Friday, June 9, 2006

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Superhero movie writer to make poker movie

By Sarah Polson

With credits like Last Action Hero, Behind Enemy Lines, and X-Men: The Last Stand, Zak Penn is well known in the movie industry for his action and superhero movie writing. His latest project will take audiences in another direction as he writes and directs The Grand, a movie about poker.

The Grand will be a comedy set against a tournament called the Grand Championship of Poker in Las Vegas. Penn's plan is to direct from a screenplay outline, but to allow the actors to improvise most of their dialogue as they play real poker on their way to the championship round of a pretend international tournament.

The movie will start with eight people at the final table of the tournament and follow them back in time to show how they got there. Just as his mock documentary Incident at Loch Ness was more about people and making movies than the myth, The Grand will be less about the game of poker and more about the people in the game.

Set to begin filming next month, the cast includes actors such as Jason Alexander, Ray Liotta, Woody Harrelson, David Schwimmer, and Jeff Goldblum.

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