Paul Schrader has been asked to direct David Mamet’s JFK assassination film. This is news to me. I thought Mamet was going to direct his first film since 2008’s “Redbelt.”
How do I know Schrader has been offered the job? Because, true to himself, he posted on film historian Joseph McBride’s Facebook page with the following question:
Why didn’t Schrader just privately message McBride about this?
Regardless, the cast of this film is, to say the least, talented and eccentric: Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, Al Pacino, John Travolta and Courtney Love. A September shoot in Vancouver was supposed to happen before the strike.
This is a drama about how notorious Chicago mobster Sam Giancana arranged the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as revenge for trying to bring down organized crime, this after the mob helped put JFK in the White House.
The cinematographer is also none other than Robert Elswitt (“There Will Be Blood,” “Punch Drunk-Love,” “Magnolia,” “Michael Clayton,” “Nightcrawler”).
Mamet, who was twice Oscar-nominated, and has won the Pulitzer Prize, penned the script. Bonnie Giancana, daughter of the late mobster, was a consultant and executive producer.
Mamet is known for his wittily acidic dialogue. In fact, a term was invented for his style of writing: “Mamet speak.” His style of writing is cynical, edgy, street and precisely crafted for effect. It can be seen and heard in some of his better-known cinematic works, those include “House of Games”, “Homicide”, “Glengary Glen Ross”, “Wag the Dog”, “The Spanish Prisoner” and “Heist.”
So, why has Mamet not directed a film in over 15 years? Well, for one, he outed himself as a Republican 10 years ago. His famous, or infamous, reasoning included this line:
In order to continue advancing their illogical arguments modern liberals have to pretend not to know things.
Mamet then told The Guardian in 2022 that “Trump did a good job” as president, and that he didn’t disagree that the 2020 election was fraudulent. The fact that he’s managed to get a new movie going is impressive.