Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Everett Collection, Searchlight Pictures James Mangold made his first film at 17 as a student at CalArts. It was a promotional short for General Motors that won him a $1,000 prize and got him a studio deal at Disney, which had him co-writing the script for an animated cat comedy called Oliver & Company. A few years later, he pivoted entirely, enrolling in Columbia Film School and studying under legendary directors Miloš Forman and Alexander Mackendrick,