Mamet brings mixed martial arts to the big screen
By Sam Alipour
Tribeca Film Festival: Redbelt
As the Tribeca ESPN Sports Film Festival approaches, Media Blitz columnist Sam Alipour will be checking in periodically and throughout the festival.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- As men tussle on the mats inside this storefront Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy, David Mamet stands just inside the doorway, one hand on his silver-stubbled chin, the other pointing to a framed black-and-white photo hanging on the wall.
"Isn't it gorgeous?" he wonders, not pausing to hear an answer.
In the photo from 1916, two practitioners of Chinese boxing square off in a ring before a packed house, maybe a thousand white men in fedoras, all staring directly at the camera. The film director and devoted jiu-jitsu student spotted it at the Hollywood American Legion Hall, one of the prominent early arenas on the West Coast, while on location for his latest movie, "Redbelt," a drama set in the world of mixed martial arts premiering at the Tribeca ESPN Sports Film Festival. The screenwriter asked for a copy, then handed it over to Street Sports, the academy where he fell head over heels for Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
"Every society has its institutionalized form of fighting. Ours is boxing," Mamet continues, still focused on the photo. "But this shows how far back our roots go, how interested we were, even back then, in investigating other forms of martial arts."
Eight of these so-called investigators are in this gym. Even in mid-grapple, they're keenly aware of the hullabaloo invading their sanctuary -- and they don't appear to mind one bit. In fact, it's possible that the training session is, at least in part, something of a performance put on for the outsider. Between takedowns, they come over to introduce themselves -- fighters as salesmen, answering questions and offering lessons.
Mostly, though, they're excited to see Mamet, the man one fighter refers to as "our fearless leader." After warm embraces, they pass around hot-off-the-press "Redbelt" posters and fight magazines with "Redbelt" blurbs, gleefully perusing photos from the set like preteens swapping Hannah Montana trading cards. In this setting, Mamet, 60, is less like the uber-intense, fiercely independent writer and director responsible for critically acclaimed tough-guy classics like "Glengarry Glen Ross" and more like a goofy kid on Christmas morning.
"Redbelt" is Mamet's love letter to this nondescript building along a sun-bleached slab of Ocean Park Boulevard, the men who sweat here and its purveyor, Renato Magno, a BJJ black belt and Mamet's teacher of six years. It's why the notoriously private Mamet, also a celebrated playwright, fire-breathing essayist and a purple belt, has agreed to guide me into his safe haven where, it seems, only two rules apply: Remove your shoes and leave the outside on the outside.
Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in David Mamet's love letter to the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
His film is about BJJ master Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor of "Inside Man," "Children of Men" and "American Gangster"), who shuns the MMA circuit out of the belief that competition weakens the fighter, choosing instead to pursue an honorable life by operating a humble self-defense studio and spreading the gospel to West L.A.'s fight world, a subculture inhabited by actors, bouncers, cage fighters and cops. Terry's virtuous existence is threatened, though, when an accident at the studio involving an off-duty officer and a distraught lawyer (Emily Mortimer) puts the black belt in the crosshairs of a shady movie star (Tim Allen, in an effective and nuanced turn) and promoters of a televised MMA event. In the end, he must decide wither to sacrifice his code to protect his honor.
Consistent with Mamet's oeuvre, the film crackles with quick bursts of muscular dialogue (like, say, "Take the fight out of your face," and "Everything in life -- the money's in the rematch") spoken by colorful characters brought to life by respected if not marquee actors like Brits Ejiofor and Mortimer, and Mamet regulars Ricky Jay, Joe Mantegna, David Paymer and Rebecca Pidgeon.
Fight fans might care to know the movie's also populated with some of the biggest names in their beloved world, including Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Randy Couture, lightweight boxer Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, and martial artists Dan Inosanto, Gene LeBell, Rico Chiapparelli, Enson Inoue, Frank Trigg and John Machado.
The training of the actors and choreography of the fights fell to Magno, who was among the first wave of Brazilians to hit the States and spread their art. Mamet's fellow Street Sports students who, like their fictional West Side counterparts, are stuntmen, police officers and aspiring actors, populated the fights themselves.
"All of the fighters are my friends or students, and that's because David is very loyal to the sport and to the gym," says Magno, in halting English. "We are lucky to have David, someone who loves the sport, respects and believes in the lessons. It's very much like a family here. He cares about the people at the gym and every movie or TV show he's doing, he brings some of these guys to work, for acting and stunts. And they love him for it."
"I didn't even know David was a director, he's such a humble guy," says brown belt Adam Treanor, a Culver City police officer and the inspiration for the film's cop character. "He's progressing very well. He was already a pretty tough guy, but now he can choke out people who don't listen to him on the set."
Mamet, a 5-foot-8 former high school wrestler and boxer, was introduced to the school six years ago by Ed O'Neill, a jiu-jitsu practitioner once known as Al Bundy, now a Mamet flick regular. Mamet trains here twice a week, sometimes in 90-minute private sessions with Magno. After sessions and even during off-days, the gym regulars will gather to discuss fight and philosophy in what Mamet calls "a luncheon club," which is probably not as cute as it sounds.
Mamet (left) uses real MMA fighters like former champ Randy Couture.
"Jiu-jitsu is a very, very different way of looking at conflict," Mamet explains. "The essence of jiu-jitsu is, Don't oppose force to force. Learn to conquer yourself. Do away with your anger, which can only hurt you in a confrontation. Don't take on the other guy's weight. Someone wants to call you names, so what? Somebody wants to hurt you? OK, so what? If you clear your mind, you can actually see what's being done to you, what the other person's intent is, and instead of opposing, you can end the confrontation by leaving or by subduing the other person. You don't have to expend your force but, nonetheless, by understanding, by gaining a superior position, you can prevail in a conflict. It really does help me everywhere."
When asked to recall his proudest moment during six years of training, Mamet takes a beat. Then: "My first instinct is to say when I got (the purple) belt. But I think my proudest moment was a time when I actually employed some of the philosophy that Renato teaches here outside the academy.
"And I'm not going to tell you where," he adds.
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