"There's nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you're meant to do.
It's like falling in love."
~Mike Nichols
Vanity Fair, 2008
I was very sad to learn yesterday, of the passing of the amazing Mike Nichols. Mr. Nichols directed some of my very favorite movies, among them, The Birdcage, Working Girl, and the classic, The Graduate. While it bothered me a bit, to different degrees over the years, that there was a glaring flaw in The Graduate. You know, the scene where Benjamin Braddock was supposed to be on his way to Berkeley to see Elaine Robinson, and then it happens. Benjamin is seen heading to Berkeley, by way of San Francisco! Which would be fine, had be been heading up the San Mateo Peninsula, and then heading east with the skyline of the city behind him, but no, Mr. Nichols showed Benjamin heading into San Francisco instead. Berkeley is in the East Bay, so that was a geographical impossibility. Sigh.
That tiny bit of silliness had never kept me from enjoying The Graduate, indeed I have had many great discussions over the year about why I consider it one of the top ten films of all time, but that trip across the Oakland/San Francisco Bay bridge has made me grimace once or twice. LOL. I guess, deep down, I thought maybe one day I might be able to ask the man himself why he made that directorial decision, just to be able to hear it from the master himself. Alas, one more celebrity that I admire, and who has made my life better is now gone yet again. I will never have that conversation, and that mystery won't be solved. And I guess I will never learn that, unfortunately, our idols aren't immortal, but when you see talent like his, or Robin Williams, or John Hughes, or any one of the amazing talents lost to the world this year, doesn't it seem like they should have been?
RIP Mike Nichols
And Thank you, Sir!
The Final Scene From The Graduate
Leaf Of The Day
Mood: Quiet
~Me :)
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