David Mamet
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| David Mamet | |
|---|---|
 Mamet at the premiere of Redbelt |
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| Born | November 30, 1947 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Occupation | Author, playwright, screenwriter, film director |
| Nationality | United States |
| Notable work(s) | Lakeboat (1970) The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) The Unit (2006) |
David Alan Mamet (pronounced /ˈmæmɨt/; born November 30, 1947) is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for their exploration of masculinity. Mamet received Tony Award nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988), as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross. As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).
Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, a commentary on the movie business. His newest play Race, starring James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, and Richard Thomas, opened on Broadway December 6, 2009 to mixed reviews.[1]
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[edit] Life
[edit] Theatre
Mamet was born in Chicago, the son of Lenore June (née Silver), a teacher, and Bernard Morris Mamet, an attorney.[2] One of his first jobs was as a busboy at Chicago's The Second City. He was educated at the progressive Francis W. Parker School and at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. Mamet is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company; he first gained acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway plays in 1976, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo.[3] He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Glengarry Glen Ross, which received its first Broadway revival in the summer of 2005.
[edit] Transition to film
Mamet's first produced screenplay was the 1981 production of The Postman Always Rings Twice (directed by Bob Rafelson), based upon James M. Cain's novel. He received an Academy Award nomination one year later for his first script, The Verdict, written in the late 1970s. He also wrote the screenplay for The Untouchables.
In 1987, Mamet made his film directing debut with House of Games, starring his then-wife, Lindsay Crouse, and a host of longtime stage associates. He uses friends as actors,[4] especially in one early scene in the movie, which featured Vermont poker playing friends. He is quoted as saying, "It was my first film as a director and I needed support, so I stacked the deck." Two of the four poker buddies included in the film were fellow Goddard College graduates Allen Soule and Bob Silverstein.
Mamet remains a prolific writer and director, and has assembled an informal repertory company for his films, including Crouse, William H. Macy, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Ricky Jay, as well as some of the aforementioned poker buddies.
Like independent director John Sayles, Mamet funds his own films with the payments he receives for credited and uncredited rewrites of typically big-budget films. For instance, Mamet did a rewrite of the script for Ronin under the pseudonym "Richard Weisz" and turned in an early version of a script for Malcolm X that director Spike Lee rejected.[5]
Three of Mamet's own films, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, and Heist, have involved the world of con artists.
In 2000, Mamet directed but did not write Catastrophe, based on the one-act play by Samuel Beckett, and featuring Harold Pinter and John Gielgud (in his final screen performance).
Mamet has published three novels, The Village in 1994, The Old Religion in 1997, and Wilson: A Consideration of the Sources in 2000. He has also written several non-fiction texts, as well as a number of poems and children's stories.
Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. The majority of his posts are scans of his own doodles, all political satires laced with humor. His first post chronicled his astonishment that one can communicate on a computer.[6]
He has also published a lauded version of the classical Faust story, Faustus, in 2004. However, the play, when staged in San Francisco during the spring of 2004, was not well received by critics.[7]
Recently he directed and wrote the mixed martial arts movie Redbelt, about a martial arts instructor tricked into fighting in a professional bout.
[edit] Television
Mamet is also the creator, producer and frequent writer of the television series The Unit, and he co-produced The Shield with Shawn Ryan.
In 2007, Mamet directed two television commercials for Ford Motor Company. The two 30-second ads featured the Ford Edge and were filmed in Mamet's signature style of fast-paced dialogue and clear, simple imagery.
Mamet wrote the "Wasted Weekend" episode of Hill Street Blues that aired in 1987. His then-wife, Lindsay Crouse, appeared in numerous episodes (including that one) as Officer McBride.
His sister, Lynn Mamet, is a producer and writer for television shows, such as The Unit and Law & Order.
[edit] BBC Radio
In recent years, Mamet has also contributed several dramas to BBC Radio through Jarvis & Ayres Productions, including an adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross for BBC Radio 3 and new dramas for BBC Radio 4. His most recent work is a comedy, Keep Your Pantheon, or On the Whole I'd Rather Be in Mesopotamia (aired 28 May 2007).
