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Ismail Merchant, the producer of thoughtful films that were usually literary and period, died yesterday at age 68 yesterday; he had been suffering from abdominal ulcers. With partner, director James Ivory, their production company, Merchant-Ivory became a brand name for classy, extremely well art-designed fare, such as A Room with a View, Howard's End, and Remains of the Day. While many of Merchant's films took place Europe, he had a New York City connection: He received an MBA from NYU and lived on the Upper East Side part-time. Plus, one of early Merchant-Ivory film was an adaptation of Tama Janowitz's The Slaves of New York.
Merchant was also an accomplished cook, publishing books about Indian cuisine, such as Passionate Meals. You can read Merchant's biography, My Passage to India, and Gothamist highly recommends a more recent, unusual Merchant-Ivory film, A Solider's Daughter Never Cries.
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Isamail was the best. People know him for his period dramas, but few remember him dancing on a giant sized typewriter in "Bombay Talkie." Few also remember the fairly radical film "savages." The period dramas were great too. He was a one of a kind new york character. R.I.P.
"The Remains of the Day" and "The Golden Bowl" strike me as two of his best...dark undercurrents beneath the fancy dress and proper manners.
He always struck me as a very kind and generous man.
I last saw him interviewed with Helena Bonham Carter on The Kumars at No. 42. You could sense the respect she had for him.
I remember reading a story about "golden bowl." don't know if it was true - Harvey Weinstein was trying to cut the film up despite Ivory having final cut. Merchant went over to miramax, threw his briefcase through harvey's office window and asked him to step outside. Weinstein backed down. lion's gate eventually distributed. Merchant seemed like a nice guy, but also was nobody's fool. Guys like Merchant should be running studios.