Michael Mandaville is an activist, filmmaker, and writer. His interests in history, politics, warfare, and technology led him to write a book on fighting the growing threat of Radical Islam in the Information Age: the Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways For Every American To Fight Terrorism. Working with political organizations, he creates media to use during their campaigns. He created videos for the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles (CJHSLA.org) to push California’s Bill AB 221, which would prohibit the investment of state pension funds in companies that do business with Iran. Michael testified at the L.A. City Council about the need to deny funding to Iran. His videos have appeared at Washington D.C.’s GI Film Festival and Frank Gaffney’s DivestTerror.org. He line produced the short, “The Iraq Study Group,” directed by David Zucker (“Airplane”, “Scary Movie”). He also directed the political short, “Winning the Race.”
As a Film Industry professional, he works as a Line Producer/Unit Production Manager (D.G.A.) on feature films and TV. He has worked on films like “Taken” with Liam Neeson and produced by Luc Besson, “Havoc” with Anne Hathaway, “The Kiss” with Terence Stamp and Billy Zane, "American History X" (as production supervisor) with Edward Norton, among other projects. He produced the Indie feature, “The Almighty Fred.” He was hired to write two scripts and had three scripts optioned. Mandaville’s first novel, Stealing Thunder, was recently published. He has directed commercials, shorts, and documentaries. Currently, he is putting the finishing touches on two more novels: a drama entitled Journey and a Parisian thriller, A Cold Death, as well as a non-fiction book about working on an Arabic language comedy in Egypt. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a Masters Degree in their Professional Writing program. He received a B.A. in Philosophy at UC Santa Barbara and attended the B.A. Film program at Columbia College.
www.CitizenSoldierHandbook.com
www.MichaelMandaville.com
Michael Mandaville
A Great Chinese Thriller…Pass!
by Michael MandavilleI thought about writing a script about China – thriller, action, intrigue. The last film that dealt with China would be “Red Corner” which a Wikipedia review said, “…more the movie’s subtext swallows its story, until all that is left is Gere’s superior virtue, intermixed with his superior virility — both of which are greatly appreciated by the evidently under-serviced Chinese female population…” The film was banned in China. But it’s fertile ground for material. Imagine the conversation with a Studio Executive…
Me: So, I found this article by Secretary of Defense Gates: “China Could Undermine U.S. Military Power in the Pacific.” China is expanding its navy in the Pacific to secure disputed territories in the South China Sea with lots of oil and gas. A Tom Clancy/Harrison Ford thriller. I’ve followed the Chinese military since the nineties and it’s a central plot of my novel, “Stealing Thunder.” (Shameless Plug! 600 pages long; waiting for Amazon jerks to come through with the darn discount price…). Think “Clear and Present Danger,” “Hunt for Red October”…
Executive: Liked ‘Sum of All Fears.’ (more…)
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The Shattered Glass of Celebrity
by Michael MandavilleThe Hollywood star system: Rest in Peace.
Nowadays, when I trawl through Blockbuster aisles, I find films with major stars that never saw the dark light of a theater. I’ve never even heard of some films. And I wonder about the parallel between society and film. History may be defined as the intersection of amazing events with amazing people. Will Mallory make the climb up the cliffs of Navarone? People created history by their choices, hesitations, fears, desires, whimsy, obsessions and visions. Will the Colonel give in to Saito’s brutality? Great films, anchored by magnetic personalities, cast wide nets across our consciousness. Will Lawrence survive the Devil’s Anvil?
“Epic,”film producer Frank McCarthy (”Patton”) once told me, “is defined as a man who changes himself, his community and his world.” In short, all the great character arcs in a movie script have driven the creation of events and epics which, in turn, are pushpins in World History. A noted script consultant, Chris Vogler, distilled and explained the work of Joseph Campbell, an expert on tribal storytelling and myth. Vogler explains the hero’s journey through the Ordinary World, the Call to Adventure, the Refusal of the Call, Mentor, Threshold, Tests by Allies and Enemies, Approach, Ordeal, Reward and The Road Back. (more…)
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The Stamp of Revolution — Again
by Michael Mandaville
The American Revolution was fired up in earnest with the Tax Stamp Act, imposed by the British Parliament on the American Colonies. This Act required that a Stamp be affixed to any paper or document such as bills, newspapers, correspondence, leases, bills of sale, etc. It was invasive, arbitrary and onerous.
