His first feature work came on the 1992 film Kalifornia. Friend Michael
White was production designer and offered Mann the art direction gig.
The film proved pivotal to his career and personal life, introducing him to
both director Dominic Sena and his future wife, who was serving as the
film's production coordinator.
Over the next six years, Mann honed his skills working on commer-
cials with talented directors like Jonathan Glazer and Sena, with whom
he worked on a 90-second Nike spot that aired during the Super Bowl.
When Sena was later tapped to direct the Jerry Bruckheimer feature Gone
in Sixty Seconds, starring Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie, he cam-
paigned for Mann to be hired as production designer. "Dom went in and
lobbied for me. To Jerry's credit, he likes to take people from commercials
and give them an opportunity." It was only Mann's second big feature,
and his first as production designer.
Mann again teamed with
Sena on Swordfish. The film's
ending, where a helicopter
picks up the bus, was not in
the script. That was Mann's
idea. "Dom embraced the
idea . . . we pitched it to
the studio and they loved it,
but the implications were
huge from financial and labor
standpoints." Although the
film was already in production,
the studio agreed to the addi-
tional expense.
His next picture, Showtime,
was with director Michael Dey,
whom Mann had first worked
with on commercials. Then
came Terminator 3: Rise of the
Machines, due out in 2003. Producer Colin Wilson initially planned to hire
Kirk Petruccelli for the film. Discovering that he was unavailable, Wilson
telephoned agent Jonathan Furie, who also represents Mann, for a recom-
mendation. Vying for the job against the top production designers in the
business, Mann went in and showed his book and commercial reel, and
left a copy of Swordfish. On the way home from the meeting, his agent
called to say he'd landed the job.
"Be honest."--Jeff
Mann
"Don't try to
climb so fast that you
put people off, that you're looking to jump
rungs. Put 100% into whatever you're asked
to do."--Jeff Mann
"Know what everybody does--try
your hand at what everybody does, so that
when you suggest something, you know
what the implications are of what you're
presenting, what it means for the people
who have to facilitate what you're offering
up."--Jeff Mann
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