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The Multi-Talented John Buffalo Mailer

The Multi-Talented John Buffalo Mailer

 

 




Introduction to John Buffalo Mailer.  0:29 sec.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Recorded via ZOOM, 7/30/2020.

 

JOHN BUFFALO MAILER is an award winning screenwriter, journalist, playwright, actor, and producer. Mailer was born in Brooklyn, the youngest child of two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient Norman Mailer. His mother is author Norris Church Mailer.

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Mailer founded Back House Productions in New York City with three other Wesleyan grads in October 2000. The following year, Back House became the resident theater company of The Drama Bookshop’s Arthur Seelan Theater, and developed, among many plays, the 2008 Tony winner for Best Musical, In The Heights, with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

As an actor, Buffalo has appeared opposite Shia LaBeouf in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Paul Giamatti and Ellen Burstyn in Matthew Barney’s River Of Fundament; Alec Baldwin, Demi Moore, and Dylan McDermott in Blind; Sienna Miller in Private Life Of A Modern Woman; as well as Jennifer Gelfer’s The Second Sun and DieRy.

In 2006 he co-wrote The Big Empty with his father.

His screenwriting credits include Hello Herman, Blind, American Terrorist, and DieRy. He is currently developing three series: The Naked and The Dead in partnership with Sean Daniel’s Hivemind; MAILER, a historical bio-series about his father Norman Mailer; and Who Wrote The Bible, a dramatic narrative about the authors of the greatest selling book of all time, based on the bestselling book of the same title by Richard Elliott Friedman.

The videos below were recorded via ZOOM, are organized by topic, and run between 30 seconds and 9 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

 

SERENDIPITY: 0:19 sec.




Where did you grow up and what is your earliest memory of art of any discipline?

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:   0:50 sec.




As Norman Mailer’s son, did you feel any pressure to make a career in the arts?

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES:  0:51 sec.




You have written books, magazine articles, plays, and screenplays. Which form of writing do you most enjoy?

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:   1:58 min.




Your father made four experimental films. Did you talk about movies with your father?

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:    0:42 sec.




What is the status of “The Naked and the Dead” movie project?

 

DEVELOP A VOICE:    0:56 sec.




Since Norman’s marriage to your mother is the only one that didn’t end in divorce, I’m guessing that you had more day-to-day time with your father than any of your siblings.

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES: 2:07 min.




Where did you go to school, and what did you learn that still informs you today?

 

COMMUNITY VALUES:   1:20 min.




In 1983, your parents bought the biggest brick house on the water in Provincetown, MA, which was once owned by uranium magnate Joseph Hirshhorn (of museum fame), and eventually became the site for the Norman Mailer Writers Colony. You grew up in that house. Did it have a name?

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:  1:04 min.




Tell me about the “Mailer Review,” which is edited and published in South Florida.

 

SEIZES OPPORTUNITIES:  8:43 min.




Describe the arc of your career.

 

 




Official Trailer for Diery.  1:53 min.

 

SERENDIPITY:  0:52 sec.




It wasn’t until I watched the credits roll for your latest film, “Diery,” that I realized that the dazzlingly beautiful star is your wife, Claudia Maree Mailer.

 

CREATIVE FLEXIBILITY:  6:09 min.




Your most recent films, “Blind” and “Diery,” are so different they seem to have been written by two different people.

 

CRITICAL THINKING:  4:13 min.




What’s your process for writing dialogue?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:  1:54 min.




When I watched your character Tres in “Diery,” I laughed when I heard your southern accent, because I was reminded of the story about Norman putting on a southern accent when he met your beautiful mother in Arkansas.

 

PERSEVERANCE FURTHERS:  1:48 min.




Your brother Michael was the director of “Blind” and you were the screenwriter. Did Michael bring you onto the project or vice versa?