I Smell a New Pool Movie Coming
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
More details please.Spade said:
Spade said:
I wasn't going to mention 'Turn The River' in this thread but since you brought it up I'll add some info.
My name is John Juback. Most players at the Amsterdam Billiard Club know me as JJ. I played pool all my life and grew up playing at the Clifton Billiard Lounge mainly when it was owned by Ray Martin. I stopped playing steady for many years. Working for Julians Billiards in NYC and then at ABC as league director and Mgr. started me playing again.
I am an actor by trade. Last year I got cast in a great part and also hired to be the pool advisor in the film you are talking about . Its called 'Turn The River'. Its directed by an amazing new director Chris Eigeman and Famke Jannsen (from X-Men) is the lead. She is a brillant actress, a real class act and shoots every one of her shots in the movie herself with no cutaways.
I agreed big time when the director asked me if his idea to use Tony was a good one. As an additional bit of trivia, Jude Rosenstock who posts here frequently and plays out of ABC was also cast after a great audition meeting with the director. Due to last minute script rewrites (very common in film making) his part was shortened and the director played the part instead.
The movie is not really about pool although pool is a very important part of it. Famke plays a divorced blue collar type woman who likes to gamble. She plays poker and pool really well. She learns her son is being beat-up by her ex-husband and tries to win money to get whats needed to get her and the kid out of the country.
Tony has a nice small role and he is wonderful. One of the surprises is that Famke and I play One Pocket as well as 9 ball in the film.
The film is completely done and I've heard very good reports. I haven't seen it yet but I'm guessing there will be a screening for the actors soon. There is no release date yet but from what I know they are persueing the best distributors to ensure the best release possible.
As things develope I'll keep you all posted.
Definately not a typo. I remember her saying that she went to a SL 4 once and was getting beat but now she went back down to a SL 3 and is crushing people.Johnnyt said:
So, yeah, she is definately an SL 3.
Im not knocking her by any means really. A SL 3 can play basic english and string together a few balls in a run. Its something to be proud of if you are coming from a ball banging status prior.
All I am saying is that for a higher skill leveled player its probably not gonna be as good of a read. It will probably be great for SL 2s and 1s out there.
Icon of Sin said:
I mean, I haven't read this book so I have no idea what it's about but based on the premise, the APA subculture is an entirely seperate entity. It really doesn't matter what the skill level is. The overwhelming majority of players in the APA are NOT considering a professional career in pool or even competing against pros one day.
I mean, I doubt this book is going to be as good as Playing Off The Rail (which I can't help but read every 3 years) but I would imagine it would be awesome for pool. I remember when I first started playing, I LOVED walking the streets of New York City with my cue on my back, feeling like a hustler. It's a day-dream that makes us feel different than the person sitting in the other cubicle.
I read that review on Amazon, correct me if I’m wrong but this is a book about an 8 ball league? They can’t be serious?!?!?!?!?!?!? This will make the Shooting Gallery look like the Hustler! For sh*its sake how exiting can a movie about an 8 ball league be??
Not that I don’t think a new pool movie would be great, but I think we can do better. If a movie about pool is going to make it big, it would have to be about the action, big bets, big time money, and all the other seedy poolroom stuff that makes pool appealing to the masses. If TCOM was about Tom in his Tuesday night 8 ball league, paying $10 a night to try to go to Vegas 3 months from now does anyone think that it would have been a success?
Just my two cents
Not that I don’t think a new pool movie would be great, but I think we can do better. If a movie about pool is going to make it big, it would have to be about the action, big bets, big time money, and all the other seedy poolroom stuff that makes pool appealing to the masses. If TCOM was about Tom in his Tuesday night 8 ball league, paying $10 a night to try to go to Vegas 3 months from now does anyone think that it would have been a success?
Just my two cents
nyjoe14.1 said:
I disagree. A movie like that has never been made. The major part of the 50+Million pool players in the USA are 8-ball players,bangers/1to 5's in APA or weekend bartable players...not B or higher players. If pool wants to get big name companies behind them it better START thinking out of the box. Plus this book sounds like it has a story to it, something that you could bring your wife/husband/gf/bf to if it became a movie. Johnnyt
cueandcushion said:If Angelina Jolie can save Africa, she can save American pool.
Low cut dresses and bending over a lot in the movie can give our sport the respect it needs! Give her the part!
Having studied both, I believe I'd rather watch miniskirts, especially when they're racking.
Ken
Johnnyt said:
Point well taken.
I just get the feeling that this would be more like “Erin Brokavich” than TCOM.
Not to mention that most people who watched TCOM weren’t accomplished players, in fact they probably weren’t any kind of player. They were the same people that went to Top Gun, Independence Day, The God Father movies and so on. They were just there because of the big name actors, the big name director, and the excellent marketing of the film itself. But I suppose it is possible that the same could come of this w/ the proper script, directing, casting and so on.
I think that the gambling/action side of pool would make for a better story. Hopefully though, this will be made into a movie, will be a big hit and everyone will start playing pool. New rooms will open everywhere and action will be prevalent again. Tournaments every night and champagne will fall from the sky,
but I really don’t think so.Once again just my two cents
nyjoe14.1 said:Point well taken.
I just get the feeling that this would be more like “Erin Brokavich” than TCOM.
Not to mention that most people who watched TCOM weren’t accomplished players, in fact they probably weren’t any kind of player. They were the same people that went to Top Gun, Independence Day, The God Father movies and so on. They were just there because of the big name actors, the big name director, and the excellent marketing of the film itself. But I suppose it is possible that the same could come of this w/ the proper script, directing, casting and so on.
I think that the gambling/action side of pool would make for a better story. Hopefully though, this will be made into a movie, will be a big hit and everyone will start playing pool. New rooms will open everywhere and action will be prevalent again. Tournaments every night and champagne will fall from the sky,
Once again just my two cents
Hey, Searching For Bobby Fischer was about a kid who beat other kids at chess and it's regarded as one of the best sports films ever. I think we, as poolplayers, have a template in-mind when it comes to pool movies but the fact is, anything done well and done for the big-market would be great.