"The Gambler" Remake?

[Mben]

Let's go from the absurd ( Runner, Runner ) to what could turn out to be the sublime. Mark Wahlberg is looking to reprise the role of Axel Freed as a New York City English professor with a gambling addiction that begins to spiral out of control.

The Gambler is a Hollywood classic and certainly more authentic than sayRunner, Runner, a fictional tale of a fictional offshore gambling industry that simply doesn't exist.

The original version was made by Karel Reisz in 1974 and starred the legendary James Caan.Martin Scorsese and Todd Phillips have considered remaking The Gambler but this honor will go to Rupert Wyatt, who directed Wahlberg in Rise of the Planet of the Apes .

This project is still in the discussion stage.

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[Mben]

Inside Llewyn Davis star John Goodman has joined the cast of The Gambler remake. He will star along side the likes of Mark Wahlberg and Jessica Lange. James Caan was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance in the 1974 original.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia regarding the plot:Axel Freed is a New York City English professor with a gambling addiction that begins to spiral out of control. In the classroom, Freed inspires his college students with his interpretations of Dostoevsky's work. In his personal life, Axel has the affection of the beautiful Billie and the admiration of his family, including his mother Naomi, who is a doctor, and his grandfather, a wealthy businessman.

Unbeknownst to them, Axel's reckless gambling has left him with a huge debt. His bookie Hips likes the professor personally but threatens grave consequences if he doesn't pay up. When Billie, having been informed by Axel that he owes $44,000, questions the wisdom of her associating with him, Axel confidently tells her she loves his life's dangers, including the possibility of blood. Wahlberg takes on the lead role, with Lange playing his mother and Goodman starring as a loan shark, to whom Wahlberg finds himself indebted.

The film is slated to be released next year.

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I still haven't seen Runner, Runner and will probably watch The Gambler remake before I do.

 

[Mben]

“The Gambler” is coming and Mark Wahlberg has begun to push the film, due out December 19, that some say may result in an Oscar nomination.

Wahlberg lost 60 pounds for the role.

"I felt miserable, like my character,” he said before a group of reporters this week. “Not a happy camper. I love food. I like exercising, but I like exercising when I'm eating properly, and having to exercise twice as hard as I've ever done without eating was pretty much a nightmare. But, you know, that's what Rupert and those guys wanted to do, and they had a specific look in mind . . . I was like, fine."

So is Wahlberg himself a gambler?

Not exactly.

"I'm not really interested in gambling. I like the fact that this character just uses that as a specific tool to strip himself of all his material stuff in his life and try to get back to nothing and see if he can start over. But I'm not big into gambling. My dad was a gambler and not very good at it — although he won $1,500 and put a down payment on a house that we lived in and owned for a short time. But I only gamble when I know I can win: when I'm playing basketball with friends. Or golf."

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