Jump to content

David Mamet: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m move Family section into Later years section
Line 28: Line 28:
==Later years==
==Later years==
=== Family ===
=== Family ===
Mamet and actress [[Lindsay Crouse]] were married from 1977 to 1990, and have two children together, Willa and Zosia. Since 1991, Mamet has been married to actress and singer-songwriter, [[Rebecca Pidgeon]]. They have two children, Clara and Noah.
Mamet and actress [[Lindsay Crouse]] were married from 1977 to 1990, and have two children together, Willa and Zosia (pronounced Zasha). Since 1991, Mamet has been married to actress and singer-songwriter, [[Rebecca Pidgeon]]. They have two children, Clara and Noah.


===Transitioning to Film===
===Transitioning to Film===

Revision as of 03:40, 21 January 2007

David Alan Mamet
File:Davidmamet.jpg
Born30 November 1947
Nationality United States
Occupation(s)Screenwriter
Producer
Playwright
Film director

David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American author, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, and sometimes vulgar dialogue 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; and The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism.

Early years

Mamet was born to a Jewish family in Chicago. 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 Zasha). Since 1991, Mamet has been married to actress and singer-songwriter, Rebecca Pidgeon. They have two children, Clara and Noah.

Transitioning to Film

Mamet's first screenplay was the 1981 production of The Postman Always Rings Twice based upon James M. Cain's novel. He won 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, his wife since 1991, 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 a pseudonym, and turned in an early version of a script for Malcolm X that director Spike Lee rejected.[citation needed]

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 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. He was credited under the name "Richard Weisz" for Ronin.

Since May 2005 he's 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.[2]

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.[citation needed]

Television

He is also the creator, producer and frequent writer of the television series The Unit, co-produced with friend Shawn Ryan of The Shield.

Writing Style

Mametspeak

Mamet's dialogue, marked by a cynical, street-smart edge, is precisely crafted for both dramatic aesthetic effect and theatrical impact.[citation needed] Mamet often utilizes 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 engage in interrupting one another and not finishing their sentences and in overlapping dialogue. Mamet himself has denigrated his (and other writers') early tendency to write "pretty" at the expense of sound, logical plots.[3] When once asked how he developed his knack for writing abusive, obscene talk Mamet 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."[4]

One classic instance of Mamet's dialogue 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" to hilarious effect:

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 actualy talking about it.
Moss No.
Aaronow Talking about it as a...
Moss No.
Aaronow As a robbery.
Moss As a "robbery"? no.

Mamet dedicated that play 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 his work and its success.[5]

His work has developed over the years, primarily in his skill at sustaining longer plots, using tantalizing and even playful surprises. He himself has expressed relief that he grew tired of writing short plays - largely exercises in dialogue - before the audience grew tired of attending them.

Filmography

Plays

Books

Notes

  1. ^ "David Mamet Biography". FilmMakers Magazine. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  2. ^ Levy, Steven. "Huffington's Post: Not Yet Toast". Newsweek. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
  3. ^ Mamet, David. Writing in Restaurants.
  4. ^ Stephen Randall, ed. (2006). "David Mamet: April 1996, interviewed by Geoffrey Norman and John Rezek". The Playboy Interviews: The Directors. M Press. pp. p.276. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  5. ^ "Landmarks," on Night Wwaves BBC Radio, March 3, 2005, accessed January 17, 2007.
Wikiquote has quotations related to David Mamet.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Mamet&oldid=102142323"