Director Anthony Minghella Dies, 54
Last Film Is Being Adapted Into HBO Series
By Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 3/18/2008 10:38:00 AM
Director Anthony Minghella, who won an Academy Award for The English Patient, has died in London at age 54, days before his last movie, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which is being adapted into an HBO series, debuts on television in the United Kingdom.
The Associated Press reported Minghella, who also directed Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Truly Madly Deeply died Tuesday at Charing Cross Hospital of a hemorrhage after surgery last week to remove a growth on his neck.
Minghella and Richard Curtis adapted the Ladies’ screenplay from novels by Alexander McCall Smith and Minghella directed the two-hour pilot, airing on BBC One on Sunday, March 23. A premiere was scheduled to be held in London Tuesday night. The film stars Jill Scott as a detective, Precious Ramotswe, in Botswana in Southern Africa; the film is a co-production between Mirage Enterprises, in which Minghella was a partner, and The Weinstein Co. Minghella was a series executive producer, along with Curtis.
"Much more than a TRUE artist who thrilled in offering his divine gift with the world, Anthony Minghella was a dear, dear trusted friend," Scott said in a statement, per AP. "My heart aches with grief. Words can not express how deeply he will be missed or how deeply he was loved."
Dominic Minghella, the director’s brother, is principal writer for BBC America’s Robin Hood series.
Variety reported Weinstein Co. co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said in a statement: “I am shocked and heartbroken that we have lost Anthony. He was my mentor, my partner and, most of all, my brother. The grace, joy and tenderness he brought to his films were symbolic of his life and the many people he touched. There are many personal and professional moments we have shared together and I will treasure them for the rest of my life. Our thoughts and prayers are with his beautiful family at this difficult moment.”
Click here to see and hear Minghella reflect on his heritage, his unlikely success and why he felt he was always destined to enter “through the tradesman’s entrance.”
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RIP
Poor chap, Condolences to his family.
His films were the best
Al Capone - 3/18/2008 7:01:00 PM EDT
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