David Mamet takes on 'Anne Frank'

[GreenScar]

Disney gets rights to new version of Holocaust tale

Mamet will produce with Andrew Braunsberg.

The film will be an amalgamation of the famed diary; the stage adaptation by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich; and Mamet's own original take on the material that could reframe the story as a young girl's right of passage. Frank, who died at 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, became an icon of the Holocaust after the post-war publication of the diary that she kept during the two years that her family hid in a secret attic apartment in Amsterdam.

Braunsberg, best known for producing "Being There," spent a year gathering the rights from the Anne Frank Estate as well as the estates of Hackett and Goodrich. He met with ICM's John Burnham, who recommended Mamet. Mamet sparked to the opportunity tell the story, and he is already writing the script.

A 1959 bigscreen rendition of Hackett and Goodrich's "Diary of Anne Frank" earned an Oscar for Shelley Winters. The Frank story has been told several times on TV, most recently ABC's 2001 Emmy-winning mini "Anne Frank: The Whole Story."

Mamet, a Pulitzer Prize winner who last wrote and directed the Chiwetel Ejiofor starrer "Redbelt," makes his Broadway debut as a helmer in December, when he opens his new play, "Race." The Atlantic Theater Co., which Mamet formed with William H. Macy, is bringing Mamet's comic play "Keep Your Pantheon" to Atlantic's Off Broadway theater. The play is expected to include a new short Mamet work called "School."

[assydingo]

I'll be honest and say I'm not sure what to think.

[GreenScar]

I think this could be really good. Mamet is a great writer/director. Redbelt was a very entertaining movie. The part throws me off is that Disney is doing it.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

I think this could be really good. Mamet is a great writer/director. Redbelt was a very entertaining movie. The part throws me off is that Disney is doing it.

Disney can do a good job but they can't kiddie this up, Anne Frank is VERY serious material and it won't work if they try to make it cutesie. Hopefully this will be worth seeing.

[drobswim13]

Mamet is a great writer. Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo were great plays so I'm excited to see what he will do here.

[P@t_Mtl]

I can't wait to see the reaction when they announce Megan Fox as been pick for the lead role

[jadedeath]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h59p9kOZkLI

That's all I have to say about that.

Logan

[Petra_Kalbrain]

David Mamet is definitely a great writer. HOWEVER! He has a very distinct style of writing that requires actors to literally take a course on how to deliver his dialogue properly. Being an actor myself who has been exposed to Mamet's works, I'm not certain if his typical style would work well with Anne Frank's story. That being said, I honestly have faith in him being able to adapt his writing style for the content.

[Dotpattern]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

David Mamet is definitely a great writer. HOWEVER! He has a very distinct style of writing that requires actors to literally take a course on how to deliver his dialogue properly.

Not necessarily His writing for Glengarry Glen Ross is very different from About Last Night, which is very different from The Edge, which is very different from Hannibal which is veeerrrryyy different from Redbelt. He has shown an ability to change up his style depending on the material.