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Rebecca Pidgeon and Ricky Jay have been a part of the David Mamet universe for two decades now. For Jay, an accomplished magician and "sleight of hand" artist, it was a newfound career. For Pidgeon, it would be a collaboration that would culminate in a marriage to Mamet that has lasted for over 15 years. Both Jay and Pidgeon, since 1991, have appeared in every film directed by Mamet, and in REDBELT, both appear again. Jay plays ruthless fight promoter Marty Brown while Pidgeon plays Zena Frank, fashion mogul wife of action star Chet Frank. Although the role is brief, Pidgeon has a bigger role within the film in supplying the soundtrack, which she has released in conjunction with the film. To promote REDBELT, both Pidgeon and Jay took part in a roundtable that the Crypt was a part of. The following are highlights from that conversation about meeting David, the art of REDBELT, and their other endeavors.
You’ve both worked with David for many years. When you meet people who are new to David’s universe on film, do you give them any advice? RICKY JAY: What advice other than tell them that they’re the luckiest people on the planet to be working with David Mamet, it’s pretty much the way we feel. REBECCA PIDGEON: I love David a lot. He doesn’t always have to cast me in everything but we do sure love working with David. Actually I think it’s the highlight of my acting career because he’s such a great artist. He’s a genius. He greatly inspires people. He definitely inspires me. RICKY JAY: Hard to disagree with that. It almost spoils you. We’ve both been fortunate to work with other great writers and directors but it’s kind of amazing that we’ve been so lucky to have this real series of films and it sort of feels like a repertoire company. We run into our old friends; Joe Mantegna, David Paymer, J.J. Johnston, Jennifer Grey, and Jack Wallace, so this coming together makes it very pleasurable. Even now, we’re talking about how much we enjoy this party. We are doing this and we run into Emily, Alice, Boom Boom, and Randy, so it’s fun. We often hang out in situations that have nothing to do with the film so he’s made a family. Did you both learn any Jiu-Jitsu? REBECCA PIDGEON: Well I’m fending David off daily (Laughter). He gets into the habit of coming home and practicing on me. He has that glint in his eye telling me to come to him. RICKY JAY: I’ve been practicing armbars on my Burmese Mountain dog, but he’s much stronger than I am. You both come from different mediums yet you come together to work on these movies. Are there any disciplines you bring into the medium of film that’s different from the normal actor? REBECCA PIDGEON: For me I came to this movie not only as an actor but as a musician because I wrote songs for the movie. David had been writing a bossa nova style and he asked me if he could use one of the songs, BEEN AND GONE, and he also asked me to write a bit more for the movie which I did. I also had the good fortune to meet Luciana Souza who does a duet with me on that record. She translated the two songs, BEEN AND GONE and DAWN, into Portugese, one of which she sings in the middle of the movie, and I sing the last one at the end of the movie in Portugese and it’s a beautiful, beautiful language to sing in, much easier than English actually. It’s a thrill for me to have them in this movie which is a work of art. It’s a beautiful movie. It was lovely to work with David as a composer. He really appreciated the songs I think. RICKY JAY: This was a little different for me. There are other films that David has done where I’ve been the technical consultant for cons, for instance HOUSE OF GAMES and HEIST, and even THE SPANISH PRISONER. In the case of REDBELT, the one bit of consulting I did was to suggest Cyril Takayama as the magician. I knew him and liked his work a lot and so I suggested to David that not only did I think his magic was lovely, but I thought he had a great look for this and he had never acted before. I know David was incredibly happy when he was able to do it. In terms of filming, the first film acting I ever did was David’s HOUSE OF GAMES. I remember that it started by him asking me to teach his acting students. He was running a class at the Atlantic Theater Company, and I said to him I know nothing about acting. In the teaching of the class, he was making me understand that a lot of the principles of magic were the same principles of acting. They both require a secret hidden training that there’s no need to speak of at all. You use whatever you need to allow you to accomplish what you do. He brought me into that world and gave me a midlife career that I had never expected so what could be better. Over the course of 20 odd years, has your perception changed about David as opposed to now? RICKY JAY: I wouldn’t say so. The first experience for me was about 20 years ago. We just did the commentary on the Criterion edition of the 20th anniversary of HOUSE OF GAMES and it hasn’t changed. It’s been consistently terrific. There’s almost nothing more exciting than the phone call which says, and he’s always been so generous about this, it’s always “We have a new project. We really want you to do