Milos Foreman is a beloved Czech-American filmmaker, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces. It was only the second film, after It Happened One Night (1934), to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay). Before starting to direct in America, Forman was an important member of the Czech New Wave in his home country. The son of a mother who died in the Holocaust and the architect Otto Kohn, a Holocaust survivor, Forman directed Loves of a Blond and The Fireman's Ball, both key films in the Czech New Wave, before making his first film in the United States, Taking Off, with Lynn Carlin and Buck Henry, which won the Grand Prix at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest would become Forman's breakthrough in American cinema. An adaptation of Ken Kesey's beloved novel, the movie established Forman as a brilliant director. Previously, there had been a stage adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on Broadway, with Kirk Douglas in the role of McMurphy. Kirk Douglas was originally slated to star in the movie as well, but was deemed too old for the role by the time it was produced. Douglas then gave the rights of the film to his son Michael Douglas. Kirk Douglas had initially sought out Forman to direct the film, but because of customs laws in Czechoslovakia, the copy of the book Douglas had sent was confiscated, unbeknownst to him and Forman. Later on, Michael Douglas gave Forman the book. In an interview from 2002 about why he was chosen to direct the film, Forman says, "I think they both [Kirk and Michael Douglas] felt that the film shouldn't be this crazy, schizophrenic vision of an Indian, that it should be a very real story where the Indian was very important, but just another patient on the floor. They liked the realism of my Czech films, and of my first American film, Taking Off. I was so happy to get the job that I didn't ask them why they gave it to me."
Of encountering the story for the first time, Forman stated, "One day, I got a package from California. There was a book inside I’d never heard of written by an author I’d never heard of but when I started to read I saw right away that this was the best material I’d come across in America.” He shot the film in sequence, except the scene in the boat. Filming took place in Oregon, where the story is set, at the Oregon State Hospital, a working mental hospital. Dean Brooks, who played Dr. Spivey, was the actual director of the hospital at the time, and helped incorporate the film crew into the workings of the mental hospital. Many of the actors shadowed patients that were assigned to them by Brooks, even spending the night, and some patients worked on the crew during filming.
According to many sources, even though Ken Kesey, the author of the novel, was involved early on in the screenwriting for the movie, he withdrew from the process over disagreements with producers, and did not like the movie. While Kesey may not have approved, the film was universally acclaimed and catapulted Milos Forman into the American cinematic spotlight.
