A Room with a View

Background:

Three-time Academy Award nominee American film director James Ivory is most well-known for his successful long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both the Bombay-born producer Ismail Merchant (born 1936, died 2005) and German/Indian novelist-screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Making their debut with The Householder (1963), which became the first Indian movie to be distributed internationally by a foremost American studio, the trio achieved big triumph with A Room with a View (1986), which was nominated for eight Oscars, including a Best Director honor for Ivory. The film also won Ivory an Evening Standard British Film Award, a Sant Jordi Award, a David di Donatello Award, a Guild of German Art House Cinemas Award as well as a BAFTA Award (shared with Merchant). They went on to build good reputation with Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993). Both movies earned the director Oscar nominations. Other notable credits include Heat and Dust (1983), Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries (1998), The Golden Bowl (2001) and Le Divorce (2003). After Merchant’s death in 2005, Ivory and Jhabvala rejoin for the upcoming City of Your Final Destination (2007), starring Anthony Hopkins. Also an occasional producer, Ivory is set to work in the movie Made in France (2007), serving as executive producer.

Outside the limelight, Ivory and Merchant were long-term life partners.


Oregon-Raised

Childhood and Family:

James Francis Ivory was born on June 7, 1928, in Berkeley, California. His father, Edward Patrick Ivory, was of Irish lineage and his mother, Hallie Millicent DeLoney, was of American-French descent. His family relocated to Oregon when he was 5, after his father purchased a lumber mill. James received a BFA in Architecture and Fine Arts from University of Oregon in 1951, and then moved back to California to attend the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he earned his MFA degree in 1957.


Howards End

Career:

Californian-born, Oregon-raised James Ivory made the short film Four in the Morning (1953) when a student at the USC film school, and later submitted the half-hour documentary Venice: Theme and Variations (1957) as a thesis film for his MFA degree. The movie became one of The New York Times’ “10 Best Non-Theatrical Films of the Year. His subsequent project, The Sword and the Flute (1959), a short documentary about miniature Indian paintings, led to contact with Ismail Merchant in 1961, when the Indian-born producer attended a screening in New York. Shortly thereafter, the two joined forces and founded Merchant Ivory Production (MIP), aiming originally to make English-language films in India for the international market. Their first film, The Householder (1963), based on a novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who also penned the screenplay, became the first Indian-made movie to be distributed by a major American company, Columbia Pictures.

After Ivory directed and wrote the documentary The Delhi Way, the three rejoined for Shakespeare Wallah (1965), centering on a group of English actors in India, in which Ivory served as director as well as co-writer. The second effort won worldwide notice for its perceptive presentation and its insights into the birthright of colonialism, and was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. The Guru (1969), an independent comedy starring Michael York as a top pop artiste from England who travels to India to learn to play the sitar, which Ivory’s co-wrote with Jhabvala, marked the MIP’s first American-financed film.

Ivory then directed such films as Bombay Talkie (1970, also co-wrote), the documentary for BBC TV Adventures of a Brown Man in Search of Civilization (1972), Savages (1972), and served as the writer of the short documentary Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls (1973), helmed by Anthony Korner. He went on to helm the orgy The Wild Party (1975), evoking Hollywood in the 1920s, and cast the Golden Globe nominated actress Lilia Skala in the drama-musical Roseland (1977). He closed up the decade by making his acting debut as Man in Warehouse in The Europeans (1979), based on a novel by Henry James. There he also took on the direction duty and collaborated on screenplay with Jhabvala. The indie-drama brought Ivory a Golden Palm nomination at the Cannes.

Next, Ivory directed and adapted (with Jhabvala) Quartet (1981) from the novel by Jean Rhys and earned his next Golden Palm nomination for his work in the Alan Bates drama/romance vehicle. He netted his third Golden Palm nomination as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Direction in the 1983 Heat and Dust, adapted by Jhabvala from her novel. He directed The Bostonians (1984), a second adaptation of Henry James’ classic. The film starred Christopher Reeve and Vanessa Redgrave, and made his producing debut in the following year with the PBS made-for-TV Western Noon Wine, for director Michael Fields.

