You and a guest will enjoy lunch with legendary seven-time Oscar-winning film producer, Mike Medavoy in Los Angeles!
Sample some of the best American films over the past forty years and there’s a good chance Mike Medavoy played a role in the success of many of them. From agent to studio chief to producer, he has been involved with over 300 feature films, of which 16 have been nominated and 7 have won Best Picture Oscars®, as well as numerous international film festival awards.
United Artists brought him in as senior vice president of production in 1974 where he was part of the team responsible for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky, and Annie Hall, which won Best Picture Oscars® in 1975, 1976, and 1977, respectively. Other notable films included Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, Network and Coming Home.
In 1978, Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures where, during his tenure, Platoon, Amadeus, Robocop, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Terminator, Dances with Wolves and Silence of the Lambs were released. In 1990, after twelve successful years at Orion, Medavoy became chairman of TriStar Pictures, where he oversaw such critically acclaimed box office hits as Philadelphia, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sleepless in Seattle, Cliffhanger, The Fisher King, Legends of the Fall and Steven Spielberg’s Hook.
As chairman and co-founder of Phoenix Pictures, Medavoy has brought to the screen The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Mirror Has Two Faces, U-Turn, Apt Pupil, The Thin Red Line, The 6th Day, Basic, Holes, All the King’s Men, Zodiac, Pathfinder and Miss Potter, among others. These films have received numerous nominations, won two Golden Bears at the Berlin Film Festival, five Golden Satellite Awards, a cinematography award for John Toll from the ASC and nominations from the DGA and WGA for Terrence Malick. The Thin Red Line and The People vs. Larry Flint each received Oscar® nominations. Recently, Phoenix Pictures has released Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo Di Caprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow, and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis in 2010. Black Swan won numerous awards including the Oscar® and Golden Globe for Best Actress (Natalie Portman) as well as the Independent Film Spirit Award for Best Feature, Best Director (Darren Arnofosky), Best Female Lead (Natalie Portman) and Best Cinematography (Matthew Libatique).
Currently, Medavoy and Phoenix Pictures are working on their newest film The Last Voyage of The Demeter with Amblin Partners and Director Andre Ovredahl and finishing the animated film Ozi with Paw Patrol creator Keith Chapman.
Medavoy has received numerous awards including the 1992 Motion Picture Pioneer of the Year Award, the 1997 Career Achievement Award from UCLA, and the Lifetime Achievement Award (1998) at the Cannes Film Festival. He was awarded the 1999 UCLA Neil H. Jacoby Award, which honors individuals who have made exceptional contributions to humanity.
Medavoy also received the inaugural Fred Zinnemann Award (2001), presented by the Anti-Defamation League, the Israel Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2002), as well as a Career Achievement Award from the University of Central Florida (2002). In 2004, he received the Louis B. Mayer Motion Picture Business Leader of the Year Award from Florida Atlantic University and in 2005, he was the recipient of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and Producers Guild of America Vision Award. Also in 2005, Medavoy was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received a star on Hollywood Boulevard. In 2007, he received the Stella Adler Actors Studio Marlon Brando Award and in 2008, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jerusalem Film Foundation.
In 2009, he was given the Honorary Doctorate at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and was named Chevalier of the French Government’s Legion of Honor. In 2011, Medavoy received the Raimondo Rezzonico Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Mike was honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2012 Shanghai International Film Festival.
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