Spacey’s Bet on “21” returns box office gold

By Alexa Jago

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/29/08 — Kevin Spacey placed a bet that seemed way out if his reach. And he broke the bank. With his wide scope of film roles and a current artistic directorship of one of London’s most famous theatres, The Old Vic, he bet on “21`”and it came up $23.5 million on its opening weekend. Someone who is not afraid of a challenge, who is known for his off centre and definitive characters in “Seven” and “The Usual Suspects” brings us his newest film which Spacey also produces.

Spacey optioned the non fiction novel “Bringing down the House” and took it from the page to the screen, no mean feat even if you are Kevin Spacey. “21” tells a story going to Las Vegas and winning. A dream dreamt by many but achieved by few.

“The high for Dana (Brunetti – producer) and I was” says Spacey “We had been hearing about this story from sources and friends we had in Boston, it was a known secret, but we couldn’t get anybody to get on record or anybody who was involved in it. In fact we even wrote a treatment about it about a decade ago but it ended up going in the drawer. Then five or so years ago Dana was walking down the street in NY and on the newsstand was a wired magazine and on the cover was the true story of the MIT students who went to Vegas and he went “Fuck!” He grabbed this thing and called me immediately. He hadn’t even read the article. He called me and said he thought he had found a source for the story and I said well track down the writer so he went about doing that. Ultimately he discovered this kid called Ben Mezrich. We had no idea that it was a book and that it was coming out about a month later. He googled him and left a message on his machine. Ben thought it was someone playing a joke, so he googled Dana and found out that he actually did work for Trigger Street Productions and the next day Ben was on a plane to Los Angeles. That was the first thrilling moment for us. We had not only found tangible evidence that this story was true but also had found someone that had spent all this time researching it and written a book on which this film could be based.

We made a deal with Ben, we then almost immediately sold it to MGM and then almost immediately MGM got sold itself. We then went into an exceedingly frustrating four and a half year waiting period while they got sold and Sony bought them. Sony pulled two movies out of their roster one was James Bond and the other was us so we were very happy that we got picked. So being here last night and seeing it up on screen and it looking as good as it is and being as happy as I am about it myself was a huge moment for me.”

“21” is inspired by a true story about six very bright MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) students who did what most Vegas players only dream of. Clever enough to outplay the casinos by counting cards, they played “21” and took millions. “21” stars British actor Jim Sturgess whose character is financially strapped and Kate Bosworth who plays an equally bright student. Organized and paid for by their maverick math professor, Kevin Spacey, they push the casinos to their limits – challenged only by the casinos on line of defense, Laurence Fishburne.

Kevin Spacey is an actor’s actor. He relishes the entire process from finding a story, developing it, casting, acting and following it to its end result. This story of blackjack especially appealed to him. “I’ve always enjoyed this game. It is my favorite game of any gambling game. I’ve had unbelievable winning streaks and then I’ve had nights when I’ve been incredibly depressed when I’ve lost $300. When I was here shooting in Vegas, I don’t think I gambled once the entire time – maybe one night – but I found that when you are here and you are trying to do a movie and have all the responsibilities you have as a producer I just couldn’t be here and play the Vegas game that you would normally do. If you come here for a few days that’s one thing but we were here for over a month.”

In “21” Spacey works for the third time with Kate Bosworth “All I can say” says Spacey “is that one of the things that I find not a happy circumstances is that I can work with people that I really enjoy and then I never work with them again. There are countless actors that I would love to work with again. It’s partly happenstance that it worked out this way, working with Kate again – I mean I didn’t cast Kate in “Superman” Bryan Singer did (who also directed Spacey in “Usual Suspects”). But he asked me what she was like and he was very pleased to hear I had nothing but a happy experience with her on “Beyond the Sea” and then this one came up and we were very happy that she said yes. I am just very happy to work with someone I enjoy.”

“21” is directed by Robert Luketik who famously matched Jane Fonda with Jennifer Lopez in “Monster in Law”. Not to mention his hugely successful “Legally Blonde” which secured Reese Witherspoon a place in most young girl’s hearts?

“21” was shot with multiple versions of certain scenes something Spacey says he has done before. “Sometimes if you are just not sure, I’ve done this in a number of movies, you shoot alternative of scenes and then you’ll look at them. We don’t say we had these other two ideas but we didn’t spend the time to shoot them so now we have to go back and re-shoot. We just did a potential re-shoot while we were there so that we had the material if in fact we decided that it’s better or more interesting if this happens or it’s better or more interesting that that happens. But I think we made the right decisions in the end.”

Unlike the respect for the written word in the classical work that Spacey has done – he also respects the ability to create as you go along. “We’re theatre rats man. We know what it’s like to develop something, to try something to change it, particularly if you are working on new material. If the playwright is deceased and you are doing a work of the playwright you respect it. Even though you may feel that, and I have always said this, that even great plays have flaws but they have to live with their flaws in order to be what they are.”

The Old Vic Theatre in London which was home to Sir Laurence Olivier as it’s star in 1944 is now the home of Kevin Spacey as artistic director. He tries to give back to the London community by working with children. “When I was ten all the way up to nineteen the opportunities that I was given as a young actor in drama class, in junior high and high school to participate in workshops, seminars, Q & A’s, festivals and Shakespeare were great. Whether or not a child wants to go into the arts or not, using theatre and the art of theatre as an educational tool is an extraordinary thing for kids because it’s not about whether someone wants to become an actor it’s about what those kind of things can do for someone’s self confidence and sense of collaboration and their own self worth. A lot of the work we do now at The Old Vic has been born out of my experiences because I see these kids that stand up on our stage and it’s this remarkable thing when you suddenly see them realize they feel they can do something good, like they’re actually good at something. When they start to find that and feel that, it’s an experience they will never forget for the rest of their lives and no matter what business they go into being able to stand up and have confidence in who you are and be able to express yourself is so important. It’s not about whether you want to be an actor it’s about who you are and how you confront the world in whatever business you go in. I know that those experiences for me as a kid changed my life and were the first steps towards finding a sense of confidence. I believe that acting at a young age is something that these kids will never forget.”

From Hollywood’s razzamatazz to London’s theatre world, both in front of and behind the camera, Kevin Spacey looks as if he’s having a ball.

Self Proclaimed Anglophile, Theatre Rat Spacey Turns Back to Hollywood