‘2 Days/1963’: David Mamet To Direct A Film About A Mobster Who Supposedly Killed JFK

It’s been nearly 15 years since David Mamet directed a feature film, with “Redbelt” arriving in 2008. But the writer, director, playwright, and multi-hyphenate isn’t done with filmmaking yet and has just announced what his next feature will be. It appears Mamet is ready to tackle a major conspiracy theory in the new film, “2 Days/1963.”

According to Deadline, David Mamet is set to direct a new film, titled “2 Days/1963.” However, the filmmaker isn’t the only writer for the feature. You see, the script for the film is written by Nicholas Celozzi. Why is that important to note? Well, “2 Days/1963” is a film about how a Chicago mobster Sam Giancana arranged for President John F. Kennedy to be assassinated after the politician made it his goal to take down organized crime. And writer Celozzi is actually the great-nephew of Giancana. That said, Mamet is said to be rewriting Celozzi’s script, as you might expect from the two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter. 

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“I wrote a really good script based on the Zapruder film about 10 years ago, Cate Blanchett was going to do it and we were all ready to start shooting it and then the money guy pulled out,” Mamet explained. “There was a wonderful physicist named Richard Fynman who said the great discoveries in science aren’t when someone says, ‘Eureka I have found it,’ but when the scientist says, ‘Hey, that’s funny.’ I was inspired to get into the Zapruder film for the idea that several of the frames were missing, which they are. One of the frames had actually been altered. Why has the film been altered, that’s funny. When you look at the secret panel on assassinations, their secret findings were held and were supposed to be released last year. But they said, we’re holding some of them back. I said to myself, that’s funny. What does it mean, I don’t know, but it means something.”

He continued, “Nick wrote and sent me this script, and it’s a helluva script. Really inside stuff, similar to what Francis Coppola did with Mario Puzo in ‘The Godfather.’ That’s the great American film, but it’s got very little to do with the book. What’s ‘The Godfather’ really about? Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo sitting around a kitchen table and telling the stories they overheard of their grandparents. That’s why we love that movie, it reeks of being inside, of family and cultural myths presented like gossip. It’s the stuff Nick heard around the kitchen table from the people who knew. It’s incredibly yummy. It made me say, I would love to make this movie, and here we are.”

Mamet, of course, is probably best known as the playwright for “Glengarry Glen Ross,” as well as the screenwriter for the eventual film adaptation. He also has penned films such as “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” “Wag the Dog,” and “Hannibal,” among many, many more. He was nominated for Oscars for his screenplays for films, “The Verdict” and the aforementioned “Wag the Dog.” 

A release date and distributor are still unknown at this time. However, production is expected to begin by the end of the 2022.