State and Main: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Scripts) (Paperback)

by David Mamet (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Mamet has few peers in contemporary American literature, and it can be easy to overlook his deftly light and playful side. He has some 18 screenplays to his credit, and State and Main marks his seventh feature as both writer and director. The conceit of this take on screwball comedies is a film within a film. Forced to bolt from their New Hampshire location because their leading man has a propensity for junior high school girls, the film company is relocated to the bucolic hamlet of Waterford, VT. The interplay, hijinks, and machinations, romantic and political, between the film folk and townies are right out of Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. The script prominently features Mamet's signature staccato dialog and uses its comedic framework to skewer both Hollywood and small-town U.S.A. Mamet provides an introduction, production stills, and full cast and crew credits. Mamet's work should be comprehensively collected by all libraries.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
In the acclaimed Newmarket Shooting Script format --The official tie-in to the hilarious movie coming December 22, 2000, written and directed by one of the most extraordinary writers of our time, starring Alec Baldwin, Charles Durning, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Patti LuPone, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Julia Stiles. Part Hollywood satire, part screwball comedy, State and Main explores what happens when a cell-phone wielding movie crew invades a quaint New England town. The residents are all too ready to jettison its pastoral grace for showbiz glitz. Laced with the tart dialogue characteristic of Mamet, State and Main follows screenwriter Joe White (Hoffman), whose old-fashioned values are put to task when he is the only witness to a heartthrob movie star's (Baldwin) indiscretions with a local teenage girl (Stiles). The movie's smooth-talking director (Macy) and aggressive producer (Paymer) pressure Joe to put aside his convictions for the sake of the film and his future writing career. Meanwhile, Joe falls for a local bookseller (Pidgeon), who challenges him to stand up for the truth. Rounding out the cast are Sarah Jessica Parker as a sexy Hollywood actress who tempts Joe, and Charles Durning and Patty LuPone as the town's star-struck mayor and his wife. Produced by Sarah Green (The Winslow Boy), the film's executive producers are Alec Baldwin and Jon Cornick; it is a Green-Renzi Production in association with El Dorado Pictures. In the Newmarket Shooting Script® Series format, here is the complete shooting script, an introduction written exclusively for this edition by David Mamet, movie stills, credits, and an interview with the writer/director.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Newmarket Press (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557044562
• ISBN-13: 978-1557044563
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,323,534 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its Just Impossible For Mamet To Write A Bad Script, February 1, 2001

By	Michael Olinger (Reno, NV) - See all my reviews

I first got into films because of David Mamet. Back in 1995, three years after its theatrical release, I saw 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' I was all of 13 at the time, and I've been interested in movies ever since. David Mamet is the genius responsible for my undying love of the cinema. Every word he writes is the English language at its best. So lyrical are the cadences of his dialogue that its not like he writes, but more accurately paints with words. Look at his work and you realize you're not dealing with an ordinary playwright, you are dealing with a modern Shakespeare. Such is the quality that he brings to 'State and Main,' an endlessly funny and beautifully crafted satire that I rank right up there with 'Glengarry.' Mamet brings a depth to his characters that transcends the satire, the people in the screenplay aren't ducks to be shot down for the sake of humor, we care about them, and thus sympathize through the laughter. The plot, which seems unoriginal at first look is given a unique life thanks to Mamet, and it seems so carefully crafted as to bypass the inherent feeling that this isn't the first screenplay of its kind. 'State and Main' brings us a unique world, just a little off center for satire's sake but filled with characters that are more than the sum of their quirks, and the fact that it works is a testament to Mamet's genius.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mamet with all the brillance and none of the violence, December 5, 2006

By	Sean Devereaux "filmsoup" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Unique screenplay that is virtually all dialouge. I've read it twice and still can't fully grasp how he makes the picture so clear in my mind with so little description. Impressive and a great education.