After over 20 years in partnership, Ivory, Merchant and Jhabvala eventually scored a breakthrough hit with A Room with a View (1986). Based on an E.M. Forster novel about a young woman’s romantic exposures while traveling abroad, the film was a massive victory with both audience and critics. For Ivory’s directorial effort, he took home a David di Donatello for Best Director and an Oscar nomination in the same category. He also shared a BAFTA for Best Film with Merchant, as well as picked up an Evening Standard British Film in the same category, and a Sant Jordi, a David di Donatello and a Guild of German Art House Cinemas for Best Foreign Film.

Later that same year, Ivory returned to the director’s chair for the second Forster adaptation Maurice, about homosexuality, which earned a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, but in 1989, he had to cope with a failure with Slaves of New York, based on the stories by Tama Janowitz, who also served as a scriptwriter. The director bounced back immediately in the next year with Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), which featured restrained, greatly effectual performances by the real-life husband and wife couple of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. He collected even more attention with Howards End (1992), a third adaptation from a Foster novel. The Emma Thompson vehicle was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including a Best Director for Ivory, and also won several Best Film honors, including from the BAFTA (shared with Merchant). Besides, Ivory also netted a National Board of Review for Best Director. Howards End is considered as one of the director’s best works to date.

In 1993, Ivory further bolstered his prominence when his direction in The Remains of the Day, based on a book by Kazuo Ishiguro and starring “Howards End” costars Thomson and Anthony Hopkins, garnered him with his third Oscar nomination. Additionally, he was handed a Silver Ribbon for Best Director - Foreign Film at the Italian National Syndicate of Film Jour and a London Critics Circle Film for Director of the Year. It was followed with the flops Jefferson in Paris (1995) and Surviving Picasso (1996), a biopic starring Hopkins. He enjoyed critical acclaim with Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries (1998), an adaptation of a Kylie Jones autobiography novel.

The director’s affiliation with Merchant and Jhabvala continued with the period drama The Golden Bowl (2001), based on the greatest and most demanding novel of Henry James. The film starred Nick Nolte, Kate Beckinsale, Uma Thurman and Jeremy Northam. Two years later, he directed and co-scripted with Jhabvala the movie Le Divorce, an adaptation of Diane Johnson’s bestselling novel. Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson starred in the comedy, which considered as one of Ivory’s most relaxed and entertaining films. After serving as the producer of the 2004 Heights, he cast Natasha Richardson and Lynn Redgrave for The White Countess (2005), which was his last film with Merchant, who unexpectedly died on the set of the movie.

Ivory will rejoin Anthony Hopkins for his upcoming film, City of Your Final Destination (2007), with Jhabvala serving as a scriptwriter. He also will serve as executive produce for the movie Made in France (2007), a drama filming in Paris, France.


Awards:

- Costume Designers Guild: Distinguished Director, 2005
- Venice Film Festival: Wella Prize, Divorce, Le, 2003
- Camerimage: Lifetime Achievement, For film direction with unique visual sensitivity, 2003
- Director’s View Film Festival: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Excellence in Filmmaking, 2001
- Savannah Film and Video Festival: Lifetime Achievement, 2000
- Directors Guild of America: Lifetime Achievement, 1995
- Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Silver Ribbon, Best Director - Foreign Film, The Remains of the Day, 1995
- Robert Festival: Best Foreign Film, The Remains of the Day, 1995
- London Critics Circle Film: Director of the Year, The Remains of the Day, 1994
- Evening Standard British Film: Best Film, Howards End, 1993
- Guild of German Art House Cinemas: Foreign Film, Howards End, 1993
- BAFTA: Best Film, Howards End, 1993 (Shared with: Ismail Merchant)
- Bodil: Best European Film, Howards End, 1993
- Cannes Film Festival: 45th Anniversary Prize, Howards End, 1992
- National Board of Review: Best Director, Howards End, 1992
- Guild of German Art House Cinemas: Foreign Film, A Room with a View, 1988
- BAFTA: Best Film, A Room with a View, 1987 (Shared with: Ismail Merchant)
- David di Donatello: Best Director - Foreign Film, A Room with a View, 1987
- David di Donatello: Best Foreign Film, A Room with a View, 1987
- Evening Standard British Film: Best Film, A Room with a View, 1987
- Sant Jordi: Best Foreign Film, A Room with a View, 1987
- Venice Film Festival: Silver Lion, Maurice, 1987