RIP Anthony Minghella

One of the best directors to emerge out of the U.K. suddenly past away this morning. I was shocked to read the news that Anthony Minghella had departed. The 54 year old Academy Award winning director of The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain had died of a brain hemorrhage according to reports from imdb.com. I remember the first time I saw Talented Mr. Ripley and its slick cast of Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman had a very Mediterranean vibe. Granted the film is set all over Italy, but something just seem to be too perfect and stick out. It was something much to much for a director from England to grasp, it was then that I learned of Minghella's Italian ancestry and passion for the area that film was set. The film was a display to audiences how fantastic Damon was as an actor, but more importantly broke the career of Jude Law. Law and Minghella would go on to work together many times after, including Cold Mountain and Breaking and Entering, a script Minghella wrote for Law. They were a great actor/director combo with much energy and passion for what they did. Minghella will truley be missed. Cinema has lost one of its rising legends behind the camera.