Michael Cristofer

Michael Ivan Cristofer (born 22 January 1945, Trenton, New Jersey) is an American playwright and filmmaker. He received Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for The Shadow Box in 1977.

For eight years he worked as artistic advisor and finally co-artistic director of River Arts Repertory in Woodstock, N.Y., a company which produced new plays by writers such as Richard Nelson, Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin, Eric Overmeyer and many others including the American premiere of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women–a production which later moved to Off-Broadway. Also at River Arts, he wrote stage adaptations of the films Love Me or Leave Me and the legendary Casablanca, and directed Joanne Woodward in his own adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts. His most recent work for the theater, The Whore and Mr. Moore, is in workshop at the Actor’s Studio where he is a member.

Bibliography

Plays

• Breaking Up, produced by Primary Stages
• Ice produced by Manhattan Theatre Club
• Black Angel, produced by Circle Repertory Company
• The Lady and the Clarinet
• Amazing Grace

Screenplays

• The Shadow Box directed by Paul Newman (Golden Globe Award, Emmy nomination)
• Falling in Love, with Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro,
• The Witches of Eastwick with Jack Nicholson,
• The Bonfire of the Vanities directed by Brian DePalma; and
• Robert Greenwald’s version of Breaking Up, starring Russell Crowe and Salma Hayek

Filmography

Actor

• Gunsmoke: "The Guns of Cibola Blanca: Part 2" (1974)
• Lincoln (1974) (TV)
• The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974) (TV)
• Crime Club (1975) (TV)
• Knuckle (1975) (TV)
• The Rookies: "Someone Who Cares" (1975)
• Kojak: "Over the Water" (1975) TV episode
• The Entertainer (1976) (TV)
• The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1976) (TV)
• The Andros Targets: "The Surrender" (1977) TV episode
• An Enemy of the People (1978)
• The Little Drummer Girl (1984)
• Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)

Director

• Gia, for HBO Pictures starring Angelina Jolie, Mercedes Ruehl and Faye Dunaway, which was nominated for 5 Emmies and for which he won a Director’s Guild Award
• Body Shots starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Jerry O’Connell, Amanda Peet, and Tara Reid; and
• Original Sin starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas, which was released in 2001.

References

External links

• Michael Cristofer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael Cristofer at the Internet Movie Database

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