More Vegas films

More Vegas films are in the cards

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It’s in the cards

Like TV’s “CSI” and “Las Vegas,” Hollywood is betting on a winning streak in Sin City. After “Smokin’ Aces” comes …

•“Lucky You” (March 16). Eric Bana plays a troubled professional poker player who learns a thing or two from a struggling singer (Drew Barrymore). Real Vegas poker stars populate the film’s big tournament. Curtis Hanson (“L.A. Confidential”) directs.

•“Ocean’s Thirteen” (June 8). Director Steven Soderbergh brings George Clooney and the gang back to Las Vegas for one last heist. Former enemy Terry Benedict (“Smokin’ Aces’ ” Andy Garcia) asks for help bringing down a tough guy casino owner, played by tough guy Al Pacino.

•“21” (in production). It’s based on the book Bringing Down the House , the true story of MIT students who learned how to count cards and make millions playing blackjack in Vegas. Columbus Short (“Stomp the Yard”) says he’s in negotiations to star with Kevin Spacey. Robert Luketic (“Legally Blonde”) is directing.

Has anyone heard any word on when "21" is supposed to come out? I've been waiting a long time for that movie to appear.

me too

Me too! It should be one great movie especially for us serious player types.
If they can do justice to the book the movie should be fantastic. I heard that starting this month (February) they're supposed to be doing some kind of "outdoor shots" of M.I.T. and The Strip.

Anyone know when they expect the movie will be released?

I would love to just be an extra in that movie. I think it would be awesome if they had some original people as backgroud characters, like they've done in other movies. It would add so much to the movie.

If only you were a dealer...

(Dead link: http://www.advantageplayer.com/blackjack/forums/bj-main/webbbs.cgi?read=22118)

-Sonny-

thats cool
150 extras per day? nice

sounds like a good time to me

As Always your the man Sonny!

Towards the bottom they said they need 150 extras for misc. roles. I submitted my photo and said I'd volunteer (no pay).

We'll see how it goes. How awesome would that be!!!

what would be WAY COOL!

o.k.,scene: Semyon Dukach in side the Mirage Casino playing the part of a blackjack dealer with Johnny Chang as the pit critter!
WHOA!

That would be a sweet scene rogue. Only thing is, some of them may not have yet been exposed to casinos, I don't know how willing they would be to have their face shown in front of thousands, many of which may be small indian casino owners who have not yet seen them.

We've had this discussion before but I still think this movie "21" is bad news for us counters. There is going to be a flood of new counters because of this movie and while most of them will fail, I'm concerned the casinos will get extra paranoid if this movie hits it big. Pen will suck even worse and there will probably be more lousy rules put in place like H17 or more 6:5 blackjack coming out!

You know that's a very good point ST. I never really thought about that. The casinos are paranoid as it is, even with the red chippers they've been giving heat lately (in Reno anyway). If your thought does in fact come true, the strict rules will more likely be applied to the lower limit games, as that is where most of the newbs will head when the first start trying to count.

Nonetheless, I still want to see the movie!!!

a huge percent will come to this site for info.
we should be ready for them

You’re absolutely right. The casinos will tighten up after the movie comes out, but I think things will quickly return to normal (if not better). What’s the best thing that could possibly happen to the game of blackjack? The casinos could be flooded with ignorant ploppies so that their BJ profits skyrocket despite us APs collecting our share. Once the casinos realize how many wannabes are boosing their hold they will begin to loosen up. They might even restore some of the good S17 LS games. More importantly, although unlikely, if the movie shows how terrible rules like 6:5 are then even the ploppies will avoid those games!

Hallelujah this could be a rebirth! :grin: Although, having seen the kind of BJ programs coming out of Hollywood, I doubt it.

In the meantime, I’ll have to keep working on my own BJ movie. It’s going to star Zengrifter as the career gambler who hit a rough patch but takes a troubled (handsome!) young prodigy (Sonny) under his wing. There will be guest appearances by iHate17 as the shrewd casino manager, his niece as the savvy dealer, ScottH and SuperCoolManCool as the small-time scam artist who join the team (have they finally gone legit or is this their biggest scam?), Auto Monkey as the brilliant but eccentric bookstore owner who lets them practice in the back of his warehouse, Brutus as the strip club owner who finances the team (and knows where to find the sexy ladies!), and Sam Waterston (I just like him).

-Sonny-

On one hand, the casinos might tighten the rules.

On the other hand, a bunch of inept counters will probably distract casino heat from those who have any sort of act whatsoever.

It also gives us a new movie to quote when feigning ignorance of counting, in addition to Rain Man.

Who is going to play you Sonny? Pitt, DiCaprio or McConaughey?

Hilarious Sonny!!! You should have one of those pre-show cartoons like they have in Toy-Story where a bunch of new counters run out to play before taking the time to actually learn, and make casinos a bunch of money. Maybe that will convince the casinos to have better rules to attract all those first time counters :laugh:

Oh please, this type of role requires a real actor! Unquestionably the role would have to go to someone Oscar-worthy. And the winner is...Flavor Falv! :laugh:

I must say I'm not too excited about this movie coming out. First off I'm not a big fan of Ben Mezrich to begin with. He wrote a couple of interesting books on blackjack but took way to many liberties with them. Especially with BDTH. That whole story is told from the eyes of that rat Kevin Lewis. So much is untrue about the characters including Kevin Lewis' character. He makes Mike Aponte look like the villain of the team when nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth is Kevin Lewis got sloppy and lazy, and fell in love with the comps and started playing a pretty poor game. Unfortunately Mike who was managing the team at the time had to fire him, which was really hard because they were good friends. Kevin was a baby about it and got that weasel Mezrich to write a bullshit story depicting himself as a great player who gets victimized by his ruthless teamates. None of the other characters in the book ever got a penny for it, nor did they really get consulted with. As for the movie, again no money is going to any of the key members of the team for the use of their likeness. As for Mezrich knowing how to play blackjack at all, thats nonsense. He barely knows basic strategy let alone how to count. It makes me sick to hear him talk how he now has been banned from casinos, or how he is an expert on blackjack, which I have heard him say numerous times. Its a shame That Mike is too much of a gentleman to set the records straight, I on the other hand am not as politically correct on the matter.

Secondly depending on the success of the movie, I believe the casinos could get more paranoid than they already are and incorporate more of the poor rules and penetration to protect themselves from the masses of wannabees pouring in. And if the casinos start making more money due to a bigger house advantage and bad counters, I doubt they're going to back down from their strategy until they start losing money,and that could take a long time. Money is the bottom line for the casino, if they're making it because they can finally incorporate all the garbage rules do to the new found interest in the game of blackjack from the movie, than thats just how its going to stay for a while until things level off. My bottom line is Mezrich is a phony, Kevin Lewis is a liar, and I'm sorry but I just had to vent a little about it.

Just curious Bo, how do you know all this info? Do you know any of the original members? That's pretty inside stuff... very interesting.

Haha, I completely missed this post until you just linked to it from another thread. I made the cut! Yay!