This is something I've never seen before: a press release to announce an actor on the wishlist for an upcoming film. Such is the case with the announcement from Borsalino Films that they have secured the rights to casino "icon" Gary Green's autobiography, Gambling Man, and that Robert De Niro is the guy producers want to star in it. Wishful thinking?
The press release sounds like an awful lot of bluster for an adaptation of a book that has been out for awhile and and has generated very little heat.
"In the endless saga of Las Vegas films that are made and remade, “Gambling Man” is the first movie based on the first-person exploits of a genuine casino icon. The plot line will be nothing short of epic, like the book, pulling no punches as it traces the boss’s personal escapades through the history of the casino world from the last days of Meyer Lansky to Green’s adventures as a Donald Trump Vice President."
"The movie version of the nitty-gritty book is not only hotly awaited by fans, but by Hollywood in general, after a long-speculated process to get the non-fiction casino insider’s tell-all to the big screen."
Fans? What fans? Can't even find any reviews for it anywhere.
So basically this is Casino all over again, but there's little reason to think De Niro is interested as one of the film's major investors says they are eying several contenders and have yet to begin talks with anybody. Nor are there any writers or a director attached, but this one is still pretty early on.
All in all this smells of desperation more than anything else. Borsalino Films don't have much of a reputation, and the only other movie they have in development is Nazi Zombies, which they hilariously boast is "a destined-to-be-classic multi-media (film, graphic novel, and video game) Nazi Zombies with a soon-to-be-announced legendary starring cast of the horror genre."
Right.
