David Alan Mamet (born November 30 1947 (1947--) (age 59)) is an American
author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and film
director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue, arcane
stylized phrasing, and for his exploration of masculinity.
As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow
(1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).
His 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, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.
Early years
Mamet was born to a Jewish family in Chicago. One of his first jobs was as a busboy at Chicago's The Second City. Educated at the Francis W. Parker School and at
Goddard College and 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.[1] He was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Glengarry Glen
Ross, which received its first Broadway revival in the summer of 2005.
Later years
Family
Mamet and actress Lindsay Crouse were married from 1977 to 1990, and have two children
together, Willa and Zosia (pronounced Zoh-sha). Since 1991, Mamet has been married to actress and singer-songwriter,
Rebecca Pidgeon. They have two children, Clara and Noah.
Transition to film
Mamet's first screenplay was the 1981 production of The
Postman Always Rings Twice, based upon James M. Cain's novel. He received an
Academy Award nomination for his next script, The
Verdict.
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 remains a prolific
writer and director, and has assembled an informal repertory company for his films, including William H. Macy, Joe Mantegna, Crouse, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Ricky Jay.
Like independent director John Sayles, Mamet funds his own films with the pay he gets
from 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.[2]
Three of Mamet's own films, House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, and Heist have involved the
world of con artists.
Mamet has published three novels, The Village in 1994, The Old Religion in 1997, and 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 journaled his
astonishment that one can communicate on a computer.[3]
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 the critics.[4]
Television
He is also the creator, producer and frequent writer of the television series The
Unit, co-produced with Shawn Ryan of The Shield.
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.
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 entitled Keep
Your Pantheon, or On the Whole I'd Rather Be in Mesopotamia (aired 28 May 2007).
Writing style
Mamet's dialogue, marked by a cynical, street-smart edge, is precisely crafted for effect and impact.[citation needed] 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.[5]
When once asked how he developed his knack for writing abusive, obscene dialogue Mamet once commented, "In my family, in the
days prior to television, we liked to while 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."[6]
One classic instance of Mamet's dialogue style can be found in Glengarry Glen
Ross, in which two down-on-their-luck realtors are considering breaking into their employer's office to steal a list
of good leads. George Aaronow and Dave
Moss finagle the meaning of "talk" and "speak":
- 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.[7]
Mamet's writing has developed over the years, primarily in his skill at sustaining longer plots, and his use of tantalizing,
playful surprises. He himself has expressed that he grew tired of writing short plays — largely exercises in dialogue — before
the audience grew tired of attending them.
Directing style
In Mamet's book, On Directing Film, he reiterates the objectivity of film making. He believes meaning is found in
juxtaposing cuts, and that when shooting a scene, the director should consistently follow what the point of the scene is. He
doesn't believe film should follow the protagonist or consist of visually beautiful or intriguing shots, but should be simply
functional in getting a point across in an essential and necessary way. He wants his films to be perpetuated by logical ways of
creating order from disorder in search for the superobjective.
Poetry
In 1990 Mamet published a 55-page collection of poetry called The Hero Pony.
Written work
| Year |
Plays |
Films |
Books |
| 1970 |
Lakeboat (revised 1980) |
|
|
| 1972 |
The Duck Variations, Lone
Canoe |
|
|
| 1974 |
Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Squirrels |
|
|
| 1975 |
American Buffalo |
|
|
| 1976 |
Reunion, The Water Engine |
|
|
| 1977 |
A Life in the Theatre |
|
|
| 1978 |
Revenge of the Space Pandas, or Binky Rudich and the Two-Speed Clock |
|
|
| 1979 |
The Woods, The Blue Hour |
|
|
| 1980 |
Lakeboat (revision) |
|
|
| 1981 |
|
The Postman Always Rings Twice |
|
| 1982 |
Edmond |
The Verdict |
|
| 1983 |
The Frog Prince |
|
|
| 1984 |
Glengarry Glen Ross |
|
|
| 1985 |
The Shawl |
|
|
| 1986 |
|
About Last Night... |
|
| 1987 |
|
House of Games (director), The Untouchables |
Writing in Restaurants |
| 1988 |
Speed-the-Plow |
Things Change (director) |
|
| 1989 |
Bobby Gould In Hell |
We're No Angels |
|
| 1991 |
|
Homicide (director) |
|
| 1992 |
Oleanna |
Hoffa (producer), Glengarry Glen
Ross |
On Directing Film |
| 1994 |
|
Oleanna (director), Vanya on 42nd
Street |
The Village |
| 1995 |
The Cryptogram |
|
|
| 1996 |
|
American Buffalo |
Make-Believe Town: Essays and Remembraces, Three Uses of the Knife |
| 1997 |
The Old Neighborhood |
Wag the Dog, The Spanish
Prisoner (director), The Edge |
The Old Religion |
| 1998 |
|
Ronin |
|
| 1999 |
Boston Marriage |
The Winslow Boy (director) |
True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the
Actor
The Chinaman (poems) |
| 2000 |
|
Lakeboat, State and Main
(director) |
|
| 2001 |
|
Hannibal, Heist (director) |
|
| 2004 |
Faustus |
Spartan (director) |
|
| 2005 |
Romance, The Voysey
Inheritance (adapted) |
Edmond |
|
| 2006 |
|
|
|
| 2007 |
|
|
Bambi Vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business |
| 2008 |
November, A Waitress in Yellowstone
(musical) |
Redbelt |
|
Mamet directed, but did not write the film Catastrophe in 2000.
References
- ^ David Mamet Biography. FilmMakers Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.
- ^ Simpson, Janet. The Battle To Film
Malcolm X. Time. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
- ^ Levy, Steven. Huffington's Post: Not Yet Toast. Newsweek. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ von Buchau, Stephanie. Dr. Faustus. TheaterMania.
Retrieved on 2004-03-13.
- ^ Mamet, David. Writing in
Restaurants.
- ^ (2006) "David Mamet: April
1996, interviewed by Geoffrey Norman and John Rezek", in Stephen Randall: The Playboy Interviews: The Directors. M Press,
p.276.
- ^ "Landmarks," on Night Waves BBC Radio, March 3,
2005, accessed January 17, 2007.
Further information
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