Table of Contents


Acknowledgments

Preface


PART I: TAKING THE STAGE

1. The Little Exile, the Cabaret Comic, the Broadway Midas


PART II: THE AUTEUR

2. “Peel the label”: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

3. “This afternoon’s feature attraction”: The Graduate (1967)

4. “Like us”: Catch-22 (1970)

5. “Just act natural”: Carnal Knowledge (1971)

6. “Man is bad”: The Day of the Dolphin (1973)

7. “I must be dreaming”: The Fortune (1975)


PART III: THE PRO

8. “A moral imperative”: Silkwood (1983)

9. “Willing to play the game”: Heartburn (1986)

10. “You have to take sides”: Biloxi Blues (1988)

11. “She’s your man”: Working Girl (1988)

12. “Not like in the movies”: Postcards from the Edge (1990)

13. “Say when”: Regarding Henry (1991)

14. “What God meant”: Wolf (1994)

15. “Family values”: The Birdcage (1996)

16. “True believerism”: Primary Colors (1998)

17. “Like a human being”: What Planet Are You From? (2000)


PART IV: THE LATE NICHOLS

18. “A little allegory of the soul”: Wit (2001)

19. “Threshold of revelation”: Angels in America (2003)

20. “RU4 real?”: Closer (2004)

21. “We’ll see”: Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)


PART V: AMONG THE STARS

22. Tempered Optimism: The Cinematic Legacy of Mike Nichols


Filmography

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

List of Names and Terms