David Mamet

There are few figures in American culture as with as potent a step as David Mamet (American Buffalo, House of Games, Heist), first as a playwright, then as a filmmaker. With his new movie, Redbelt, he takes on a new frontier, the action film. We hear how he came to climb that mountain.

Set in Los Angeles and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emily Mortimer, Tim Allen and Joe Mantegna, Redbelt uses the the martial art of Jiu-Jitsu as a vehicle to explore what happens when the honorable tradition comes into contact with the corrupt and commercial side of the prize-fighting circuit. A student of Jiu-Jitsu for six years, Mamet describes the film as a "hero's journey," adding that the toughest thing for a hero to do is "to come down off the mountain."