It's no secret that David Mamet is one of the most prolific writers of his time, having written some of the most successful and acclaimed stage plays and screenplays in the history of stage and screen. With an acute focus on crafting gritty, street-smart dialogue while often manipulating language to enhance his characters, David Mamet has carved out his own unique niches in the literary circles, the stage, and world of Hollywood. On occasion, Mamet has also pulled double-duty as both writer and director on several film and TV projects and now returns to the director's chair to helm his script Redbelt, about a martial arts instructor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who's lured into competition by conspiring forces.

Leading up to the release of Redbelt, which opens May 9, David Mamet talked to journalists at the film's recent press junket about crafting dialogue, the issue of craft versus commerce, his passion for Mixed Martial Arts, honor within the fight game, and hot celebrity watches.

David Mamet on overlapping dialogue when it sometimes sounds theatrical:

DAVID MAMET: I don’t know. Does the movie sound theatrical? I’ll tell you a story - I was at CBS, I was casting this television show, The Unit, and this woman came in and I thought she was absolutely great and auditioned for the part. Some guy, a little executive says, "Oh, I don’t like her acting. It’s like watching a play." And I said, "What a dreadful thing to say. I like watching a play." Movies are very very different and, as far as overlapping dialogue, I love the dialogue to be tight, but it should be tight. I always want the actors to talk quicker, but I’m not conscious [of it]... I’m not conscious of them either non-overlapping or overlapping. I’ll figure it out, though.

Mamet on differentiating between different characters and still keeping his style of dialogue intact:

MAMET: You paint the kitchen yellow, you paint the living room beige, you hang around [and] you learn. I make it up as I go along. It’s just something I can do.

On the topic of craft versus commerce and how it applies to Redbelt:

MAMET: That’s a good question. Well, everybody has got to take their pigs to market, you know. You can be the best chairmaker in the world, but you have to sell the chairs. And everyone down through history, and even today, everyone is also kevetching about the middle man saying, "That guy isn’t doing anything." Well, if that guy isn’t doing anything, you could do it. You have the choice; you don’t. Why? Because middle men are necessary. Commerce is necessary. It’s not enough to be great at your craft, one has to engage in commerce and the free market and nobody likes the middle man because it doesn’t partake of the purity of craft. Whether you’re a fighter, a chairmaker, an automaker, or a drycleaner, you've got to deal with it - you've got to get down in the muck and deal in commerce. And if you get involved in commerce, whether it’s as a fighter or a filmmaker, at some point you will be abused, disappointed, robbed, betrayed, because there’s a lot of different people in the world. That’s just the way the world is.

On his love affair with mixed martial arts:

MAMET: I washed up in Los Angeles a few years ago and my good friend, Ed O’Neil, always said if I ever came to Los Angeles he was going to put me together with these Brazilians who teach this marvelous art called Brazilian Jujitsu. So he did, and I got intrigued, not only with Jujitsu as an art but with the world surrounding it and the people that it attracted. That’s what the movie really is about. It’s about all of the different people, the cross pollination of the people who are attracted to this world, the people who fight for a living and the people who fight to stay in shape, the woman who comes and discovers that she can reform her life. Those are the same people you find in the Jujitsu academy. It’s fascinating place.

David Mamet Talks Jujitsu and Hot Watches Page 2