Writer/director of 'State and Main'

"State and Main" is David Mamet's seventh film as writer/director. It's the tale of a small New England town facing upheaval by a Hollywood film company shooting on location

David Mamet goes local, not yokel

January 2, 2001
Web posted at: 4:11 p.m. EST (2111 GMT)

By Mark Scheerer
CNN Showbiz Today Correspondent

NEW YORK (CNN) -- "State and Main" pairs writer/director David Mamet with some old friends: William H. Macy, an acting student he taught at Goddard College in the early 1970s; and Alec Baldwin, who starred in Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992), the film based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and "The Edge" (1997), for which Mamet wrote the screenplay.

In his latest film, Mamet's wife, actress Rebecca Pidgeon, is part of an ensemble cast which also includes Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Stiles.

	VIDEO
Movie trailer for 'State and Main' Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"State and Main," Mamet's seventh film as writer/director, is the tale of a small New England town facing upheaval by a Hollywood film company shooting on location. It's about "the intersection of two cultures: rural America and show business," says Mamet, who has homes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Films like "Sullivan's Travels" (1942) and "Hail the Conquering Hero" (1944), both directed by fellow Chicago native Preston Sturges (1898-1959) were his inspiration, says Mamet.

Mamet recently spoke with CNN about writing, directing and predicting the future.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Alec Baldwin head up an all-star cast in "State and Main"

CNN: Director Preston Sturges had a lot to do with how you wrote, or conceived, "State and Main."

David Mamet:Yeah. He was, of course, I think, the great genius -- the great writer who started out as a playwright and then became a film director. And you look at his comedies, any of them, one could watch them, I think, every night. Just take seven of them and watch them in a row for the rest of your life: They're perfect. Perfectly written, perfectly directed. And his movies have been a real delight to me, and a great inspiration.

CNN: What is it about people in this business who can't resist sending themselves up? Don't they ask themselves, "Are we sure we want people to think that this is the way we really are?"

Mamet: It's like playing piano in a whorehouse: By the time you get to that point, you're having so much fun, you really don't care what anybody thinks about you. The nice thing about the movie business -- one of the very addictive things, which I think this film addresses -- is the insularity.

CNN: So when the film company comes to the small town, the "locals" aren't as "yokel" as one would suspect, right?

Mamet: That's true. That's one of the gags in the movie and it's absolutely true. I've been very fortunate to spend a lot of my life living in a small town in Vermont. They're the smartest people I've ever met. It's like Harry Truman said: You want a real philosophy, you want a real American philosopher, talk to a farmer. The guy's sitting on a tractor for 12 hours a day, he's trying to figure out the weather, he's trying to figure out the transportation system, he's trying to figure out the price system. He's doing some pretty deep thinking.

CNN: How did the screenplay evolve?

Mamet: I just kept writin' it. People say the trick to dramatic writing is not writing, but É rewriting. And that's really true. At every point, you just do the best you can. And then you've got to look long and hard at it and say, "Oh, you know what? I got a better idea."

Because it's like watching the story emerge. You've got to watch the story emerge from the paper. And it takes time. And then, when you get on the set, you got to rewrite it again and then of course, when you get to the editing room you rewrite it again.

Julia Stiles, William H. Macy and Linda Kimbrough in "State and Main"

CNN: Your screenplay for "Wag the Dog," (the 1997 film about a United States president's sexual indiscretions and the administration's efforts to distract the public) was written well before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. You've done something similar in "State and Main." You have two lines in the film -- "But it's absurd." "So is the electoral process, but we still vote." Ð that are reminiscent of the recent election. When did you write that?

Mamet: I made that up on the set. Rebecca Pidgeon wanted a tag line to get out of the room, so I said, "OK, what about this: dah dah dah.

CNN: That was when?

Mamet: A year and a half ago; just got lucky.

CNN: But that's twice now.

Mamet: Well, you know what Napoleon said any time anyone recommended an officer (for) his staff. He just asked one question. É"Is he lucky?"

CNN: Perhaps you have psychic capabilities you aren't even aware of.

Mamet: Just about the future. The past is a complete mystery to me.

State and Main

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.