Throughout his career, James Mangold has adopted the old-school filmmaking style of American auteurs that invigorated the movie landscape, like Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Mann and Sidney Lumet. Barreling toward 30 years in the industry, Mangold has worn many different hats in Hollywood, serving as a director, writer and producer. ranks all of Mangold’s directorial efforts so far.
Just before Jackman slipped into the role of Wolverine, he starred in Mangold’s fresh 1999 rom-com “Kate and Leopold,” which nabbed the actor his first Golden Globe nom for lead actor . Next up for the filmmaker is a “Star Wars” prequel film titled “Dawn of the Jedi,” which is set 25,000 years before “A New Hope” and will focus on the discovery of the force. He’s also helming the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” with Timothée Chalamet starring as the legendary folk singer.Knight and Day Teaming Mangold up with Tom Cruise on a spy-thriller is a good idea. Add in Cameron Diaz at the tail end of her box office juggernaut run, and, on paper, it should all work.
“Cop Land” isn’t a perfect film. In fact, it’s far from it. However, the Miramax movie proved that another filmmaker could pull out a humanistic turn from Sylvester Stallone outside of his signature “Rocky” franchise. Mangold shows off his maturity in this sophomore directorial effort, with big thanks to Howard Shore’s somber score and Eric Edwards’ memorable cinematography.Mangold’s impressive directorial debut is perhaps what a film like “Hillbilly Elegy” wants to be.
While Mangold fans remain divided on this movie, filled with constant plot twists, after nearly 20 years, the film is a delightful fright featuring knockout turns by John Cusack, and Ray Liotta. Mangold’s work as a screenwriter, paired with Michael Cooney, is among his most taut and thrilling. Mangold’s psychological thriller is also unapologetic, even paying homage to mystery classics such as “Psycho” and “The Sixth Sense” .