Forman was an important figure in theCzechoslovak New Wave. Film scholars and Czechoslovak authorities saw his 1967 filmThe Firemen's Ball as a biting satire on Eastern European Communism. The film was initially shown in theatres in his home country in the more reformist atmosphere of thePrague Spring. However, it was later banned by the Communist government after theinvasion by the Warsaw Pact countries in 1968.[4] Forman was subsequently forced to leave Czechoslovakia for the United States, where he continued making films.[5]
Miloš Forman school register 1941. (SOkA Kutná Hora)
Miloš Forman's childhood was marked by the early loss of his parents. Forman was born inČáslav, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) to Anna Švábová Forman, who ran a summer hotel. His parents attended a Protestant church.[6] He believed that his father was Rudolf Forman.[7] During theNazi occupation, Rudolf, a member of the resistance,[8] was arrested for distributing banned books, and reportedly died from typhus[9] inMittelbau-Dora, a subcamp of theBuchenwald concentration camp in May 1944.[10][11][12] Another version has it that he died in Mittelbau-Dora during interrogation. Forman's mother had been murdered inAuschwitz in March the previous year.[13][14] Forman said that he did not fully understand what had happened to them until he saw footage of the concentration camps when he was 16.[12]
Forman was subsequently raised by two uncles and by family friends.[15] His older brother Pavel was a painter twelve years his senior, and he emigrated to Australia after the1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.[16] Forman later discovered that his biological father was in fact the Jewish architect Otto Kohn, a survivor of theHolocaust,[14][17] and Forman was thus a half-brother of mathematicianJoseph J. Kohn.[16]
Along with cinematographerMiroslav Ondříček and long-time friend from schoolIvan Passer, Forman filmed the silent documentarySemafor about theSemafor theater.[16] Forman's first important production wasAudition, a documentary about competing singers.[21] He directed severalCzech comedies inCzechoslovakia. He was in Paris negotiating the production of his first American film during thePrague Spring in 1968.[22] His employer, a Czech studio, fired him, so he decided to move to the United States.[23] He moved to New York, where he later became a professor of film atColumbia University in 1978 and co-chair (with his former teacherFrantišek Daniel) of Columbia's film department.[22] One of hisprotégés was future directorJames Mangold, whom he mentored at Columbia.[24] He regularly collaborated withcinematographerMiroslav Ondříček.[23]
Black Peter is one of the first and most representative films of theCzechoslovak New Wave. It won theGolden Leopard award at theLocarno International Film Festival. It covers the first few days in the working life of a Czech teenager. In Czechoslovakia in 1964, the aimless Petr (Ladislav Jakim) starts work as a security guard in a busy self-service supermarket; unfortunately, he is so lacking in confidence that even when he sees shoplifters, he cannot bring himself to confront them. He is similarly tongue-tied with the lovely Asa (Pavla Martínková) and during the lectures about personal responsibility and the dignity of labor that his blustering father (Jan Vostrčil) delivers at home.Loves of a Blonde is one of the best–known movies of theCzechoslovak New Wave, and won awards at theVenice andLocarno film festivals. It was also nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967.[25]
In 1967, he directedThe Firemen's Ball an original Czechoslovak–Italian co-production; this was Forman's firstcolor film. It is one of the best–known movies of the Czechoslovak New Wave. On the face of it a naturalistic representation of an ill-fated social event in a provincial town, the film has been seen by both film scholars and the then-authorities in Czechoslovakia as a biting satire on East European Communism, which resulted in it being banned for many years in Forman's home country.[26] The Czech termzhasnout (to switch lights off), associated with petty theft in the film, was used to describe the large-scaleasset stripping that occurred in the country during the 1990s.[23] It was nominated for theAcademy Award forBest Foreign Film.[27]
"WhenSoviet tanks rumbled into Prague in August 1968, Forman was in Paris negotiating for the production ofTaking Off (1971), his first American film. Claiming that he was out of the country illegally, his Czech studio fired him, forcing Forman to emigrate to New York"[28]
Arthur Knight, film critic ofThe Hollywood Reporter declared in his review, "WithOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Forman takes his rightful place as one of our most creative young directors. His casting is inspired, his sense of milieu is assured, and he could probably wring Academy Award performances from a stone."[32] The success ofOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest allowed Forman to direct his long-plannedfilm version ofHair in 1979, arock musical based on theBroadway musical byJames Rado,Gerome Ragni andGalt MacDermot. The film starredTreat Williams,John Savage andBeverly D'Angelo. It was disowned by the writers of the original musical, and, although it received positive reviews, it did not do well financially.[23]
Forman's adaptation,Valmont (1989) ofPierre Choderlos de Laclos's novelLes Liaisons dangereuses had its premiere on 17 November 1989.Another film adaptation byStephen Frears from the same source material had been released the previous year, and overshadowed Forman's adaptation.[22] The film starredColin Firth,Meg Tilly andAnnette Bening.[21] The film received mixed reviews with critic of theLos Angeles Times Sheila Benson, praising its gorgeous costumes, but noting its inferior quality toDangerous Liaisons. She wrote: "Valmont is gorgeous, and for a while you can coast on its costumes and production details....But to considerValmont in the light of Baudelaire’s words onLes Liaisons Dangereuses--”This book, if it burns, must burn like ice”—is to see just how far down this ice has been watered."[34]
In 2000, Forman performed alongside actorEdward Norton in Norton's directorial debut,Keeping the Faith (2000), as the wise friend to Norton's conflicted priest.[26] This biography of the Spanish painterFrancisco Goya (an American-Spanish co-production),Goya's Ghosts premiered on 8 November 2006. The film starredNatalie Portman,Javier Bardem,Stellan Skarsgård andRandy Quaid. It struggled at the box office.[22] The film received mixed reviews with Phillip French ofThe Guardian lauding it writing "This is a most engaging, thoughtful, beautifully mounted film".[35] However, Kirk Honeycut fromThe Hollywood Reporter wrote, "In general, the filmmakers failed to make several basic decisions before shooting...[the] Below-the-line credits are terrific, which only increases an overwhelming sense of disappointment with the film’s failed ambitions."[36]
In the late 1950s, Forman andJosef Škvorecký started adapting Škvorecký's short storyEine kleine Jazzmusik for the screen. The script, namedKapela to vyhrála (The Band Won It), tells the story of a student jazz band during theNazi Occupation of Czechoslovakia. The script was submitted toBarrandov Film Studios. The studio required changes and both artists continued to rewrite the script. Right before the film started shooting, the whole project was completely scrapped, most probably due to intervention from people at the top of the political scene, as Škvorecký had just published his novelThe Cowards, which was strongly criticized by communist politicians.[37] The storyEine kleine Jazzmusik was dramatized as a TV film in the 1990s.[38] In the spring and summer of 1968, Škvorecký and Forman cooperated again by jointly writing a script synopsis to make a film version ofThe Cowards. After Škvorecký fled theWarsaw Pact invasion, the synopsis was translated into English, but no film was made.
