4X4: MIKE NICHOLS: PT 3 OF 4: OVER AND DONNE *SPECIAL EPISODE*

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4X4: MIKE NICHOLS PT. 3: THE DESIGNATED MOURNER

In 1996 Mike Nichols did something extraordinary after a friendly table reading of Wallace Shawn's new play, THE DESIGNATED MOURNER, he agreed to play the main part of JACK for a theatrical run in London. Previously Nichols' only acting credit was an abbreviated run of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF with Elaine May in 1980, (he was also a savvy stage veteran due to his legendary comedy career, also with May). Working with noted playwright and director (theater and film) David Hare along with co-stars MIRANDA RICHARDSON (who will always be Queenie from Blackadder II to us), and David de Keyser, the run had critics and actors looking for words to describe Nichols' one-of-a-kind performance. Luckily, at the end of the run they decided to commemorate this run and went to Pinewood Studios to shoot a film version in three days.

A harrowing series of monologues details the slow crumbling of an unnamed nation. Is the government cracking down or are rebels taking over? Yes? The result is a culling of what the play calls "high brow" culture. The three characters are either talking as ghosts or as the last person remaining to remember what things used to be (A Designated Mourner).

We came across this oddity in our research and the praise Nichols received in his performance, and our general love of all things Wallace Shawn, made us hunt down a copy of this criminally unavailable film. Nichols quite simply gives one of the most seductive, brutal and impossibly off-the-cuff-seeming performance that it is too late once he has you sucked in.  We have seen hundreds of movies during thus podcast and his performance may be the greatest of them all. Seriously. It sneaks up to you with a smile and leads you along until it crushes your heart.

So why is it so damn hard to find? We bought an original DVD from its initial release in 1997 off of ebay. The BBC owns it and the story of why it is so difficult to find, despite its legendary status among those who know, is a mystery we try to unravel.

THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.

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Ken: Ken Koral
Jack: jackk1096