David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mametis an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director. As a playwright, Mamet has won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Rossand Speed-the-Plow. Mamet first gained acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway plays in 1976, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo. His play Race opened on Broadway on December 6, 2009...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth30 November 1947
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
Films have degenerated to their original operation as carnival amusement - they offer not drama but thrills.
The liberals in my neighbourhood wouldn't give away Brentwood to the Palestinians, but they want to give away Tel Aviv.
A play is basically a long, formalistic polemic. You can write it without the poetry, and if you do, you may have a pretty good play. We know this because we see plays in translation. Not many people speak Norwegian or Danish or whatever guys like Ibsen spoke, or Russian - yet we understand Chekhov and the others.
Every reiteration of the idea that nothing matters debases the human spirit.
My dad was a labour lawyer, and the ideas that I grew up with - bad management, bad capitalism, robber barons - when I applied this to my own life, I saw that we are all on both sides of the coin.
You can't write about history without writing about politics at some point. History is about movements of people. 'What is criminality and what is government' is a theme that runs through every history.
The job of the artist, is to say, wait a second, everything that we have thought is wrong. Let's re-examine it.
A liberal pretending to be a conservative? That's like a straight person pretending to be gay to get greater acceptance.
Always tell the truth - it's the easiest thing to remember.
My idea of perfect happiness is a healthy family, peace between nations, and all the critics die.
I like Bach. I like Randy Newman.
The surprise is half the battle. Many things are half the battle, losing is half the battle. Let's think about what's the whole battle.
Our job, as writers is to do our jobs.
I've been alienating my public since I was 20 years old.