ReFocus. The films of Elaine May / edited by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Dean Brandum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra, Author.

Contributor:

May, Elaine, 1932- interviewee.

Hagan, Allie, interviewer.

Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra, 1974- editor.

Brandum, Dean, editor.

Series:

ReFocus. The American directors series.

Edinburgh scholarship online.

ReFocus. The American directors series

Edinburgh scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

May, Elaine, 1932---Criticism and interpretation.

May, Elaine.

Motion picture producers and directors--United States.

Motion picture producers and directors.

Women motion picture producers and directors--United States.

Women motion picture producers and directors.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 pages)

Other Title:

Films of Elaine May

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020.

Summary:

Spanning from obscurity to notoriety, the films of director, screenwriter, actor and comic Elaine May have recently experienced a long-overdue renaissance. Although she made only four films - A New Leaf (1971), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Mikey and Nicky (1976) and Ishtar (1987) - and never reached the level of acclaim of her frequent collaborator Mike Nichols, May's work is as enigmatic, sophisticated and unceasingly fascinating as her own complicated, reluctant star persona. This collection focuses both on the films she has directed, and also emphasises her work with other high profile collaborators such as John Cassavetes, Warren Beatty and Otto Preminger.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Who’s Kidding?—Approaching Elaine May

Part 1 Beginnings

1 Teenagers on Stage—The Comedy of Elaine May and Mike Nichols

Part 2 Critically Situating Elaine May

2 Hollywood Can’t Wait: Elaine May and the Delusions of 1970s American Cinema

3 Dangerous Business—Elaine May as Existential Improviser

Part 3 Elaine May’s Films as Director

4 Kneeling on Glass—Elaine May’s A New Leaf (1971) as Screwball Black Comedy

5 “Don’t Put A Milky Way in Someone’s Mouth When They Don’t Want It”: A Contemporary Feminist Rereading of Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

6 Mikey and Nicky (1976)—Elaine May and the Cassavetes Connection

7 Cartographies of Catastrophe—Elaine May’s Ishtar (1987)

Part 4 Collaborations/Revelations

8 In/Significant Gestures—Elaine May, Screen Performance, and Embodied Collaboration

9 Otto É. May(zo)—Elaine May’s Screenplay of Otto Preminger’s Such Good Friends (1971) as Affirmation that Hell is Other People

10 Spectral Elaine May—The Later Mike Nichols Collaborations and the Myth of the Recluse

Conclusion

11 When in Doubt, Seduce: An Interview with Screenwriter Allie Hagan

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4744-4021-5

1-4744-7660-0

1-4744-4020-7

OCLC:

1312726796