this. We’ll do another movie together.” You’re just incredibly excited to hear that. REBECCA PIDGEON: I feel exactly the same way. Before we worked together, I was doing a play of his, SPEED THE PLOW, in London at the Royal National Theater there, and that’s when we met in 1989. He asked me to come do a little part in this film HOMICIDE he was making. I was very nervous because we were partners by that point. We got together very soon. We’ve been married 17 years now. I was very worried about it because the idea of working with your partner would be very awkward. I had no idea what he was like as a director. How would he be? Would there be a power struggle? He was, as Ricky said, made me feel so at ease. We didn’t have any other relationship. It was a professional relationship but easy. He appreciated me as if I was a new person that he was being on his best behavior for and he’s always like that with me and with everybody in all of the movies. He’s a greatly perceptive director. He could say very little and it would spark something within you that’s creative and would inspire you to do great work. Do you split the time between music and acting? REBECCA PIDGEON: Yes, ever since I left drama college in London, since I was 20 years old I’ve been doing both although the acting was much more highlighted but the music was always continious. What is the secret to David’s productivity? REBECCA PIDGEON: He has a great gift from God, that’s it. There’s no other explanation. It’s not hard work or he’s very observant. He has a gift from God. He’s a genius. It’s like Ricky says, if he doesn’t see David for two weeks, David would say to him at the end of those two weeks, “I’m working on a couple of TV shows. I’ve written a novel. I have a film script.” You cannot believe and you can’t keep up but it’s like a machine of brilliance. RICKY JAY: But none of the feel of a machine, it’s all so different. This film is so different from the last film which is so different from the film before. I saw NOVEMBER yesterday on Broadway which is completely different. I haven’t stopped laughing yet. It’s remarkable. The range is extraordinary. Rebecca, do you like performing live as a musician? REBECCA PIDGEON: It has made me very nervous at times because it is very different from acting. Recently I’ve been practicing more and more and more and I’ve been getting to that stage where I love it. And Ricky, do you miss performing live? RICKY JAY: I still am performing live. I’m going to start another theater run in July on a show that David is directing, which is in Los Angeles. I have to say there’s nothing better than being on stage in New York and I’ve been around the world performing on stage. Truly, I still feel better about live performance than anything but now because of David been in more than 20 films and feeling more comfortable in that world as well. It’s just different in terms of doing your own show. When you’re on stage alone for two hours a night, it’s quite a different feeling. REBECCA PIDGEON: He’s doing it with 52 assistants. His legendary show, which is an incredible, special experience, and you’re never going to see anything quite like it. What are women going to take away from this film? REBECCA PIDGEON: I think they’ll take the same thing that men will take from it, just this beautiful story of somebody who takes this journey and finds that his principles, his whole moral sense is slightly shaken and he is betrayed and he has a moral choice. In the end, he sticks to what he believes in as a story of strength against the odds. It’s a very human story and I think it’s one that men and women will probably relate to. RICKY JAY: I think among our friends, we found that it’s incredibly strong among women. I think initially they hear it’s a fight film and are reluctant to go and it turns out it is really visceral in some of the scenes. Emily’s scene with the stabbing and the betrayal with Rebecca and Alice, and it’s a very strong film for women as well. What’s next for both of you? Rebecca, are you recording a new album after the REDBELT soundtrack? REBECCA PIDGEON: This is the new album that’s just coming out so what I’m going to do is promote it and will be performing. It’s going to be with a group of great musicians that are going to be able to flow to different styles. There’s a country song on there and a few different genres as well. It’s a mixed bag. RICKY JAY: I’m not sure when I’m gonna come to New York again. I have this live show in Los Angeles and I’m also working on my own television series about con games. I’ve taped four episodes so far and David is in one of them as a guest. It just keeps coming around. Ricky, do you watch films that have the con element in them? RICKY JAY: Yeah and I have a company that consults on films about sleight of hand and cheating as well. It’s a company called Deceptive Practices. The motto of our company is “Arcane knowledge on a need to know basis.” (Laughter) Thank you both for your time and best of luck with REDBELT. RICKY JAY: My pleasure. REBECCA PIDGEON: You’re welcome. REDBELT opens in theaters on May 9th from Sony Pictures Classics. (Special thanks to Caitlin Speed at Falco Ink)
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