"A lot of the tension in the air and a lot of the emotion is very real to what we went through, even though the events weren't the same." There were happier times at Camp Tamakwa at Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada where Binder spent many of his youthful summers, first as a camper and later as a counselor. His parents divorced while he was still a child, an experience that would provide some of the backbone to the reality in The Upside of Anger. "He's one of my idols." He was exposed to drama early, too. He was exposed to comedy early on through his father, a housebuilder who was a fan of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. The second of four children, Binder was born in 1958 in Detroit, Michigan. As he said of The Upside of Anger, the 2005 film that may be his most high profile release, "We didn't build it up or make it complicated by design because then the film has to deal with the people in front of the camera."
#MIKE BINDER SERIES#
Another famous admirer, Kevin Costner, told Binder that his HBO series The Mind of the Married Man was "like watching my own dirty laundry."īinder's films are not known for what he calls "razzmatazz." They tend to focus on emotions more than action, and emphasize character more than plot. However, they do attract first-rate casts and, more often than not, critical praise. What's that you say? You haven't heard of Mike Binder?īinder's films don't break box-office records on their opening weekend, or sell millions of copies when released on DVD. In fact, it is as a filmmaker, not a stand-up comedian, that he is best known. It was a world I was simply infatuated with." But like his idol, Woody Allen (" I guess you could say I wanted to be him"), Binder would branch out into filmmaking, writing scripts and eventually directing them. "I had always wanted to be a stand-up comedian," he remembered. In 1979, Mike Binder did just that, believing he was too young and not ready for what most comedians would consider a dream gig, the big breakthrough. How many stand-up comedians would turn down an invitation to appear on The Tonight Show, especially during its glory days when Johnny Carson still sat behind the desk?
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