Norman Jewison

Trivia

• In recognition of his contributions to the arts, as well as his sustained support, he was installed as Chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto in 2004. That same year his autobiography This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me was published, expressing the enthusiasm, conviction and creative passion that have sustained a rewarding career.
• Norman Jewison has continued directing and producing; his latest film to be released was the thriller The Statement (2003), based on a novel by Brian Moore, and starring Michael Caine.
• In addition, he has received numerous tributes at Canadian and international film festivals and retrospectives, and has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame. A park in downtown Toronto was named after him in 2001.
• The Thalberg award was one of many honours Jewison has been awarded, including Honorary Degrees from Trent, Western Ontario and the University of Toronto, and being made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1992.
• In 1999 Jewison's work was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when he was given the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement.
• The Hurricane (1999) was Jewison's third film to explore the effects of racism, telling the story of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who had been falsely convicted for a triple murder in New Jersey during the mid-sixties. Denzel Washington was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Carter.
• He also served as producer for the film January Man (1989), and executive producer for the Canadian movie Dance Me Outside, and branched back into television both as a director and producer, including the series The Rez (1996-1998).
• For the next decade Jewison continued to direct feature films released by major studios: In Country (1989), a drama concerned with Vietnam veterans and the daughter of a war casualty; Other People's Money (1991), a social comedy about greed in the 1980s; Only You (1994), a romantic comedy set in Italy; and Bogus (1996), a fantasy about a young boy and his imaginary friend.
• Jewison's next film proved to be one of the most popular romantic films ever made. Moonstruck (1987), starring Cher, was a box office hit that garnered three Academy Awards, including Cher as Best Actress. It also competed for the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as providing Jewison with his third nomination for Best Director. During this period he became the force behind a project that had long been of interest: the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies was incorporated in 1986. Renamed the
• His subsequent film was also based on an acclaimed play. The provocative Agnes of God (1985), set in a Quebec convent, starred Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft; it received three Academy Award nominations.

Quotes

• I'm going to do an adaptation of the Italian film, Bread and Tulips. I really like that film.
• I work with a lot of movie stars.
• I was very disappointed that Denzel didn't win Best Actor for The Hurricane because I thought he deserved it.
• I was really excited to have the opportunity to make Fiddler.
• I think you get better as you get older.
• I still get a lot of material but I find that as one gets older you get more fussy. You know you're going spend a year or a year and a half on this and you know there are only so many films in you so you get a little bit more selective.
• I think I've done pretty well. I've had about 46, or 47 nominations from my movies, and my films have won about 12 awards, so I don't have any complaints.
• I think all Nazis didn't see themselves as bad people. I've never met a racist yet who thought he was a racist. Or an anti-Semite who thought they were anti-Semitic.
• I mean they're making remakes of my films and I'm not even dead yet! Why would you want to make a remake?
• I don't make films to win prizes. I make films to make films.