David Mamet: Filmmaker, Playwright, Martial Artist

No one ever accused veteran director/writer David Mamet of a lack of output. With tonight's gala premiere of Redbelt—as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival—this prodigious talent has once again created a unique cinematic effort. Again Mamet redefines a genre with his own unique language; this time he does a twist on the martial arts genre, telling the story of Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the chief instructor at the Southside Jiu-Jitsu Academy in LA. Instead of being a competitive fighter, he trains his students in both self-defense and the philosophy of his discipline. In typical Mamet fashion, things start off in an ordinary way, but then the story unexpectedly twists its way toward an arch conclusion.

Knowing how much Mamet creates, be it plays, films, essays, or other material—and all the hats he wears, from director to producer to actor—it's no surprise that Mamet has a lot to say about productivity. "As anybody who has worked on a farm knows, that farmers work on the farm every day. And they do it every day. Now I don't work as hard as a farmer does, but I work every day. And if you do it for enough years, then you get a lot of work accomplished."

Though Mamet has mined lots of fascinating sources for inspiration, he has a strong personal tie to this film. "I've been training in Jiu-Jitsu for about six years, and I've been pretty fortunate to have been in that world. We all hang out together and have lunch together just about everyday. So we have trade stories, and it's fascinating that all those involved in the art of Jiu-Jitsu and the fighting arts are all connected across all sorts of lines in Los Angeles, so it kind of suggested it itself."

And that begs the question then, "Why Jiu-Jitsu?"

"I have tried other disciplines, but my friend Ed O' Neil said that if I ever move to Los Angeles I should meet some of these guys I'm training with. So I came out and started training with one of their clan; it happened on the first day I came out to LA, and I've been there ever since." The result of such training is not only Mamet's fit physique but also the strong and engaging Redbelt.