Celebrities David Mamet, Birthday: 30 November 1947, Chicago, Illinois, USA

We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police, but instead of cal...Show more »

We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police, but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder "censorship", we call it "concern for commercial viability." Show less «

[on why he writes] It beats thinking.

I'd observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth and their pals are giving the world a good run for its mo...Show more »

I'd observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth and their pals are giving the world a good run for its money; but that nonetheless people in general seem to get from day to day; and that we in the United States get from day to day in rather wonderful and privileged circumstances. We are not and never have been the villains that some of the world and some of our citizens make us out to be, but a confection of normal (greedy, lustful, duplicitous, corrupt, inspired - in short, human) individuals living under a spectacularly effective compact called the constitution. Show less «

In a world we find terrifying, we ratify that which doesn't threaten us.

There's no such thing as talent; you just have to work hard enough.

We Americans have always considered Hollywood, at best, a sinkhole of depraved venality. And, of cou...Show more »

We Americans have always considered Hollywood, at best, a sinkhole of depraved venality. And, of course, it is. It is not a protective monastery of aesthetic truth. It is a place where everything is incredibly expensive. Show less «

Working as a screenwriter, I always thought that 'Film is a collaborative business' only constituted...Show more »

Working as a screenwriter, I always thought that 'Film is a collaborative business' only constituted half of the actual phrase. From a screenwriter's point-of-view, the correct rendering should be 'Film is a collaborative business: bend over'. Show less «

As a child of the 1960s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, business is e...Show more »

As a child of the 1960s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, business is exploitable and people are generally good at heart. But these cherished precepts, I realised, had over the years become increasingly impracticable prejudices. Show less «

Asperger's syndrome helped make the movies. The symptoms of this developmental disorder include earl...Show more »

Asperger's syndrome helped make the movies. The symptoms of this developmental disorder include early precocity, a great ability to maintain masses of information, a lack of ability to mix with groups in age-appropriate aways, ignorance of or indifference to social norms, high intelligence, and difficulty with transitions married to a preternatural ability to concentrate on the minutiae of the task at hand. This sounds to me like a job description for a movie director. Show less «

[to acting students at Atlantic Theater Company]Invent nothing, deny nothing.

Before the US [2006] mid-term elections, my rabbi was taking a lot of flak. The congregation is excl...Show more »

Before the US [2006] mid-term elections, my rabbi was taking a lot of flak. The congregation is exclusive-liberal, yet he is a self-described independent (read "conservative") and he was driving the flock wild. Why? Because a) he never discussed politics; and b) he taught that the quality of political discourse must be addressed first; that Jewish law teaches that it is incumbent upon one to hear the other fellow out.'So I, like many of the liberal congregation, began - teeth grinding - to attempt to do so. And in doing so I recognised that I held two views of America.'One was of a state where everything was magically wrong and must be immediately corrected at any cost; and the other (the world in which I actually functioned day to day) was made up of people who were in the main reasonably trying to maximise their comfort by getting along with one another (in the workplace, the marketplace, the jury room, even the school meeting).'And I realised that the time had come for me to avow my participation in the country in which I chose to live - and that this country was not a schoolroom teaching values, but a marketplace. Show less «

Hollywood is capitalism at its best: opposing forces working it out, using tools of the marketplace....Show more »

Hollywood is capitalism at its best: opposing forces working it out, using tools of the marketplace. As such, it's vastly messier than totalitarianism, but it kills a lot less people. Show less «

Thank God Hollywood people don't have souls so they don't have to suffer through their lives.

In my experience, almost every financial interchange with Hollywood ends with an accusation by the c...Show more »

In my experience, almost every financial interchange with Hollywood ends with an accusation by the corporation of theft. 'You didn't do what I wanted, you didn't work hard enough, you intended to defraud me.' These are the recurring plaints of industry. They may be translated as: You forgot to work for nothing. Show less «

[when asked to comment on adapting his own work for the screen] It's like raping your children to te...Show more »

[when asked to comment on adapting his own work for the screen] It's like raping your children to teach them about sex. Show less «

Hollywood is like cocaine. You cannot understand its attraction until you are doing it. And when you...Show more »

Hollywood is like cocaine. You cannot understand its attraction until you are doing it. And when you are doing it, you are insane. Show less «

[when asked if he wished he had a different profession] Oh, all writers wish that. That's why we bec...Show more »

[when asked if he wished he had a different profession] Oh, all writers wish that. That's why we become writers. We want to do something active but we can't. Paul Johnson, in his "History of the 20th Century", says all the great crimes are committed by intellectuals. He says intellectuals love power and we get tired of sitting on our asses. Show less «

[on the influence of Vikram Jayanti's documentary, 'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector' on hi...Show more »

[on the influence of Vikram Jayanti's documentary, 'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector' on his own later project for HBO] I see the documentary, and it's a brilliant documentary. And you start out. In the first ten seconds you're saying, 'Oh, this guy's a freak. He's small. He's wizened. He talks funny. His arms are shaky. He's obviously a freak'. Three minutes later, you say, 'Well, he says some interesting things'. A half an hour, you're saying, 'How could I be so prejudiced? The guy's kind of brilliant'. And at the end of the documentary, you're saying, 'Wait a second. I came to this with such prejudice. Maybe the guy's not guilty'. Show less «

Take away the director from the staged play and what do you get? Usually a diminution of strife, a s...Show more »

Take away the director from the staged play and what do you get? Usually a diminution of strife, a shorter rehearsal period and a better production. Show less «

I have to admit that I don't like Disneyland.

A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue.

I've always been more comfortable sinking while clutching a good theory than swimming with an ugly f...Show more »

I've always been more comfortable sinking while clutching a good theory than swimming with an ugly fact. Show less «

The poker player learns that sometimes both science and common sense are wrong; that the bumblebee c...Show more »

The poker player learns that sometimes both science and common sense are wrong; that the bumblebee can fly; that, perhaps, one should never trust an expert; that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by those with an academic bent. Show less «

There's no such thing as character development; all there is is action.

David Mamet

David Mamet's FILMOGRAPHY

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