Elaine May and Mike Nichols in conversation 2006

Following a sold-out screening of her unfairly maligned 1987 comedy Ishtar, writer-director Elaine May took to the stage of New York’s Walter Reade Theater for an hour-long interview with her former collaborator and old friend Mike Nichols.
Read the full transcript here: www.filmcomment.com/article/el...

[@katherinedubois1220]

❤ what a wonderful person. Elaine is my stepaunt. She used to babysit me when i was a youngster. God bless. You are a lovely lady. Nov. 23.

[@annbush1826]

I was so BLESSED to be in the third row for “An Evening with Nichols and May” the week they opened on Broadway! Every skit built to perfection. I have never been in an audience as intensely silent and focused! Seeing them at the Academy awards pleased me so.

[@jc6594]

Happy 90th Birthday Elaine May

[@darrylwiggins4799]

Even talking to each other they are a great duo.I miss their work together.

[@pwaff]

Great Actors, Comedians, Directors and Writers, both. I love them both so very much. Their silliness reminds me of their old sketches and improvs.

[@michaelashworth4172]

Not just silliness. Just listened to a few minutes of it and found what Elaine May had to say incredibly wise. Deep.

[@cynthiarowley719]

Fell in love with the music of Ishtar! The lyrics and music stick are so worthy of completion. In my top 5 of all time🎆🌞🎆🌞🎆

[@rgrant4530]

A brilliant dialogue on film and film-making by two legends who know the industry inside and out--Mike Nichols and Elaine May. I believe their last "team effort" was "The Birdcage" starring Robin Williams & Nathan Lane--screenplay by May, directed by Nichols. I could listen to them talk movies all night! This is the man who directed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" "The Graduate," "Carnal Knowledge," "Silkwood," just to name a few. I love you, Elaine! Mike, you are loved & missed beyond words.

[@vashmeister]

Nichols & May in this event are talking as artists at a level that few, to my knowledge, achieve today - if for no other reason than they did stage, television & film, and excelled at all three. What they're talking about is so personal, so specific to them, as writer/actor/director(s)...it seems distant to us today. This conversation is pure gold. Thanks FilmComment for posting this.

[@shirleyjohnston5365]

vashmeister ;

[@dwaneyocum1718]

I still love her voice.

[@frannyzooey11]

Thank you for posting this.

[@65cupcake]

Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman singing Little Darlin’ cracks me up every time.

[@ddburrows988]

“A New Leaf” one of my top 7 all-time favorites! It, along with Fatso, Defending Your Life, Twelve Chairs, Enter Laughing, among other lesser-known films, are just plain fun to tell people about, knowing they won’t be disappointed . This interview was my Nirvana.

[@MrKlemps]

Agree on "A New Leaf"---the most underrated film of all time

[@Bohonk212]

The Ritz, Household Saints, Four Friends....check and add.

[@dancewomyn1]

What a truly great conversation. It was actually sobering to hear May bring up the issue of how we settle for crap so easily, the dumbing down of society, then her meanderings about making films despite the availability of theaters, and to see now in 2021, how it has become typical for people to make a movie on their cell phones, on KZbin, etc... becoming popular HBO series or just having instant exposure on various platforms. Then, I enjoy listening to her experience with making "A New Leaf". I just love these two artists so much. Thank you for posting. :).

[@ninacullari1078]

I LIKED ISHTAR!

[@darrylwiggins4799]

So did I!!!

[@MrRufusRToyota]

I wondered where you two were!

[@ghostwolf1435]

Same I dug it's Goofiness

[@rosebuckner3831]

Me too

[@rickifriki]

A good movie to recreate at playtime as a kid with your friends.

[@thomassimmons1950]

Elaine may is absolutely adorable. I'm in love !

[@daisyroots]

Telling the truth can be dangerous business....

[@daisyroots]

honest and popular don't go hand and hand.

[@ghostwolf1435]

If you admit you play the accordion no one will hire you in a Rock an Roll Band 😅

[@nbc902]

I loved ISHTAR!

[@shambaby]

Can anyone reach Elaine may and beg her to do a commentary of a new leaf in which she talks about what she originally intended so that we have some idea of the original cut? Please! And if she could release the original screenplay too!

[@sandrashevey8252]

I saw Mike and Elaine at the Golden Theatre in the late Fifties and G-d they were as funny as they are tonight. Elaine of course avoided potty mouth. Mike still does. But boy is it good to hear her use of the vernacular. She is so clever and he is such a good `straight` man for her.

[@davidpruiksma8014]

Brilliant. Brilliant people.