The Federal and State governments are continuing this tradition of oppression with Stimulus Bills which our representatives neither understand nor read. Yet these bills are passed without any mind to the financial indentured servitude for future generations. I believe that this debt will be a ‘fiscal press gang’ against generations’ optimism, opportunity and Freedom. (more…)
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Remembering Our Veterans: My Best Fourth of July
by Michael MandavilleOur Heroes are everywhere. They pass by us at the market. They work for us. They walk our streets. I’m talking about the men and women of our Armed Forces who serve and have served our country ably, courageously and without acclaim. We all know one such individual. They don’t talk much about it, except with hesitation and humility. And they believe that their unbelievably difficult sacrifices have been forgotten.
Letter of Appreciation [click to enlarge]
And they live across from us. One such Hero is Adolph Arujo who served in the Korean war as a medic in the 2nd Infantry Division in the Punchbowl. This area had some of the fiercest fighting of the war such as Heartbreak Ridge.
We have never spoken in detail about the War nor will we. Courtesy of Hollywood movies, I can imagine the devastation of a friend’s horrible death at your side. I can imagine the onslaught of an attack and gut-bending fear that does not deter one from duty. I can imagine the alienation between a soldier and civilian life. But, of course, I’m still just imagining and not living this role. My words are wholly insufficient. Their valor, courage and service is far too incomprehensible in my experience. (more…)
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Stoning: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You?
by Michael MandavilleAnd I don’t mean the movie. “The Stoning of Soraya M.” is a remarkable feature film about harsh Sharia law twisted by a husband against his wife. The film is brutal, honest and unflinching. Based upon Freidoune Sahebjam’s 1994 novel, the film straddles the world between fact and fiction, present and future.
“Soraya” epitomizes a woman’s plight in the Islamic world and reaches across the globe into communities which welcomed Muslim immigrants into their secular societies. But the question left unasked by these societies – face to face – is this: Will you accept the strictures of our society based upon Freedom and mutual respect?
Some Muslim immigrants (not all) refuse to embrace their adopted country’s mores and behaviors. They choose isolated communities. In France, a friend told me that many third-generation Algerians still don’t speak French. News reports about “disaffected youth” riots veil the source of burning cars in Paris – radicalized Islamist youth. Herein lies the question about enforced societal acceptance of multiculturalism and freedom.
Freedom is a tough concept to sell. You know it when you have it. You can see when it’s absent, i.e., Iran, Zimbabwe, socialist left-wing dictatorships like China, etc., But it’s taken for granted in America. Unfortunately in our ADD, media-centric world of flash, celebrity and shock, the world’s impression of freedom is excessive violence, sexuality and degradation. Freedom is confused with approval. The best definition I ever heard for Freedom was “The right to do what you want and the responsibility to take the right course of action.” (more…)
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Arabic Film Breaks Historic Barriers
by Michael Mandaville
First Arabic Language comedy in Saudi Arabia in 30 years
This last week, “Menahi” became the first feature film shown in Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years. I worked as a supervising producer on the film last year in Cairo, Egypt for two months. I even appear briefly in a scene in an airplane as an American asking the film’s principal, Menahi, if he is crazy – “Ana magnun!?” – in Arabic. Since I wrote the “Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways For Every American To Fight Terrorism” and Saudi Wahabism is a primary ingredient in terrorism these days, my head spins with the juxtaposition of my work and the film’s groundbreaking venue. The fact that “Menahi” is an Arabic language comedy makes it all the more surreal.
Films are prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Shown in the western city of Jeddah, more “open” than Riyadh, the audience was composed of men and children younger than 10.
Well. It’s a start. (more…)
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The Power of Language
by Michael MandavilleIn the 1930’s, when world audiences were asked to name the capital of the U.S.A., one answer was high on the list: “Hollywood.” That was the location listed at the end of every amazing movie: “Made In Hollywood.” How could such magic not come from America’s capital?
Such is the power of a single word.
That power has not diminished but only increased with an ADD, multi-channel, hyperactive media-centric world. The silver screen has long given us immortal dialogue which now blends so deeply into the culture that people may not know their origin, but we know the meaning. A wise man I know said, “Image creates perception, perception creates reality.” It couldn’t be more true in the film business.
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In a media-centric world, from motion pictures to internet to phones, we are pounded with images, forming our perceptions and then creating our reality. How fast did the Internet meme “Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys” become a daily reference at the coffee klatch, in your email, or on phone calls? Not long. We forget how powerful words can be when written in a clever and pithy way. The masters of dialogue like Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, and the Epstein brothers, knew irreverent and immortal lines. And as producers, writers or just Americans who appreciate a good, nimble turn of a phrase, we should excel at creating phrases that demonstrate the values we hold dear. Don’t understand? “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” (more…)
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