"Lucky You" can't wait for this one.
Hopefully it will redeem poker movies like Shade.
Summary: A professional poker player (Eric Bana) gets a lesson in life from a struggling singer (Drew Barrymore) as he collides with his estranged father (Robert Duvall) at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. What is sure to get players excited is the cast. Who cares about Duval or Bana...this film has appearances by none other than names like Brunson, Negreanu, Farha, Lester and more. It's due for release later this year.
Summary: A professional poker player (Eric Bana) gets a lesson in life from a struggling singer (Drew Barrymore) as he collides with his estranged father (Robert Duvall) at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. What is sure to get players excited is the cast. Who cares about Duval or Bana...this film has appearances by none other than names like Brunson, Negreanu, Farha, Lester and more. It's due for release later this year.
Comments
I didn't mean to give shade a hard time. It's a pefectly good movie........FOR ME TO POOP ON!
BEVERLY HILLS, California - Hollywood veteran Robert Duvall hasn't changed his opinion of Canadian actors. He still figures the good ones are in short supply.
He also says there's a lot of hostility in Canada toward Americans.
The 72-year-old Oscar winner made his comments a few days before the release of his new western, Open Range, which was filmed in Southern Alberta. He also reiterated his dislike of filming in Canada.
"I would rather work in my own country," he told CanWest News Service. He also made it clear that he was not backing off his controversial assertion in Washington six months ago that he prefers filming in the U.S. because "there are better actors" south of the border. In a series of rambling and sometimes contradictory comments, Mr. Duvall suggested the reason Hollywood has to import so many American actors for its Canadian-based productions is the lack of capable actors in Canada.
He cited the film, John Q, which he and Denzel Washington shot in Toronto a couple of years ago. "It wasn't my calling but the producer brought all the actors up from the United States because he couldn't find actors (in Canada)."
Mr. Duvall hedged when asked whether he was accurately quoted six months ago as saying he didn't think Canadians make good actors.
"Let me put it this way," he replied. "They're there, but I didn't find them." Then he amended these comments. "I don't know if I said that, but if there are good actors, I didn't see a lot of them up there." A few minutes after that, he conceded that there were "some very good actors" among the Canadian cast members in Open Range. "The guy that played the candy store owner was very good." But then he wondered why Canadian actors needed to be used at all, and blamed Canadian film regulations. "Why not take American actors up there? There's a thing that you have to use the (Canadian) actors up there."
At one point, Mr. Duvall went off on a tangent about the plight of Canada's natives. "I knew an Indian actor years ago who claimed there was a lot of persecution from the Canadian government -- an excellent actor, but he didn't get a chance." He then hinted that maybe Canada's best actors end up in the U.S. "So there are a lot of good actors up there but I think that because a lot of them come down here, maybe your film community is not as valid as ... Australia's which is so far away they have to find their own identity rather than be an extension of us."
Mr. Duvall has another new movie, Secondhand Lions, opening Sept. 19, and he joined forces with the director to squash any attempt to shoot it in Canada. In this film, he and Michael Caine play a couple of old Texas codgers who teach the lessons of life to their unhappy grandnephew. Mr. Duvall considers the reason for opposing a Canadian shoot to be self-evident: "Because it's about Texas. It's not about Canada."
Mr. Duvall also took a shot at Canadian customs officials and Canadian gun laws.
"To tell you the truth, I find a lot of animosity up there towards Americans. ... You go through customs, they go through your bags, and I don't think they like Americans in Toronto. In Calgary they do."
One of the reasons Mr. Duvall likes Alberta is that it's "a lot like Texas. "I'll go on record as saying I really liked it up there -- the people, the world-class guys on the crew." He also says the foothills of the Rockies might even be "prettier" than the Andes. "Emerald Lake may be the prettiest place I've been to in my life." He likes the cowboys, too. "There are good cowboys in Western Canada. They gave me a good horse." But he admits he got bucked off one animal when he was trying it out for the movie and was "wracked up for a few weeks."
However, he also suggested that all is not completely idyllic in Alberta. "I know a guy right now who moved from Calgary to Texas because if a guy breaks into your house in Canada and you shoot him, they put you in jail. So he moved to Texas."
And the anti-Americanism still gets to him. "Politically or whatever, they don't like a lot of Americans."
My 4 year old son can no longer watch Kicking and Screaming!