SOURCE: Mamet, David, and Nick James. “Suspicion.” Sight and Sound 8, no. 10 (October 1998): 23-4.

In the following interview, Mamet and James discuss the details of writing and shooting a script, and in particular the adaptation of the Terence Rattigan play The Winslow Boy for the screen.

In his 1991 book On Directing Film, David Mamet says that, “the work of the director is the work of constructing the shot list from the script. The work on the set is nothing. All you have to do on the set is stay awake, follow your plans, help the actors be simple, and keep your sense of humour.” Sitting on a crate outside an Edwardian townhouse of imposing grandeur on the edge of Clapham Common, watching his crew prepare for the first shot of a cold spring day, Mamet seems as good as his word. Genial and courteous, he answers my questions and...