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The Grand - The Players Mockumentary
The Grand – The Amatuers, The Pros and the Unstable
The Grand Film Poster - No Australian Release date Available
Over the last decade the world of professional high stakes poker has been able to beam into our living rooms via cable TV. Ludicrously frivolous yet undeniably rivetting, the players have showmanship. They swaggers, sprout life philosophies and sometimes crumble under the high pressure, competitive strain. These are men that choose to live the life of the gambler.
Placing absurd amounts of wompa on the table then letting 5 cards decide whether they will ever see it again. While most of us work within the system these bold followers of a religion called “Chance” manage to rise and fall within a completely self sustaining dimension.
Zak Penn
Ripe for parody, along comes The Grand, a mockumentary written and Directed by Zak Penn. Penn has a shaky history ranging from being the writer of Last Action Hero, Fantastic 4 and Electra to X Men 2&3 PCU and Directing Incident at Loch Ness. You may ask, “why would this project tweek JD’s interest” and his answer would be “the wall to wall acting prowess of the demands to be “natural” cast.”
Along with the on screen talent there is also the small matter of the trailer. Ego dealing at best it will be a melding of Christopher Guest and Robert Altman, at worst a satire that plays its hand and gets a few chuckles.
Woody Harrelson in The Grand game
The cohorts of this sometimes improvised comedy promise few dull moments when placed inside a real life tournament: Straight up its great seeing Woody Harrelson (People Versus larry Flynt) about in No Country For Old Men and now in The Grand. Director Werner Herzog (Fitzgarldo) looks like he brings his own unique brand of quirk. George’s Mother in Seinfeld Estelle Harris and Dennis Farina (Crime Story) show up. Mr Show David Cross (Tobias in Arrested Development) also brings his own charms. JD is excited to note Mr Kotter himself Gabe Kaplan will make a rare screen appearance.
Amongst others there’s also Richard Kind (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Michael McKean (Spinal Tap).
Johnny see this as easy money, possibly a cult Royal flush. The naturalistic format is ideal for capturing this "Best In Show" world and those pork chops on Woody tell him theirs some heavy characterizations to entertain. Players, Draw em.
Watch The Grand Trailer
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The Buzz from my U.S buddies that saw it have been positive. It's been doing quite well on the Festival circuit too.
Not enough to guarantee success, but i really got a kick out of the trailer and hope it lives up to the promise. Only time will tell, but it's the first time in a while a trailer had me laughing out loud.
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Hi there Mr Doe,
Your blog is so fantastic that I can even forgive you for that nasty business in SE7EN!. I really can't wait to see Before the Devil Knows Your Dead. I agree with you on the great oscars films this year - which did you prefer No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood?
When you have a spare moment please take a look at my blogs
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They are the quickest ways of finding the best stuff on YouTube.
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Glad you enjoy the site and thanks for the kudos...
I'm a Lumet fan too and hope that "Before the Devil Knows Your Dead" is better than most of his recent works.
As for the No Country versus Blood debate, tough call that I'm not willing to make at the moment...maybe once Ive watched them a few more times a clear winner will emerge...for now how about I say No Country best picture/Blood best director.
Will cruise by your site later and check it out.
Look forward to reading more of your comments.