[@RGBEAT]

I love these guys

[@mikaperzyna8230]

Nichols has the exact same voice here as he did in the 60s

[@Enr227]

It’s such a much better story- never been more true than 2020

[@cynthia4326]

Brilliant Elaine & Mike

[@jodylinscott7707]

yes THANKYOU....

[@cynthia4326]

Wonderful

[@cynthia4326]

Ah..This is a feast!

[@BlueBaron3339]

Nichols and May were HUGE when I was a kid and it requires no nostalgia or selective memory of any sort to say they've never been equaled as a comedy team, much less surpassed, since. Never cared much for movies but I enjoyed this. It gives you a taste of their original chemistry.

[@rah62]

Try harder - I have it in one (or should I say two)... Stiller and Meara.

[@BlueBaron3339]

@@rah62 Oh, they were good! And produced a son who's become a comedy legend in his own right.

[@marycollins8215]

Wonderful.

[@caitlindowning9484]

There was one line in Ishtar. My sister and i laughed for 10 minutes straight, tears coming down our faces. Cant remember the line. I liked it. Definitely not the worst movie i ever saw. Cant understand why people hated it.

[@buckroo8424]

I actually liked it! Maybe it was the sense of humor being did and corny !

[@lydwinaofschiedam2685]

You can’t remember the line?????? Why did you mention it, then???🤪🤣 Now I have to go rewatch it!!!!

[@jamesanthony5681]

You're contradicting yourself.

[@jacobadams5924]

If you admit you play the accordion....no one will hire you in a rock and roll band....

[@PaigeNg67]

“ Really, I’m very flattered but I’m straight. I’m not proud of it and I’m not ashamed of it. I mean, I respect your way of life but shh-shh-shh, it just isn’t mine” :D

[@JiveDadson]

It would have been great to see her face.

[@Lorisv]

I love these two.

[@jazzmanchgo]

Does anyone know if that classic & merciless send-up of "Queen for a Day" that Nichols & May did is available anywhere? I saw a clip of it, and it was absolutely devastating. Those two took NO prisoners!

[@tommegalis5930]

this was before KZbin and the world changing.

[@ManfromuncoolBlogspotstars]

Awesome!!

[@Lambert7785]

they were so so good as a comedic pair - wonder why they didn't continue

[@johnlawrence2757]

Well with comedy the spark goes out: there has to be that element of spontaneous combustion to make great comedy. It never ever lasts for ever. But they both had other things to do so that was OK. It’s the ones who don’t have anything else to do.....

[@Lambert7785]

@@johnlawrence2757 - funny maybe if they had had a "comedy reunion" every 5 years, it would have helped...

[@johnlawrence2757]

@@Lambert7785 Monty Python tried that.

[@Lambert7785]

@@johnlawrence2757 how did it work out?

[@jamesanthony5681]

Mike Nichols said he did the comedy with Elaine May because he couldn't get work as an actor. Fame came with their comedy routines, and opportunities then opened up for both.

[@thecat8513]

Nichols made two great films starting out, and then nothing of note for the rest of his career.

[@TheJohnnyCalifornia]

Studio: “It’s our money.” Filmmakers: “Yeah, because our movies made it for you.”

[@DustyOldBones]

ISHTAR IIIISSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTARRRRRRRRRRR

[@bartman898]

she had a small German accent, so she wasn't that bad....perfection.

[@filmlover123]

Their film Wolf is underrated.

[@jazzmanchgo]

It's probably apocryphal, but it's said that back during the early days of Second City in Chicago, some arrogant macho jerk who thought he was hip and sexy somehow got himself let into a cast party, and he decided to walk up to the first attractive woman he saw and try to chat her up with his "God's-Gift-To-Women" macho bullschitt. Well, it turned out to be Elaine May. According to the story, they were still scraping pieces of him off the floor several days later.

[@Bozolisand]

True story. Elaine May walked into a bar one night, her hair blown all over the place from the wind. SMARTASS: Where's your broomstick, Elaine? ELAINE: Why? Do you want something up your ass?

[@SuperWolsey]

🤣

[@alexm2136]

One of the best movies ever made

[@pillettadoinswartsh4974]

Ishtar is hilarious.

[@firespirals]

classic road movie, one of the funniest movies ever made.

[@Enr227]

Not everything is a lie, though.

[@1997residente]

I Give Elaine some credit...at least she didn't direct Ghost can't do it or Freddy got fingered. Ishtar is harmless

[@rodneycross2473]

This is just their comedy routine again 🙂

[@julianyc422]

Intelligence, Wit, improve geniuses.

