Levy Goes To 21
Shawn in talks to direct Spacey's Vegas movie
Empireonline.com
Shawn Levy, director of such internationally-acclaimed films as Cheaper By The Dozen, Just Married and the upcoming The Pink Panther, is currently in talks to direct the much-delayed casino caper formerly known as "Breaking Vegas" but now known as 21. Brett Ratner was previously due to direct, but jumped ship for the little matter of X3.
It's now been almost three years since we first reported on the project, here. That was the point when Kevin Spacey first signed on to the project, when his production company, Trigger Street, bought the rights. Spacey himself planned to play one of the lead roles, the professor of a group of MIT students who became experts in card counting, and headed to Vegas to win millions from the casinos.
Ratner joined in 2004, (see here, but when he accepted the job on X3 had to drop out, once again leaving the project in limbo. But no film with such a strong premise - maths geeks make millions on blackjack - could possibly stay in limbo for long.
Based on the non-fiction bestseller "Bringing Down The House" by Ben Mezrich, the title was changed to Breaking Vegas to avoid confusion with the Steve Martin / Queen Latifah film Bringing Down The House (which Levy didn't direct, making it about the only recent Steve Martin film that he wasn't involved in). Why the title has been changed again, we're not sure, but as long as no-one confuses it with a legendary New York restaurant, hopefully this one will stick.
Be Cool screenwriter Peter Steinfeld wrote the script, so let's hope for lots of cool Vegas stylings. There's no other casting announcements as yet, but we'll keep you up to date as the film moves forward.
xxx
Shawn in talks to direct Spacey's Vegas movie
Empireonline.com
Shawn Levy, director of such internationally-acclaimed films as Cheaper By The Dozen, Just Married and the upcoming The Pink Panther, is currently in talks to direct the much-delayed casino caper formerly known as "Breaking Vegas" but now known as 21. Brett Ratner was previously due to direct, but jumped ship for the little matter of X3.
It's now been almost three years since we first reported on the project, here. That was the point when Kevin Spacey first signed on to the project, when his production company, Trigger Street, bought the rights. Spacey himself planned to play one of the lead roles, the professor of a group of MIT students who became experts in card counting, and headed to Vegas to win millions from the casinos.
Ratner joined in 2004, (see here, but when he accepted the job on X3 had to drop out, once again leaving the project in limbo. But no film with such a strong premise - maths geeks make millions on blackjack - could possibly stay in limbo for long.
Based on the non-fiction bestseller "Bringing Down The House" by Ben Mezrich, the title was changed to Breaking Vegas to avoid confusion with the Steve Martin / Queen Latifah film Bringing Down The House (which Levy didn't direct, making it about the only recent Steve Martin film that he wasn't involved in). Why the title has been changed again, we're not sure, but as long as no-one confuses it with a legendary New York restaurant, hopefully this one will stick.
Be Cool screenwriter Peter Steinfeld wrote the script, so let's hope for lots of cool Vegas stylings. There's no other casting announcements as yet, but we'll keep you up to date as the film moves forward.
xxx