels in America."
Nichol's next project is adapting the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" for the stage in a production called "Spamalot."
"Closer" opens Friday.
On the tube
Frosty the Snowman makes his annual visit in two prime-time specials. "Frosty the Snowman" hits the tube at 8 p.m. ET Friday on CBS, followed by "Frosty Returns" at 8:30 p.m. ET.HBO debuts its newest movie event, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers," starring Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush as the actor best known as Inspector Clouseau in "The Pink Panther" series. 9 p.m. ET Sunday on HBO.Paging readers
Michael Crichton, the man who returned velociraptors from extinction in "Jurassic Park," debuts his latest novel, "State of Fear" (HarperCollins), on Tuesday.Dean Koontz's latest, "Life Expectancy" (Bantam), comes out Tuesday.Sound waves
Rapper Ludacris follows up 2003's "Chicken 'N' Beer" with "Red Light District" (Def Jam) on Tuesday."American Idol" runner-up Diana Degarmo makes her CD debut with "Blue Skies" (RCA) on Tuesday.Home theater
Jason Bourne, aka Matt Damon, returns in "The Bourne Supremacy." Out Tuesday.
