Michael Hoffman
Encyclopedia
- For the German film director, see Michael Hofmann (director)Michael Hofmann (director)Michael Hofmann is a German film director.He has written and directed the films Der Strand von Trouville , Sophiiiie! and most recently Eden in 2006.-External links:...
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Michael Lynn Hoffman (born November 30, 1956) is an American film director.
Life and career
Hoffman was born in Hawaii and grew up in Payette, IdahoPayette, Idaho
Payette is a city in and the county seat of Payette County, Idaho, United States. The population was 7,054 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Ontario, OR–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, played basketball, and attended college at Boise State University
Boise State University
Boise State University is a public university located in Boise, Idaho. Originally founded in 1932 as a junior college by the Episcopal Church, the university became an independent institution in 1934, and has been awarding baccalaureate and master degrees since 1965...
. There he was elected as student body president of BSU. He was a cofounder of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival (along with Doug Copsey and Victoria Holloway) which is celebrating its 30 year anniversary this year. While at BSU, he served as president of the student body and earned the high honor of Rhodes Scholar, the first BSU alumnus to achieve this honor. While studying at Oriel College, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, he extended his interest in drama by founding the Oxford University Film Foundation
Oxford University Film Foundation
The Oxford University Film Foundation was founded in 1981 by Michael Hoffman, Peter Schwabach and Rick Stevenson. Its first production was the 1982 feature film Privileged, starring Hugh Grant, James Wilby, Imogen Stubbs and Mark Williams...
, (OUFF), and by making a student film Privileged, which starred a young Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
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Befriended by John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
, who provided the funding, Michael's next film was Restless Natives
Restless Natives
Restless Natives is a 1985 comedy film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Vincent Friell, Joe Mullaney, and Ned Beatty.Filmed in Scotland, the story follows the adventures of two young men who don masks and hold up tourist coaches in the Highlands...
, a humorous look at young Scottish boys who hold up tour buses. His other credits include Some Girls
Some Girls
Some Girls is the 14th British and 16th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1978 on Rolling Stones Records, catalogue COC 39108...
, a film starring the young Patrick Dempsey (Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy), Restoration with Robert Downey, Jr., One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Marie Pfeiffer is an American actress. She made her film debut in 1980 in The Hollywood Knights, but first garnered mainstream attention with her performance in Brian De Palma's Scarface . Pfeiffer has won numerous awards for her work...
and George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, Soapdish
Soapdish
Soapdish is a 1991 comedy film which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera. It stars Sally Field as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline, Robert Downey, Jr., Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Cathy Moriarty, Garry Marshall, Kathy...
with Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
and Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 film)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 American film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Michael Hoffman. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel,...
, for which he also wrote the screenplay based on the work by Shakespeare, and The Emperor's Club
The Emperor's Club
The Emperor's Club is a 2002 drama film that tells the story of a prep school teacher and his students. Based on Ethan Canin's short story "The Palace Thief," the film is directed by Michael Hoffman and stars Kevin Kline. The film is set at a fictional boys' prep school, St. Benedict's Academy,...
(starring Kevin Kline). He has made three films with Kline (so far), including the aforementioned A Midsummer Night's Dream.
His film Promised Land
Promised Land (1987 film)
Promised Land is a 1987 drama film written and directed by Michael Hoffman, and it stars Kiefer Sutherland and Meg Ryan. It is set in Utah and is apparently based on a true story...
(1987) was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
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He directed The Last Station
The Last Station
The Last Station is a 2009 biographical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It is an adaptation of the 1990 biographical novel of the same name by Jay Parini about the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia Tolstaya...
, based on the final years of Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's life. It starred Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
, James McAvoy
James McAvoy
James McAvoy is a Scottish stage and screen actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until the early 2000s. His notable television work includes State of Play, Shameless, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune...
, and Paul Giamatti
Paul Giamatti
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...
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He is father to Atticus, Phoebe & Olivia Hoffman.
Director Credits
- PrivilegedPrivileged (1982 film)Privileged is a 1982 film, the first theatrical release from the Oxford Film Foundation and was Hugh Grant's screen debut playing Lord Adrian...
(1982) - Also Writer - Restless NativesRestless NativesRestless Natives is a 1985 comedy film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Vincent Friell, Joe Mullaney, and Ned Beatty.Filmed in Scotland, the story follows the adventures of two young men who don masks and hold up tourist coaches in the Highlands...
(1985) - Promised LandPromised Land (1987 film)Promised Land is a 1987 drama film written and directed by Michael Hoffman, and it stars Kiefer Sutherland and Meg Ryan. It is set in Utah and is apparently based on a true story...
(1987) - Also Writer - Some GirlsSome Girls (film)-Synopsis:The story revolves around a college student Michael who goes to Quebec City, Canada for Christmas at the request of his college girlfriend Gabriella , after months of her stonewalling him after she left college in mid-semester....
(1988) - SoapdishSoapdishSoapdish is a 1991 comedy film which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera. It stars Sally Field as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline, Robert Downey, Jr., Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Cathy Moriarty, Garry Marshall, Kathy...
(1991) - Restoration (1995)
- One Fine Day (1996)
- A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 film)A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1999 American film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Michael Hoffman. The ensemble cast features Kevin Kline as Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Everett as Titania and Oberon, and Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel,...
(1999) - Also Writer/Producer - The Emperor's ClubThe Emperor's ClubThe Emperor's Club is a 2002 drama film that tells the story of a prep school teacher and his students. Based on Ethan Canin's short story "The Palace Thief," the film is directed by Michael Hoffman and stars Kevin Kline. The film is set at a fictional boys' prep school, St. Benedict's Academy,...
(2002) - Game 6Game 6 (film)Game 6 is a 2005 American film directed by Michael Hoffman, first presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and released in the United States in 2006...
(2005) - The Last StationThe Last StationThe Last Station is a 2009 biographical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It is an adaptation of the 1990 biographical novel of the same name by Jay Parini about the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia Tolstaya...
(2009) - Also Producer - Gambit (2011)