David Mamet’s iconic Hollywood satire Speed the Plow is to get the big screen treatment, reports Deadline.
The stage play about two movie executives and a temporary secretary vying to make her mark on the industry has featured such luminaries as Madonna, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Goldblum, Alfred Molina, Lindsay Lohan and Alicia Silverstone since it first debuted on Broadway in 1988. Mamet, also known for screenwriting Glengarry Glen Ross, The Untouchables and The Postman Always Rings Twice, will adapt his own work for cinema.
“I am delighted to be working with David Mamet on his insightful exploration of the characters he created in his play which is a classic exposé of ambition in Hollywood,” said producer Irvine Winkler. “Mamet is a master at presenting timeless moral quandaries and audiences can look forward to a unique examination of the cost of doing business – both in movies and in life.”
Speed the Plow’s plot follows the two executives as they discover that a famous Hollywood star may be willing to headline their new project, despite usually being attached to a rival studio. Flushed with the glow of looming success, they make a bet over which one of them will bed the attractive new temporary secretary who has begun working in the office. However, it turns out that the young woman in question has her own idealistic views of what works in Hollywood, not to mention a determination and willingness to do whatever it takes to get her own way.
Speed the Plow was revived successfully in the West End in September last year at London’s Playhouse theatre, with Nigel Lindsay, Richard Schiff and Lindsay Lohan in the lead roles. There have also been several Broadway revivals, with the most recent in 2009 featuring William H Macy, Raúl Esparza and Elisabeth Moss.
No casting details have yet been released for the big screen version of the play, and no director has yet been attached.
