Born December 16, 1963 in New York, New York, James Mangold is the son of artists Robert and Sylvia Plimack Mangold. He was raised in Washingtonville in New York’s Hudson Valley. After high school in New York, he attended the California Institute of the Arts film and video program under Alexander Mackendrick (Sweet Smell of Success) who suggested he study acting as well.
While at CalArts, Mangold directed the promotional documentary Future View for Disney and General Motors. In 1985, he secured a writer/director deal at Disney where he co-wrote 1988’s Oliver & Company.
Returning to New York, Mangold attended Columbia University’s film school where he studied under Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest). Forman helped him develop the scripts for 1995’s Heavy and 1997’s Cop Land, both of which he also directed. Heavy won the best directing award at Sundance.
Mangold married producer Cathy Konrad (Scream) in 1998 with whom he would have two children. In 1999, his Girl, Interrupted won Angelina Jolie an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. His 2001 film, Kate & Leopold earned Hugh Jackman a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy and won a Golden Globe for the song “Until” which was later nominated for an Oscar. Also in 2001, Mangold became a producer for the first time with Lift. He would not produce another film until 2017.
He directed but didn’t write 2003’s Identity which was produced by his wife. He returned to writing and directing with 2015’s Walk the Line which was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning Best Actress for Reese Witherspoon. 2007’s 3:10 to Yuma was another film he directed but didn’t write that was produced by his wife. A successful remake of a 1957 film directed by Delmer Daves, Mangold’s version received two Oscar nominations.
2010’s Knight and Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz was Mangold’s third and final film for wife Cathy Konrad. They would divorce in 2014.
2013’s The Wolverine would be Mangold’s first foray into X-Men franchise. He directed but didn’t write this one, which reunited him with Hugh Jackman. He did, however, write and produce the next film in the franchise, 2017’s Logan for which he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
2019’s Ford v Ferrari found Mangold at home in yet another film genre, the sports film. This one starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale brought Mangold his first Oscar nomination for Best Picture. It won Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing.
2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny allowed Mangold to become the first director working in the franchise aside from Steven Spielberg who merely produced this one.
Mangold not only received his second Oscar nominations for both writing and producing but finally received a Best Director nomination for A Complete Unknown, his first musical biography since Walk the Line nine years earlier.
James Mangold is at the height of his fame and popularity at 61 with two films in pre-production and one in development.
KATE & LEOPOLD (2001)
Mangold’s first foray into both romantic comedy and fantasy earned Hugh Jackman a Golden Globe nomination for his charming performance as an 18th Century English Duke who finds himself in modern day New York where he falls in love with a plucky advertising executive played by Meg Ryan at her best. While time travel films don’t always work, this one, which is very much in tune with the 1933 classic Berkely Square with Leslie Howard and its 1951 remake I’ll Never Forget You, does. Jackman who had already established himself on screen as Wolverine in X-Men broadened his image considerably with this one.
WALK THE LINE (2005)
Mangold’s musical biography about the early life of Johnny Cash was nominated for 5 Oscars but failed to secure nominations for either Best Picture or Best Director. Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for his portrayal of Cash and Reese Witherspoon won for her portrayal of his wife, June Carter Cash who died just before the film went into production. Phoenix’s chief competition at the Oscars were Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote and Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain. Hoffman won while Ledger and Phoenix bother later won for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight and Joker, respectively.
LOGAN (2017)
Mangold wrote the absorbing screenplay for this presumably last entry in the X-Men canon involving Wolverine. In a future where mutants are nearly extinct, an elderly and weary Logan AKA Wolverine leads a quiet life. But when Laura, a mutant child pursued by scientists, comes to him for help, he must get her to safety, risking his own life as he protects hers. The screenplay, which Mangold co-wrote with Scott Frank and Michael Green, was nominated for an Oscar. It lost to James Ivory’s adaptation of Call Me by Your Name which starred Timothée Chalamet who Mangold would later direct to an Oscar nomination for A Complete Unknown.
FORD V FERRARI (2019)
Mangold’s first Oscar nomination for Best Picture went to this realistic sports film in which American car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) battle corporate interference and the laws of physics to build a revolutionary race car for Ford in order to defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. The two actors each received some of the best notices of thei respective careers for their performances. Third billed Jon Bernthal plays Ford executive and future Ford president Lee Iacocca who died just four months before the release of the film at 94.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (2024)
Originally intended to be a 2020 release, the film was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic and other commitments of both Mangold and star Timothée Chalamet. The film which is nominated for 8 Oscars, was filmed, edited, and released in record time in 2024. Mangold received 3 of the 8 nominations for writing, producing, and directing the film. Chalamet is nominated for his portrayal of 19-year-old Bob Dylan while Edward Norton is nominated for his portrayal of Dylan’s mentor, Pete Seeger, and Monica Babaro is nominated for her portrayal of Dylan’s collaborator and one-time girlfriend, Joan Baez.
JAMES MANGOLD AND OSCAR
Logan (2017) – Nominated – Best Adapted Screenplay
Ford v Ferrari (2019) – nominated – Best Picture
A Complete Unknown (2024 – nominated – Best Picture
A Complete Unknown (2024 – nominated – Best Director
A Complete Unknown (2024 – nominated – Best Adapted Screenplay
