Surviving PicassoFilmmakers



James Ivory

JAMES IVORY (Director) was born in Berkeley, California, and later attended the University of Oregon, where he majored in architecture and fine arts. His first film, which he wrote, photographed and produced, was "Venice: Theme and Variations," a half-hour documentary made as a thesis film for a degree in cinema from the University of Southern California. Ivory's evocation of the city was named by The New York Times in 1957 as one of the best non-theatrical films of the year.

An easy rapport with India was evidenced in Ivory's second film, "The Sword and the Flute," based entirely on Indian miniature paintings in American collections. Its success led to a grant by the Asia Society of New York to make "The Delhi Way," a film about the Indian city. In 1961, Ivory teamed up with Ismail Merchant to form Merchant Ivory Productions. Their first feature was "The Householder," based on an early novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who adapted it for the screen.

The 19 theatrical films that Mr. Ivory directed for Merchant Ivory include the classic "Shakespeare Wallah," "The Europeans," "The Bostonians," "Heat and Dust" (from another novel by Ms. Jhabvala), "A Room With a View" (which received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, as well as being named Best Picture by the National Board of Review), "Maurice" (which received a Silver Lion Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, as well as Best Score and two Best Actor Awards), "Slaves of New York," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" (which received Best Actress and Best Screenplay awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, as well as an Oscar nomination for Joanne Woodward for Best Actress) and "Howards End," adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, which earned nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and was awarded three, for Best Actress for Emma Thompson, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Art Direction; it also won Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director from the National Board of Review. "The Remains of the Day," adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, received eight Oscar and six BAFTA nominations and won a Best Actor BAFTA award for Anthony Hopkins.

In 1994, Ivory directed "Jefferson in Paris" on location in France, starring Nick Nolte, Greta Scacchi and Thandie Newton. That same year Ivory received the D.W. Griffith Award, the highest honor given by the Directors Guild of America.

Although producer ISMAIL MERCHANT was born in Bombay, India, he has lived and worked for most of his life in the West, completing his education at New York University, where he earned his Master's degree in business administration,

Merchant's first film was a theatrical short entitled "The Creation of Woman," for which he received a 1961 Academy Award nomination. The film was also named an official entry from the United States in the Cannes Film Festival that year. En route to Cannes, Merchant met James Ivory, who agreed to form a partnership, Merchant Ivory Productions, to make English-language theatrical features in India for the international market. For more than thirty years they have endured as one of the most productive collaborations in cinema.

"The Householder" was Merchant Ivory's first film and the first Indian film to be distributed worldwide by one of the major American companies. It was followed by three more Indian features, "Shakespeare Wallah," "The Guru" and "Bombay Talkie," and then by a broader series of collaborations filmed in England, the United States and other locations. These have been the recipients of the most distinguished awards and honors in the motion picture community.

In addition to producing, Merchant has directed two television projects, a short entitled "Mahatma and the Mad Boy" and a full-length television feature, "The Courtesans of Bombay." He directed his first feature film, "In Custody," in Bhopal, India, and it was released in the United States and Europe to wide critical acclaim, after winning Best Picture, Best Producer, Best Actor and Best Costume Awards in the National Film Awards of India. He has just finished his second feature film as a director, called "The Proprietor," Jeanne Moreau, for Warner Bros. release in the United States, Canada and France.

Merchant is also the author of several books, including Hullaballoo in Old Jeypore: The Making of The Deceivers; Ismail Merchant's Florence; and Ismail Merchant's Passionate Meals: The New Indian Cuisine for Fearless Cooks and Adventurous Eaters.

In his 45 years in the industry, producer DAVID L. WOLPER has made more than 600 films and television programs which have won more than 150 awards, including two Oscars, 50 Emmys, seven Golden Globes and five Peabodys. He earned an Oscar for Best Documentary Film for "The Hellstrom Chronicle" and has received the Academy's highest recognition, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. In addition, French President Mitterrand conferred upon Wolper France's Legion of Honor in 1990.

Wolper, a native of New York City, graduated from the University of Southern California, majoring in motion pictures and journalism. He entered the entertainment industry in 1949, at the birth of television, as a television film salesman. In 1958, he formed Wolper Productions to produce films for television.

