Outpouring of Affection for Milos Forman

The death of Milos Forman inspired many to write up lengthy obits on his passing. He won Best Director and Best Picture twice, once for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and again for Amadeus. Peter Travers wrote a personal remembrance worth a read. He was 86 years old.

Edward Norton who starred in the People Vs. Larry Flynt told the Hollywood Reporter:

“He was an infectious optimist and lover of life, despite losing both of his parents to the Nazis as a boy and then finding his way as a young man and artist under the Kafka-esque oppressions of a totalitarian state,” Norton added. “And, if you were lucky enough to get to know him and hear about these experiences and how they forged him, you realized that for all the success and privilege that came to him, his own perspective was that he was lucky to simply be alive and free and that he had an obligation to keep using his work to shake his fist in defiance. He was my first real mentor in filmmaking and, to this day, I’ve never worked with anyone who matched his wizardry at cultivating the ‘unrepeatable moments’ that made his films so magical. The innumerable wonderful memories I have from working with him on The People vs Larry Flynt, having him act in my first film and traveling with him to his beloved Prague remain one of the greatest gifts of my career.