Photo: Deborah Hardee for L’UOMO VOGUE
“Mike Kaplan is a famous publicist and producer who for years knew everything about Stanley Kubrick but wasn’t telling. He’s also a super smart movie buff and a big league collector of posters and memorabilia. His blog involves a regular sharing of privileged inside info. It says volumes that Stanley trusted him. Here is a view you won’t find anywhere else: huffingtonpost.com/mike-kaplan”
Roger Ebert
About The Author
Mike Kaplan’s wide-ranging experience in the creative areas of production, marketing and distribution offers a unique perspective on the motion picture industry.
He has been a close associate to directors Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Hal Ashby, Lindsay Anderson, Mike Hodges, Barbet Schroeder, Alan Rudolph and Abraham Polonsky, serving in various capacities as producer, distributor, marketing strategist, actor and campaign designer. He was an innovative marketing executive at MGM and Warner Brothers and an independent distributor in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Kaplan’s interest in the visual arts extends to his world-class collection of vintage film posters and movie art, which he’s been collecting for 35 years. He is the only major movie poster collector who has also designed and art directed award-winning film campaigns. Artists he has worked with include David Hockney, Don Bachardy, Allen Jones, Philip Castle, John Van Hammersveld, Bob Tannenbaum, Michaele Volbracht and Andre Carillho. Pieces from his collection have been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, The New York Public Library and in the nine exhibits he’s curated at major venues, including The Academy of Motion PIcture Arts & Sciences, The Roy Furman Gallery at Lincoln Center and the mecca of dance, Jacob’s Pillow.
Kaplan produced the criticality acclaimed THE WHALES OF AUGUST, starring Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Vincent Price and Ann Sothern, and I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD, starring Clive Owen, Charlottte Rampling, Jonathan Rhys-Myers and Malcolm McDowell. The former was named “Best Picture of the Year” by the National Media Awards and premiered at the CannesFilm Festival before the Prince and Princess of Wales. The latter was an an official selection at the Sundance, Toronto, Edinburgh and Moscow Film Festivals.
As a documentary director, LUCK, TRUST & KETCHUP: ROBERT ALTMAN IN CARVER COUNTRY recorded the evolution of SHORT CUTS, marking the first time Altman allowed his creative process to be documented. His NEVER APOLOGIZE, Malcolm’s McDowell’s celebration of Lindsay Anderson and his circle, was an official entry at Cannes. Two of his legendary marketing achievements were conceiving the “The Ultimate Trip”/ StarChild campaign for 2001: A Space Odyssey and securing the release and roll-out of Mike Hodges’ CROUPIER as it became the most successful independent film of its year.
He is a recipient of two Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards for MARLENE and WELCOME TO LA and is on the National Advisory Committee of the Gish Film Theater and Gallery, Bowling Green University.The poster for A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, in which he collaborated with Kubrick and airbrush maestro Philip Castle, was voted “The All Time Best Movie Poster” in a poll conducted by the Odeon Film Citrcuit in Great Britain.
Kaplan has acted in THE PLAYER, WELCOME TO L.A., CHOOSE ME and BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS. His writings have appeared in The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Film Comment. He began his career as associate editor and film critic for The Independent Film Journal.