James Mangold

 ( 1963 Births ) 

Mangold subsequently wrote and directed Cop Land (1997), starring Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Liotta; Girl, Interrupted, which won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1999 for Angelina Jolie; Kate & Leopold, starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, for which Jackman was nominated for a Golden Globe as best actor in a musical or comedy in 2001, and the 2003 thriller Identity which starred John Cusack.

In 2005, Mangold co-wrote (with Gill Dennis), produced (under his production banner, Tree Line Film), and directed Walk the Line, a film about the young life of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash and his relationship with June Carter Cash. Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, it was released on November 18, 2005, to positive reviews and grossed $187 million worldwide. It was nominated for five Oscars and Witherspoon won Best Actress for her performance as June Carter Cash.

Mangold also appeared as an actor in The Sweetest Thing as a doctor and love interest to Christina Applegate as well as in his own Kate & Leopold playing a movie director.

In 2007, Mangold directed the Western , starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale; it received positive reviews and grossed around $71 million worldwide.

In 2010, he directed the action comedy Knight and Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz; which received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $262 million worldwide.

Following the box office success and moderate critical response to The Wolverine, Mangold signed on to write the story and direct the sequel, Logan (2017). The film marked Mangold and Jackman's third collaboration. Scott Frank was hired to return as co-screenwriter, working as a team with Mangold and Michael Green. The development of the film was lengthy, with Jackman citing his and Mangold's desire to do the character justice for his last time in the role. The film incorporated elements from Mark Millar's Old Man Logan run on the comics. Mangold has stated that the plot primarily focuses on character development, rather than superhero spectacle. Logan was a commercial success, and received high praise for its gritty approach on the titular character and emotional depth. Often called one of the greatest superhero films of all time, the movie also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the first live-action superhero movie to be nominated for Adapted Screenplay, as well as Mangold's first Oscar nomination. "Call Me by Your Name" wins Best Adapted Screenplay – Oscars on YouTube

In February 2018, it was announced that Mangold was set to direct a film about the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Christian Bale and Matt Damon starring as Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby respectively, and Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller writing the script. The film, titled Ford v Ferrari, was released in November 2019 to critical acclaim and became a box office success, grossing $225 million worldwide. The film received 4 nominations including Best Picture, with two wins for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing at the 92nd Academy Awards. "Parasite" wins Best Picture – Oscars on YouTube

In February 2020, it was announced that Mangold was in talks to direct the then untitled fifth film in the Indiana Jones, later revealed to be titled Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, taking over for Steven Spielberg, who directed the first four films in the franchise and instead served as one of the executive producers. In May 2020, it was officially confirmed that Mangold would serve as director. Filming began in the United Kingdom in June 2021, and wrapped in February 2022. The film was released on June 30, 2023.

In early 2020 Mangold was announced to direct the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown with Searchlight Pictures distributing, starring Timothée Chalamet. Despite production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Mangold committing to Indiana Jones, Chalamet told Variety in November 2022 that he was still preparing for the role and that "the winds that are blowing are blowing in a very positive direction". In April 2023, Mangold confirmed that the film would likely begin production in August of that year, before plans were suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming eventually began in March 2024 and wrapped in time for a December release.

In April 2023, during Star Wars Celebration Europe IV, Lucasfilm announced Mangold's involvement as director of a future Star Wars film whose story "will go back to the dawn of the Jedi" and explore the origins of The Force, set around 25,000 years before the events of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

In August 2025, it was announced that Mangold would reunite with Chalamet for a film called High Side. The film will be written by Jaime Oliveira and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

In September 2025, it was announced that Mangold had secured a deal to "develop, direct and produce feature film projects" with Paramount. When asked by Io9 on whether this would affect the production of his Star Wars film and Swamp Thing, Mangold's representatives replied that he remained attached to both projects, to which they cited how J. J. Abrams managed to direct (2015) for Disney while under a deal with Paramount or Tom Cruise currently signing a deal with Warner Bros. while developing a (2022) sequel to suggest that Mangold may focus on the films as planned even though he would likely focus on High Side and his other further Paramount collaborations first.

In regards to adapting material, Mangold described that in regards to a biographical film, he can interpret the known quantities as he sees better like he did in A Complete Unknown, but the process is more difficult with a big and existing franchise or IP like the Swamp Thing, as he knows the "religious level" the property's fans may reach like the DC Comics ones in regards to how he adapts such franchise's lore, thus resulting on him focusing on what he wishes to do for his DC Universe (DCU) film even if his decisions bother fans due to not letting himself be "handcuffed" by a franchise's lore due to being impossible to please everybody. He does have a dislike for and multi-movie universe-building despite his work on the X-Men film series, deeming them as the "enemy and death" of storytelling due to audiences caring more for "the way the connect" over how the story works, which should in an emotional level instead of "intellectually" through Easter eggs.

Mangold cites one of the benefits of working in different is that he has the ability to decide what works in each of his films, describing that "part of the joy" is that he learns a lot when changing genres or the vernacular in some of the way he communicates in his art, whether he makes an action film, a Western, a superhero film or a Marvel Comics film, allowing himself to carry over the lessons he learned in one genre to another one that people may not expect, like he did in Logan, which is a superhero film with themes, visual motifs and plenty of references to the Western.

Miscellaneous

Consulting producer

• City on a Hill (2019–2022)

Directed Academy Award performances

Mangold has directed multiple Academy Award-winning and nominated performances.

• James Mangold's unrealized projects