[@bettyaberlin6505]

any other male & female comedy teams? male & female writing teams?

[@lawsonj39]

Stiller and Meara--but they date back almost as far as Nichols and May.

[@plappin]

Garson Kanin & Ruth Gordon (screenplay of "Adam's Rib"; Betty Comden & Adolph Green (more writers than performers though they did perform together over the years).

[@maniveiszadeh8030]

You took out the Shah and put Khomeini? Shah was your man, what the hell are you talking about?

[@billytrack]

I'm not an expert in geo-politics but I don't think that was Elaine's decision entirely

[@mrzoperxplex]

He is dead now, so don't smoke.

[@kjgammon1658]

Ishstar??? Cringe!...

[@bebetigre1252]

Is shedrunk?

[@janmichaeljablonsky9847]

It's so true, Ishtar was an absolute abomination. Beatty and Hoffman were totally miscast. I've tried several times watching the movie all the way through, it was impossible. Gee, I wish they had talked about their time working together.

[@marytheresejacksonlutz2533]

The only movie my husband and I have ever walked out on

[@DWilliams-ce8nb]

Neither Jan nor Mary ever saw Ishtar. I'd bet the farm on that.

[@GaylordBuzzard]

Why do show folk think we care about what they think about politics? I suppose in New York they know they're preaching to the choir so it will be well received.

[@celldivision2504]

And yet here you are watching and commenting on their discussion. Seems like you care more than you let on.

[@GaylordBuzzard]

@@celldivision2504 A comment is this that, a comment. Not a life changing declaration.

[@kjgammon1658]

Well said...​@@GaylordBuzzard

[@sandrashevey8252]

Elaine May is so funny, so clever..hasn`t lost him whimsical sense of humour..shames Nichols who looks as if he`s giving a bad imitation of Gore Vidal. About David Puttnam..Elaine, he`s not `some man`. He is a brilliant, successful UK producer whom the Coca-Cola Company because he is part Jew wanted to appoint as head of Columbia. Coca-Cola, which supported the Nazis, was having problems with its image. Puttnam produced not just `Chariots` but `Bugsy Malone` (a classic film) and many others. He failed at Columbia I think because of his buddy(?) Alan Parker who ginned him up about eschewing `packaging`. Thus the Elaine May, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty `package` was on the agenda for `termination`. This was a bad move in many ways. And as I say I think Puttnam was listening to Parker who after David got the sack signed on with Morris or ICM. It was a bad move all around, certainly misguided for its excision of `Ishtar`. Elaine May should have had a 3 picture deal reneweable.

[@rah62]

I was beginning to wonder why you were rambling so much, then it became clear - your entire comment is promotion of YOUR interview. I should mark your comment as spam.

[@sandrashevey8252]

@@rah62 I hardly mention the interview but I will edit it out.

[@golfertodd1]

Ishtar was hardly "unfairly maligned". Revisionism will not makeover one of the worst films ever into a Citizen Kane. It was cringeworthy

[@Bob27Fat]

It's a smart, funny movie and fuck you if you don't like it.

[@bleak5724]

Well, then. If you say so.

[@mrzoperxplex]

Mike Nichols was great until he made "Day of the Dolphin", then he began to suck out loud.

[@DrDespicable]

Seriously? SILKWOOD? WORKING GIRL? REGARDING HENRY? Please reassess and revise your terribly valuable opinion.

[@billharris1847]

Thought this would be great and assumed she would be intelligent Sad it would devolve into political whining

[@rah62]

Interesting how people only comment about "political whining" when it's a political position they disagree with. Guess you don't have any room in your head for differing opinions.

[@billharris1847]

@@rah62 Sometimes But as an old school republican more interested in fiscal responsibility and limited government , I don't mind whining about single issue voting morons Who only care about stopping abortion or unlimited guns as well

[@johncooper7663]

Trump was dreadful on all levels.

[@dthorne4602]

Trump was the worst President ever to stumble into office.

[@MartinSage]

I love Elane May but come on...she had no idea how to stay on a film budget. Shitar was a flop. Take responsibility girl. She's funny as hell and should have stuck to that instead of directing.

[@langdonboom]

Hot takes of 1987!

[@jacobadams5924]

she was 3/4 as a director and her three good movies were really good. Mikey and Nicky is a masterpiece.

[@dthorne4602]

I guess Ishtar is the only one of her's that you watched

[@reserva120]

what was there Major Falling Out Over?? years ago???

[@CatCasual]

Thank you for posting this.