KEVIN SPACEY’S 21 MIGHT COME UP ACES AT WEEKEND MOVIE BOX-OFFICE
Moviegoers are expected to propel Kevin Spacey’s new 21 film into the weekend’s Top 5 box-office hits—and as a result Vegas, the Strip and many of our casino-resorts will be on screens coast-to-coast. Kevin produced the movie with co-stars Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess—and all spent six-weeks filming scenes here while headquartered at the Planet Hollywood Resort at center Strip.
Many of the scenes were shot in owner Robert Earl’s casino and he threw them their world premiere party.
Kevin told me that he’d originally acquired the movie rights to the MIT students Breaking the Bank book back in 2002 and it took five-long years of love and labor to finally bring it to the screen. It tells the story of a group of MIT students in real life led by Jeff Ma who in just one of their many Vegas weekend visits actually won $900,000! Jeff has a cameo role as a blackjack dealer in the film!
Spacey thanked Planet Hollywood and its chairman, Robert Earl for helping make the Vegas filming possible. The hotel honcho created a new Club 21—built just for the one night premiere—the ballrooms of the hotel. Over a mock blackjack table there Kevin said “None of us had time to play blackjack while we were filming.
I failed basic math, so I could never count cards like these guys featured in the film. But I will tell you, I once—and once only—turned $500 into a $35,000 win! Blackjack is my game!” I asked him why he was so passionate about the film, “It’s a mind movie—no shoot-outs, no really bad language, no car chases. Its’ all up here in the brain and it’s the workings of the mind tied to gambling and believing you can break the bank in Vegas that got me to the point where I just had to make it.”
Co-star, glamorous actress, Kate Bosworth said: Being an actor is as risky as playing blackjack. Here one day and gone the next. Math was also my worst subject in school so it was ironic to play this part of an expert counter. We had a sort of blackjack boot camp going on before
the filming started so we’d all get it. We spent all night out gambling and bonding. My uncle taught me how to play it when I was growing up so blackjack is my game. I tried to play it safe but at times I just had to do all or nothing. There were times when I was going down and down and down but when you come to Vegas you know you’ll win some and lose some.”
Actor Laurence Fishburne, who plays the casino security chief in 21 who captures the card-counters and puts an end to their money making says: “I don’t gamble. I don’t do any of that life is quite risky enough as it is.”