Taking a Chance with Mamet

"Everyone in Hollywood passed on the project," Sony Pictures Classics co-chief Tom Bernard said Friday at the Tribeca Film Fest's premiere of David Mamet's latest pic "Redbelt." "We said, we will take a chance because we like David and we have done a lot of great movies with him in the past."

Pic is about a Jiu-Jitsu teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in Los Angeles who runs his studio by the honorable samurai code until greed and corruption threaten to derail his existence. At the preem, Ejiofor said he was not intimidated by Mamet, who he said approached him about the lead role in the film. "He sent me the script and I loved it," the thesp said before adding that he trained "for quite a bit of time in London and Los Angeles before filming began." - Addie Morfoot in N.Y.

Photos: L: Chiwetel Ejiofar; R: David Mamet/ WireImage

Comments

[Gavin]

I dont understand how so many studios passed on the pic. Seems obvious to me, black guy + samurai = gold, aka movie magic.

Yet things like Who's Your Caddy & Superhero are made regularly.