By Fred Topel | Images property of Columbia Pictures
21 was a passion project for Kevin Spacey. His Trigger Street productions fought for the material, so it was not just an acting vehicle. He plays the teacher who develops a blackjack system that corrupts his students with its success.
Kevin Spacey Gambles on 21
"We had been hearing this story from sources and friends we had in Boston," said Spacey. "It was like this known secret but we couldn't get anybody to go on the record. We couldn’t find anybody who was involved in it. In fact, we even wrote a treatment out at one point about a decade ago and it ended up going in a drawer."
A Wired magazine story gave Spacey's producer the in to base 21 on actual facts. Ultimately they had Ben Mezrich's book. "That was the first thrilling moment where we suddenly had a tangible, not only evidence that this story was true, but somebody would spend all the time researching it and there was a book on which this could be based. So we made a deal with Ben. We then almost immediately sold it to MGM and then almost immediately MGM got sold itself. So we went into what I would call an exceedingly frustrating four and a half year waiting period while they got sold and then Sony bought them."
The waiting period seemed like a gamble on whether or not some happy event would push 21 into production. "Then there was a period of time before Sony made the decision that they were going to pull two movies out of their potential movies coming up out of their roster. One of them was James Bond and the other was us, so we were very happy that we got picked up. So for us, being here last night and seeing the movie up on a screen and looking as good as it is and my feeling as happy as I am with the results of it was a huge, huge moment for me."
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Aside from the true story, Spacey related to the passion for cards as well. "I always enjoyed this game [blackjack]. It's my favorite game of any gambling game. I've had, like you, experiences where you just have an unbelievable streak. And then I've had nights where I've been incredibly depressed because I lost $300. It's the gamut. While I was here, I didn't really gamble. I don't think I gambled once the entire time I was here. Maybe one night, but I found that when you're here and you're trying to do a movie and all the other responsibilities I had as producer, I just couldn't be here and play the Vegas game you would normally play. If you come here for two or three days, that's one thing but we were about a month and some weeks and that's a little bit too long to get into that lifestyle."
21 opens to theaters March 28th.
For the trailer, poster and more info on the film, go to the 21 Movie Page.
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