David Mamet is one of America's greatest living writers, best known for his explosive contemporary plays such as Sexual Perversity in Chicago, American Buffalo, Oleanna and Glengarry Glen Ross. His film screenplay credits include The Untouchables and The Verdict, and he has also written and directed the films House of Games and Homicide. Mamet - who has recently completed his second novel, three new screenplays and a book of essays on acting talks to Jeremy Isaacs about what it is like to be Jewish in America, his childhood in fifties Chicago, and his fondness for hunting deer.