Via BBC Radio. The Player is one of my favourite films. I suspected he might have been ill when he got that honorary Oscar.
CNN is reporting the same.
Awwwww, that makes me a lttle weepy. Shortcuts was a favorite of mine and my dear, late mom. I guess now she can discuss it with him. . .
Damn. He was a real original; Short Cuts was one of the movies that first got me really interested in film.
Terrible to hear. Altman was one of the true Pantheon directors. He had a unique style (and I use the word “unique” in it’s most restrictive sense), and created so many great films I don’t know where to begin: MAS*H, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, California Split, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. And even his lesser works are interesting. It’s a damn shame the Academy never recognized his genius.
Damn. He was one of the few directors I was always willing to chance. I didn’t always like every movie in it’s entirety, but the scenework in his films was always top-notch.
He was ill going into Prairie Home Companion. PT Anderson had to sign on in order for the insurance company to cover it.
Well, they did give him a Lifetime Achievement award. But Altman was always an acquired taste and his style was never going to be the type to earn the quantity of votes to win a competitive Oscar (though he was nominated for director 5 times).
That said, your list would be incomplete without adding 3 Women, The Player, and the TV production Tanner '88.
RIP 
The Long Goodbye is one of my favorite of all movies, but just remember, in all the fawning over Altman you’re gong to hear for the next few days, and with the big Oscar tributes in February. . .that dude made some boring ass shit.
Ahh, that’s too bad. Some critics cited him as the Greatest Living American Director (I think Roger Ebert has said that). I might have to watch Nashville this weekend.
Just saw this on the NY Times site. Very upset.
I just made a movie, which co-starred jackalope, that was heavily influenced by Altman. We actually described it as a “silly Short Cuts” while we were making it. He was one of my idols.
I think I’ll watch The Player tonight.
Have some respect, Trunk.
Why, are his relatives reading this?
::dances on his grave::
Yes, I’m not sure what the point of **The Company ** was.
But **Short Cuts ** is right up there in my all-time favorites, particularly because it created the unforgettable pair of Tom Waits and Lily Tomlin.
Ouch. 3 Women and Nashville just happen to be next up on my Netflix queue.
You’re just thread-shitting, Trunk. That’s called “being a jerk.”
No telling. They might be.
I like the FARK headline: “Director Robert Altman dead. Funeral expected to be star-studded, rambling, plotless”.
They should have three eulogies going at once!