Michael Mann Archives is a new website that includes mini documentaries, annotated scripts and other materials – at a cost.
Update 19th July 2024: Since this piece was published, we’ve had a response from the PR agency involved in the website; we’ve updated the post with their reply below.
Our original story follows…
Eminent filmmaker Michael Mann has just launched a new website – and we’re not talking some hastily thrown-together Geocities affair set in Comic Sans, either. Called Michael Mann Archives, the project “offers an unprecedented exploration of the creative process within Mann’s films.”
The first batch of materials published on the website all comes from, logically enough, Ferrari – the motor racing biopic released to widespread praise (and disappointing box-office) in December 2023. Among those materials you’ll find 20 mini making-of documentaries, scripts – one of them covered in Mann’s notes and scribbles – pre-viz footage, and lots more besides.
Essentially, it’s the mother of all DVD extras, all housed on one website.
The archive’s FAQ also suggests that Mann’s earlier films will be given a similarly in-depth treatment, though there isn’t currently any information as to when more materials will be uploaded.
It all looks handsomely designed and laid out, and should provide a detailed insight into how Mann meticulously plans and executes his movies. There is a cost attached, however: an access pass is $65 – about £50 – with the site using blockchain technology due to its “enhanced security and ability to maintain provenance.”
A quick look at the site’s terms of service heavily implies that the $65 access pass will only give users access to Ferrari materials (“Access Passes provide you with view-only access to one or more images, photographs, videos, notes, documents, audio files, or other digital property […] relating to Ferrari“). If users are expected to pay the same sum for access to materials from Mann’s 11 other films, from 1981’s Thief to 2015’s Blackhat, they’re potentially looking at a total spend of $780.
(Edit: since this article was originally published, we’ve heard from a PR person connected to the site, who confirms that “The $65 access pass will only give you access to the Ferrari title.”)
The stuff on offer does look fascinating, though, and for the wealthier cinephiles (and filmmakers) among us, could be well worth the outlay.