An early creator of award-winning television documentaries, Wolper also launched the television miniseries. He has produced some of the highest-rated and most-honored to date, including "Roots," "The Thorn Birds," "Sandburg's Lincoln," "Roots: The Next Generations" and "North and South," as well as the enormously successful Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and, in 1996, the Liberty Weekend celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. For these accomplishments he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

As a film producer, his credits include "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "The Bridge at Remagen," "The Devil's Brigade," "Victory at Entebbe!" (on which he first worked with Anthony Hopkins), "This is Elvis," "Imagine: John Lennon" and "Murder in the First." He is currently in production on "L.A. Confidential," a film directed by Curtis Hanson for Warner Bros.

Wolper was recently involved as a consultant to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games for their opening and closing ceremonies and other matters. Deeply involved in charities, Wolper serves on dozens of committees and civic associations.

Screenwriter RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA was born in Germany, emigrated to England, and earned a degree in English literature from London University. In 1951 she moved to India after marrying an Indian architect; there, they raised three daughters.

Since 1955 she has written a dozen novels, many of them set in India, including The Nature of Passion, Esmond in India, Travelers and The Householder, the last of which was her first motion picture project with Merchant Ivory Productions. Her first collaboration with director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant on an original project was for "Shakespeare Wallah," a film now widely regarded as a classic. She has also adapted such novels as Henry James' The Europeans and The Bostonians for the Merchant Ivory team, as well as writing original screenplays such as "Roseland" and "Jefferson in Paris," set in Europe or America..

In 1975, Jhabvala won Britain's Booker Prize for her novel Heat and Dust, and in 1984 she won a BAFTA award for Best Screenplay for the Merchant Ivory filmed adaptation of "Heat and Dust." In 1986, she received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "A Room With a View," and in 1990 she won the Best Screenplay Award from the New York Film Critics Circle for "Mr.& Mrs. Bridge." Jhabvala received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Howards End" and was nominated for an Oscar for her adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day."

A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, Jhabvala has also had three short story collections published, in addition to nine novels. In 1984 she received a MacArthur Foundation Award and in 1994, she received the Writers Guild of America's Screen Laurel Award, which is the Guild's highest honor.

Executive producer DONALD ROSENFELD has run the North American offices of Merchant Ivory Productions for the past nine years, and, in addition to "Surviving Picasso," he has worked on the following productions: "Slaves of New York," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge," "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," "Howards End," "The Remains of the Day," "In Custody," "Jefferson in Paris," "Feast of July" and the upcoming "The Proprietor."

Executive producer PAUL BRADLEY has run the London offices of Merchant Ivory Productions for the past twelve years and he has worked on the following productions, in addition to "Surviving Picasso": "The Bostonians," "Heat and Dust," "A Room With A View," "Maurice," "Slaves of New York," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge," "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," "Howards End," "The Remains of the Day," "In Custody," "Jefferson in Paris," "The Feast of July" and "The Proprietor."

Co-producer HUMBERT BALSAN began his career as an actor in "Lancelot du Lac," directed by Robert Bresson. He continued acting with such directors as Jacques Rivette, Maurice Pialat and Pierre Granier-Deferre.

In 1976 he became an assistant director and the next year he produced and directed a documentary on Nadia Boulanger. His real training started in 1979 when he met Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, for whom he has since co-produced "Quartet," "Jefferson in Paris" and "Surviving Picasso" and produced the upcoming "The Proprietor."

In addition to his work with Merchant Ivory Productions, Balsan has produced the following films: "Le Soleil en Face," "Le Maitre Nageur," "Histoire du Caporal," "Adieu Bonaparte," "Baton Rouge," "Corps et Biens," "Le Sixieme Jour," "L'Homme Voile," "Un Medecin des Lumieres," "Josephine en Tournee," "L'Amour," "Alexandrie Encore et Toujours," "Shakespeare Sonnets," "Transit," "Les Equilibriestes," "Vincennes-Neuilly," "Sabine," "Des Anges au Paradis," "Grand Bonheur," "Mercedes," "Les Arpenteurs de Montmartre," "Une Journee au Luxembourg," "La Lumiere des Etoiles Mortes," "L'Acte," "L'Emigre," "Muriel Fait Ledessespoir de Ses Parents," "Mes Dix-Sept Ans" and "Y Aurait-Il de la Neige a Noel?"

TONY PIERCE-ROBERTS (Director of Photography) was nominated for an Academy Award in 1992 for his work on Merchant Ivory's "Howards End." The other films he has photographed for the Merchant Ivory team are "A Room with A View," (for which he received the New York Film Critics' Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement as well as a British Academy Award and an Oscar nomination), "Slaves of New York," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" and "The Remains of the Day." He also photographed "The Client" for director Joel Schumacher and "Disclosure" for director Barry Levinson; both movies were released by Warner Bros.