[edit] "Mamet speak"
Mamet's style of writing dialogue, marked by a cynical, street-smart edge, precisely crafted for effect, is so distinctive that it came to be called Mamet speak.[8] He often uses italics and quotation marks to highlight particular words and to draw attention to his characters' frequent manipulation and deceitful use of language. His characters frequently interrupt one another, their sentences trail off unfinished, and their dialogue overlaps. Mamet himself has criticized his (and other writers') tendency to write "pretty" at the expense of sound, logical plots.[9]
When asked how he developed his style for writing dialogue, Mamet said, "In my family, in the days prior to television, we liked to wile away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, based solely on our ability to speak the language viciously. That's probably where my ability was honed."[10]
One classic instance of Mamet's dialogue style can be found in Glengarry Glen Ross, in which two down-on-their-luck real estate salesmen are considering breaking into their employer's office to steal a list of good sales leads. George Aaronow and Dave Moss finagle the meaning of "talk" and "speak," steeped in fraudulent connivance of the language and meaning:
- Moss No. What do you mean? Have I talked to him about this [Pause]
- Aaronow Yes. I mean are you actually talking about this, or are we just...
- Moss No, we're just...
- Aaronow We're just "talking" about it.
- Moss We're just speaking about it. [Pause] As an idea.
- Aaronow As an idea.
- Moss Yes.
- Aaronow We're not actually talking about it.
- Moss No.
- Aaronow Talking about it as a...
- Moss No.
- Aaronow As a robbery.
- Moss As a "robbery"? No.
Mamet dedicated Glengarry Glen Ross to Harold Pinter, who was instrumental in its being first staged at the Royal National Theatre, in 1983, and whom Mamet has acknowledged as an influence on its success, and on his other work.[11]
[edit] Directing style
In On Directing Film, Mamet reiterates the objectivity of filmmaking. He believes meaning is found in juxtaposing cuts, and that when shooting a scene, the director should consistently follow the point of the scene. He doesn't believe film should follow the protagonist or consist of visually beautiful or intriguing shots, but should be focused getting a point across in an essential and necessary way. He wants his films to be shaped by logical ways of creating order from disorder in search of the superobjective. Mamet believes in minimal stage and prompt directions.
[edit] Other endeavors
In 1990 Mamet published a 55-page collection of poetry called The Hero Pony. Mamet has also published a series of short plays and monologues. As part of his contributions to The Huffington Post, Mamet has drawn many cartoons about strife in Israel.[12]
Mamet also appeared as a guest on Episode 312 of the animated Comedy Central program Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. The episode, "New Phone System," originally aired on March 2, 1997.
Mamet teamed up with wife Pidgeon to adapt the novel "Come Back To Sorrento" as a screenplay.
Writing in The Village Voice,[13] Mamet announced that he was no longer a "brain-dead liberal", but instead believed in free market thinkers.[14]
[edit] Personal life
Mamet and actress Lindsay Crouse were married from 1977 to 1990, and have two children together, Willa and Zosia. Mamet has been married to actress and singer-songwriter Rebecca Pidgeon since 1991. They have two children, Clara and Noah.
[edit] Work
[edit] References
- ^ "David Mamet's 'Race' on Broadway: What did the critics think?". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/12/david-mamets-race-on-broadway-what-did-the-critics-think.html. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
- ^ David Mamet Biography (1947-)
- ^ "David Mamet Biography". FilmMakers Magazine. http://www.filmmakers.com/artists/mamet/biography/. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
- ^ Life magazine (Oct. 1987, V. 10 No. 11)
- ^ Simpson, Janet. "The Battle To Film Malcolm X". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975087-1,00.html. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
- ^ Levy, Steven. "Huffington's Post: Not Yet Toast". Newsweek. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7856707/site/newsweek/. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
- ^ von Buchau, Stephanie. "Dr. Faustus". TheaterMania. http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/4489. Retrieved 2004-03-13.
- ^ A Companion to Twentieth-century American Drama, David Krasner, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, p. 410
- ^ Mamet, David. Writing in Restaurants.
- ^ Stephen Randall, ed (2006). "David Mamet: April 1996, interviewed by Geoffrey Norman and John Rezek". The Playboy Interviews: The Directors. M Press. pp. 276.
- ^ "Landmarks," on Night Waves BBC Radio, March 3, 2005, accessed January 17, 2007.
- ^ David Mamet - Politics on The Huffington Post
- ^ "David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'". 2008-03-11. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0811,374064,374064,1.html/full. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^ .David Mamet Leaves the Brain Dead Left by Dinesh D'Souza
[edit] Further reading
- David Mamet. Interview with Leonard Lopate. David Mamet: Bambi vs. Godzilla. The Leonard Lopate Show. WNYC New York. 2007-02-12. Retrieved on 2008-12-23.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Mamet |
- David Mamet at the Internet Broadway Database
- David Mamet at the Internet Movie Database
- David Mamet at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal' (Village Voice)
- David Mamet Bio at CBS - The Unit
- David Mamet's writings and cartoons on the Huffington Post
- Interview at salon.com
- Interview by Cathy Pryor in the London 'Independent on Sunday'
- Book Review of The Wicked Son
- Book Review of The Wicked Son from the Toronto Star
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