He attended the California Institute of the Arts film/video program[8] where he studied under Alexander Mackendrick. During Mangold's third year, Mackendrick suggested that he should study at CalArts School of Theater as an actor, alongside his regular film studies.[10] While at CalArts, he directed the promotional documentary Future View for Disney and General Motors.[11]
Career
1985–2007
In 1985, Mangold secured a writer/director deal at Disney.[8] He wrote a television movie and co-wrote the animated feature Oliver & Company.[8] A few years later, Mangold moved to New York and applied to Columbia University's film school,[8] where he graduated with an MFA in film.[12] While there, he studied under film director Miloš Forman who helped him develop the scripts for Heavy and Cop Land. He has worked as a feature writer and director since 1995, when his first feature, the independent film Heavy, won the best directing prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 2005, Mangold co-wrote (with Gill Dennis), produced (under his production banner, Tree Line Film[16]), and directed Walk the Line, a film about the young life of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash and his relationship with June Carter Cash. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, it was released on November 18, 2005, to positive reviews and grossed $187 million worldwide. It was nominated for five Oscars and Witherspoon won Best Actress for her performance as June Carter Cash.
Mangold also appeared as an actor in The Sweetest Thing as a doctor and love interest to Christina Applegate as well as in his own Kate & Leopold playing a movie director.
In June 2011, Mangold was hired, initially just to direct the X-Men movie The Wolverine. Along with screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie, Scott Frank and Mark Bomback, Mangold also adapted the screenplay based upon Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's Japanese Wolverine saga and entered production in Japan and Australia in July 2012. He completed photography in November of the same year. On release, it was a box office success, ending up with a worldwide gross of $414,828,246 with a budget of $120 million, according to Box Office Mojo.[17]
Following the box office success and moderate critical response to The Wolverine, Mangold signed on to write the story and direct the sequel, Logan (2017). The film marked Mangold and Jackman's third collaboration. Scott Frank was hired to return as co-screenwriter, working as a team with Mangold and Michael Green.[18] The development of the film was lengthy, with Jackman citing his and Mangold's desire to do the character justice for his last time in the role.[19][20] The film incorporated elements from Mark Millar's Old Man Logan run on the comics.[21] Mangold has stated that the plot primarily focuses on character development, rather than superhero spectacle.[22]Logan was a commercial success, and received high praise for its gritty approach on the titular character and emotional depth. Often called one of the greatest superhero films of all time, the movie also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the first live-action superhero movie to be nominated for Adapted Screenplay, as well as Mangold's first Oscar nomination.[23][24]
In February 2020, it was announced that Mangold was in talks to direct the then untitled fifth film in the Indiana Jones franchise, later revealed to be titled Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, taking over for Steven Spielberg, who directed the first four films in the franchise and instead served as one of the executive producers.[28] In May 2020, it was officially confirmed that Mangold would serve as director.[29] Filming began in the United Kingdom in June 2021, and wrapped in February 2022.[30][31] The film was released on June 30, 2023.[32]
Upcoming projects
In early 2020 Mangold was announced to direct the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown with Searchlight Pictures distributing, starring Timothée Chalamet. Despite production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Mangold committing to Indiana Jones, Chalamet told Variety in November 2022 that he was still preparing for the role and that "the winds that are blowing are blowing in a very positive direction".[33] In April 2023, Mangold confirmed that the film would likely begin production in August of that year,[34] before plans were suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[35] Filming eventually began in March 2024 and wrapped in time for a December release.
In February 2023, Mangold was reported by The Hollywood Reporter to be in early talks to write and direct a film based on the Swamp Thing, as part of James Gunn's and Peter Safran's newly-announced "Chapter One: Gods and Monsters" film slate for the DC Universe, after the releases of his Indiana Jones film and Bob Dylan biopic.[36] Two months later in April, Mangold confirmed that he had been hired to write and direct a Swamp Thing film, with Gunn soon confirming that he approached Mangold to do the film upon charting the DCU's storylines, describing the film as a passion project of Mangold's.[37]
Mangold has mentioned that, in all his work, he always tries to find an emotional center within his stories he can operate from, especially when he does franchise films due to contemporary culture having made franchises a commodity to the point of being repetitive, commenting "it makes an audience wish that they just had the first one over again. So you have to push something to someplace new, while also remembering the core reasons why everyone was gathered" to make the best story with those issues at its heart, being the approach he employed for Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.[40]
