UPDATE: A trailer has been released via 1993 Productions.
EARLIER: Back in January, I reported that David Mamet had recently wrapped production on his next film, titled “Henry Johnson,” starring Shia LaBeouf, and that it was shot in just five days. The plan was to release it sometime this year. This would make it Mamet’s first directorial effort in over 17 years.
We now have Variety confirming a spring release for “Henry Johnson.” The film will be released independently, in a single L.A. theater, in partnership with production company 1993. Starting on May 9, it will also be made available to rent directly via the film’s website.
Mamet said in a statement …
If you only see one film this year… you should get out more.
“Henry Johnson” is based on Mamet’s play, which had 2023 off-Broadway showings at Venice’s Electric Lodge in NYC. Laboeuf plays the cellmate of the show’s titular character, a lawyer who is behind bars for his illegal activities. It’s being described as a “tense prison drama” about a “convict hoping for redemption.”
Coming off his wild performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” LaBeouf has Bjorn Franklin’s “Salvable” in post-production, and recently dropped out of Eugene Kotlyarenko’s next film, just days before production was set to begin. LaBeouf’s exit was, in his own words, “on account of the unprofessional and unprepared nature of the production.”
So, why has Mamet not directed a film in over 15 years? Well, for one, he outed himself as a Republican 13 years ago. His famous, or infamous, reasoning included this line:
To continue advancing their illogical arguments, modern liberals have to pretend not to know things.
Mamet then told The Guardian in 2022 that “Trump did a good job” as president, and that he didn’t disagree that the 2020 election was fraudulent. During a recent podcast appearance, Mamet blasted “brain-dead” Hollywood executives that he has met and noted that he does not work in the studio system anymore, “because ‘A,’ they don’t want me, and ‘B,’ I don’t want them.”
Mamet’s last film was 2008’s underrated “Redbelt.” His indelibly stylish dialogue can be seen and heard in many great films, including “The Verdict,” “The Untouchables,” “Glengary Glen Ross,” “House of Games,” and “Wag the Dog.”