Pierce-Roberts began his career at the BBC photographing the dramas "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "Caught on A Train." Other television credits include "A Voyage Round My Father" and "The Good Soldier."

He made his feature film debut with Jerzy Skolimowski's "Moonlighting"; his other feature credits include "Kipperbank," "A Private Function," "Out Cold," "White Fang," "The Dark Half" and Robert Young's "Splitting Heirs."

Production designer LUCIANA ARRIGHI's work in "Howards End" earned her an Academy Award for Best Art Direction. She was nominated again for her work on "The Remains of the Day." Prior to working on "Surviving Picasso," Arrighi designed the production for "Sense and Sensibility."

Her other feature credits include "Women in Love" and "The Rainbow," both directed by Ken Russell; as well as "My Brilliant Career," "Mrs. Soffel," "The Ploughman's Lunch," "Privates on Parade," "The Return of the Soldier," "Madame Sousatzka," "The Innocent," "Only You," "Howards End" and "The Remains of the Day."

Arrighi originally trained at the BBC in England and worked there as a designer on such Ken Russell productions as "Isadora," "Rousseau" and "Rossetti." Since then, she has designed both sets and costumes for opera, theater and films in England, Europe and America.

Editor ANDREW MARCUS was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As an English Speaking Union Scholar he attended Bryanston, a British public school, and then went on to the University of Virginia, where he majored in English and philosophy. After graduating, Marcus became Congressman Eugene Chapple's speechwriter for one-and-a-half years.

Disillusioned with life on Capitol Hill, Marcus took a job putting up wallboards in a New York loft where documentary films were being edited. Within a year he was writing and editing films about the Beatles, Motown and the early years of rock and roll.

In 1986, Marcus began working with Merchant Ivory Productions as an assistant editor on "Maurice"; he has worked on every film Merchant Ivory has produced since then. In 1990, Marcus co-edited "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" with Humphrey Dixon. The following year he cut "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" and, in 1991, he edited "Howards End" for director James Ivory, followed by "The Remains of the Day" and "Jefferson in Paris."

Marcus has edited four films for Kenneth Branagh: "Peter's Friends," "Swan Song" (which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Live-Action Short),"Much Ado About Nothing" and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein."

CAROL RAMSEY (Costume Designer) holds an undergraduate degree in piano from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and a graduate degree in harpsichord from the New England Conservatory of Music. While in graduate school, she was introduced to costuming in Baroque and Renaissance performance practice classes.

As an experienced seamstress, she took over the costuming of these productions, which led to her working for the Boston Shakespeare Company. There, working in the costume shop as a technician and then as an assistant designer, she learned theatrical costuming. She continued to work in theatre while working with her husband, a documentary filmmaker, as a sound recordist, assistant editor and sound editor. It was also at this time that she met James Ivory, who was directing his first theatrical project, the Peter Maxwell-Davies opera, "Cinderella," in Boston, for which Ramsey provided the costuming.

Her first work in entertainment television was as the costume designer on "Three Sovereigns for Sarah," for American Playhouse. She followed with the CBS movie for television, "A Case of Deadly Force."

Ramsey moved into costume design for films with "Slaves of New York" and continued with "King of New York," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge," "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead," "Rules of the Game," "The Bridge," "That Night," "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" and "The Opposite Sex and How to Live With Them."

Composer RICHARD ROBBINS earned Academy Award nominations for his scores for Merchant Ivory's "Howards End" and "The Remains of the Day." Robbins was honored with an award from the British Film Institute and several other British film and music organizations for his score for "A Room With A View." His music for Merchant Ivory's "Maurice" was named Best Score at the Venice Film Festival in 1987.

In all, Robbins has scored 14 films for the Merchant Ivory team, and supervised the score on "The Europeans." His credits include "Jane Austen in Manhattan," "Quartet," "Heat and Dust," "The Bostonians," "A Room With A View," "Maurice," "Slaves of New York," "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge," "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe," "Howards End," "The Remains of the Day," "Jefferson in Paris" and "Surviving Picasso," all for Merchant Ivory, as well as "My Little Girl" and "Sweet Lorraine." He most recently composed the music for Ismail Merchant's upcoming film, "The Proprietor."



Surviving Picasso


©1996 Warner Bros.