Fans of poker and the big screen will have something to look forward to as Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe is set to portray a psychopathic billionaire who uses a poker game to gain revenge in ‘Poker Face’. It’s a psychological thriller with sinister twists and turns along the way.
A new poker-related movie is coming soon!
The news broke on Hollywood movie news site Deadline.com. Even though details are still rather sparse about the Gary Fleder-directed movie, it will start shooting soon on the New South Wales east coast.
What we do know about the project, however, is that Crowe will play a character named Jake who has made billions from the tech industry.
He invites a group of friends to his sprawling estate in Miami for a high-stakes poker game. However, there ends up being much more at stake than mere money.
Deadline.com reveals that the plot (scripted by Stephen M. Coates) takes its first twist when we realise that all is not as friendly as it seems among the childhood buddies.
Host Jake is a “master game-player/planner” and has “concocted an elaborate scheme” revolving around the poker game to make those friends pay for past injustices.
That dastardly plan runs afoul of a “dangerous home invader” – a murderer and arsonist who soon has the group fighting for their lives.
As yet there is no word on who else will star in the movie, though Natalie Portman has been mooted as the possible female interest alongside Crowe.
Russel Crowe & Natalie Portman will star in the film
The Sunday Telegraph reports that Portman, who is currently in Sydney filming Thor: Love and Thunder alongside Crowe, is also tipped to star in the film.
Portman played a broke poker player in the 2007 movie My Blueberry Nights, apparently learning how to play a pro from watching a DVD of the World Poker Tour Ladies Night, featuring Annie Duke, Isabelle Mercier, Kathy Liebert, and Jennifer Harman.
Quite what role the cards will play in Poker Face isn’t clear yet. Although as we saw with blockbuster Hollywood movies as diverse as Molly’s Game(starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba) and the remake of Casino Royale(with Daniel Craig as 007) it can be the central focus of a movie or just an exciting plot device.
It seems that the latter will be the case here. It will be interesting to see just how good Crowe’s poker face is, and whether Lady Gaga’s 2008 hit song of the movie title name crops up.
There have been other thrillers with a poker theme, the afore-mentioned Bond movie chief among them. Another, less well-known film was the 2014 effort Poker Night (released in the UK as The Joker) starring Beau Mirchoff and Ron Perlman.
Mirchoff plays Stan Jeter, an Indiana detective who has to use the knowledge gained during a poker evening with fellow cops to outsmart a psychopathic killer who has him trapped in a basement.
As we reported last year, Willem Dafoe is the star in casino revenge thriller The Card Counter, described as ‘the World Series of Poker meets Abu Ghraib’ – and with legendary director Martin Scorsese as executive producer.
Oscar Isaac plays a poker-playing veteran. While Tye Sheridan plays a young card shark who is seeking revenge on Dafoe, a military colonel, with Tiffany Haddish as a ‘mysterious gambling financier’ who bankrolls a casino run that ends with a WSOP showdown.
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org