In the mid-1960s, Forman, Passer and Papoušek were working on a script about a soldier secretly living inLucerna Palace in Prague. They got stuck writing the script and went to a village firemen's ball. Inspired by the experience, they decided to cancel the script and writeThe Firemen's Ball instead.[39]
In early 1970s, Forman worked on a script withThomas Berger based on his novelVital Parts.[40]
In the early 1990s, Forman co-wrote a screenplay withAdam Davidson. The screenplay, titledHell Camp, was about an American-Japanese love affair in the world ofsumo wrestlers. The picture was to be funded byTriStar Pictures, and was cancelled just four days before shooting because of the disapproval of theJapan Sumo Association, while Forman refused to make the changes requested by the association.[37]
Forman was hand-picked by writer/producerMichael Crichton to directDisclosure (1994), but subsequently left the project over creative differences with Crichton.[41]
Around 2001, Forman was set to direct and co-write the comic crime caperBad News, adapted from the novel byDonald E. Westlake. Forman was co-writing the script withDoug Wright.[45][46] The project never came to fruition.
In the early 2000s, Forman developed a film project to be titledEmbers, adapted byJean-Claude Carrière from Hungarian novelistSándor Márai’s novel. The film was about two men in the formerAustria-Hungary Empire from different social backgrounds who become friends in military school and meet again 41 years later. Forman castSean Connery andKlaus Maria Brandauer as well asWinona Ryder. Several months before shooting, Sean Connery and the Italian producer had a disagreement, and Connery withdrew from the project. Forman was so convinced that Sean Connery fit the role that he didn't want to shoot the film without him and cancelled the project a few days before the shooting was due to start.[37]
In the late 2000s, the screenplay forGhost of Munich was written by Forman, Jean-Claude Carriere andVáclav Havel (the former Czech president and writer, who had studied at school with Forman), inspired by the novel by the French novelistGeorges-Marc Benamou. The story takes a closer look at the events that surrounded theMunich Agreement. The role of the French Prime MinisterÉdouard Daladier was supposed to have been played by the French actorMathieu Amalric, with his older self played byGérard Depardieu. However, the production companyPathé was not able to fund the project.[37]
Forman gave his 18-year-old sister-in-lawHana Brejchová her first film role inLoves of a Blonde, which earned her third place in the Best Actress category at the Venice Film Festival.[47]
Forman's first wife was Czech movie starJana Brejchová. They met while makingŠtěňata (1957). They divorced in 1962. Forman had twin sons with his second wife Czech actress and singerVěra Křesadlová [cs]. They separated in 1969. Their sonsPetr [cs] andMatěj [cs] (b. 1964) are both involved in the theatre. Forman marriedMartina Zbořilová [cs] on 28 November 1999, and they also had twin sons Jim and Andy (born 1999).[22]
Forman was professor emeritus of film atColumbia University.[48] In 1996, asteroid11333 Forman was named after him.[23] He wrote poems and published the autobiographyTurnaround in 1994.[23] After a short illness, he died atDanbury Hospital near his home inWarren, Connecticut on 13 April 2018 at age 86.[49][50][51][52] He is interred at New Warren Cemetery in Warren, Connecticut.
In 1977, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[21] In 1985, he headed theCannes Film Festival and in 2000 did the same for theVenice Film Festival.[26] He presided over aCésar Award ceremony in 1988.[61] In April 2007, he took part in thejazz operaDobře placená procházka, itself a remake of the TV film he made in 1966.[59] It premiered at thePrague National Theatre, directed by Forman's son, Petr Forman.[59] Named 30th greatest Czech byNejvětší Čech[62] Forman's filmsOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest andAmadeus were selected for the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1993 and 2019 respectively[63]
Directed Academy Award performances Under Forman's direction, these actors have receivedAcademy Award nominations (and wins) for their performances in their respective roles.
^Horwitz, Jonah."TAKING OFF: Forman's First American Film (and Last Czech Film ?)".Cinematheque. cinema.wisc.edu. Retrieved23 October 2023.This essay on Miloš Forman's Taking Off (1971) was written by Jonah Horwitz, Ph.D Candidate in the Communication Arts Department at UW Madison. A 35mm print of Taking Off, part of our "Universal '71" series, will screen on Sunday, April 5, at 2 p.m., in the Chazen Museum of Art.
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