Next Major Studio Pool Movie - Star?

Drew said:
Tell that to those kids that made The Blair Witch Project. Tell that to Mars Callahan who made Poolhall Junkies...there are complete festivals just for independently produced movies. One of my favorite movies of all time, Primer, was filmed and produced independently with a price tag of 100 grand. The list is endless.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Blair Witch took years of work. It may not have cost much to film ($60k), but it took an insane amount of media manipulation to make it the success that it was.

As for Poolhall Junkies, that movie took 12 years to make (from its inception).
 
nathandumoulin said:
Actually, the Blair Witch took years of work. It may not have cost much to film ($60k), but it took an insane amount of media manipulation to make it the success that it was.

As for Poolhall Junkies, that movie took 12 years to make (from its inception).
Click to expand...

That wasn't my point. I never said it would be a cakewalk. So I'll ask my original question again.

Why is it Paramount's responsibility to think of this idea and make the film?

As I said before, there are a number of talented people here on AZB. We have the resources to make it happen. So why don't we? Plan on it hitting theaters in 8 years.
 
If somehow you could make a remake of The Hustler with Kevin Spacey as the backer and Robert Downey Jr. as Fast Eddie, then you might have caught magic again. What a team these two would make. But we are all dreaming if we think there is a snowballs chance in Hell of that happening.
 
Dustin Hoffman is getting a little long in the tooth but he prepares so well for all of the unique roles that he plays.

He is one actor who I believe could make his role as a pool player, a believable one.

Brad Pitt wouldn't be a bad choice either but if you beef him up on some steroids he would make a good tush-hog. :D

JoeyA
 
My, SPANKY'S, HOWARD'S, JOE'S and several other autobiography's could star FLIPPER...
 
My, SPANKY'S, HOWARD'S, JOE'S and several other autobiography's could star FLIPPER...
 
I kinda like the idea of Scorsese directing. I also like the idea of Dicaprio playing a fast-talking young punk with loads of talent, but lacking craft and seasoning. Then, a recreational pool-playing, business owning Tom Cruise takes him under his wing. It could be a quasi-sequel slash remake. Turturro could reprise his role as Julian. Mastrantonio could be back as well.

They could "do the road" just like before.

Cruise would agree to do it because Newman won an Oscar for the same role in COM (if a recall correctly). Thus, with his ego, he would naturally feel he should too!

Dicaprio would do it because Scorsese would ask him too.

Scorsese would do it because with this proposed cast it would surely be a hit. Not to mention, COM was a success and that alone spings eternal hope for the success of its sequel.

Turturro and Mastrantonio would come back for the right price.

All in all, this could work really well. Of course they could sprinkle in Shane, Johnny, Rodney, JJ, Earl, Gabe, Corey, Alcano, DAZ, Mika and a host of others to give the movie an authentic feel. BUT...

This time I think Keith should come out with all the money :)
 
look, a lot of people on here have said that big film studios would never fund a project about pool again. That's totally insane to make a statement like that.

A movie about ANYTHING has to have a great plot, great writing, etc. unless it is catering to a recent fad that they know they can promote to make money (Fast & Furious, etc.). Pool, as we all know, is not a growing fad that the kids will eat up. The script has to be engaging and the characters have to be outstanding. The movie cannot just be about pool, like pool hall junkies was.

But that doesn't mean that a great movie can't be written and produced that is based on the pool world. The pool culture is just as valid a sub-culture as any to write about. If someone writes a great script and the world in which the film is based is the pool world, there is absolutely NO reason why a big studio wouldn't pick it up.

Look at the movie Rounders. It was based on texas hold'em, a game that has been around for a lot longer than when the movie came about. No one even knew what it was, other than they knew what poker was. After that movie came out, because it had great characters, a good story, and great actors who did the movie justice... Texas Hold'em blew up on an insane level. Rounders almost single-handedly was the original reason for that games growth in popularity.

That's why if you get a big name like a Matt damon, a Brad Pitt, Downey Jr, Norton, etc... it can be great and it can boost the sport.

Let's see a movie called "Pool Club" with Norton and Pitt. "The first rule of pool club is... YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT POOL CLUB!"
 
OK so you want a movie, I will give you a movie. haha (or at least try ;))

The plot takes place on the highways of Nevada. Two best friends driving through the desert in a beaten up old chevy with rusted paint.

As the sun begins to set they pull into a small middle-of-nowhere bar. Next scene they are in the parking lot fighting this giant bald headed, flannel wearing, red go-T behemoth. Bloodied up they get in the car and peel out.

Yelling at each other in the car because of their mistake they realize how much fun it really was and begin to laugh.

Flashback to the events occuring in the bar...the hustle, the money, the bottles breaking.

The car drives on, into the neverending abyss that is the Nevada desert, as they approach the lights of the next town.

The summer of money, risk, adventure, violence, pain, .....and pool

The Desert Drive


- Thats just something I would be interested in seeing...I like a good story and don't really care which actor portrays it...and no I didn't put a lot of thought into this if ya couldn't tell haha - just a thought
 
Da Bank said:
lRounders almost single-handedly was the original reason for that games growth in popularity.
Click to expand...
Gotta disagree with you here. The thing that blew up up poker was the hole card cam and a dude named Chris Moneymaker. Once males 18-40 got the idea that they could be rich and famous by playing poker with out any experience (the angle pushed by ESPN) it was on like Donkey Kong.

Rounders might have stirred some interest but Moneymaker and the god like power of the viewer knowing what is happening when the players don't is the hook.
 
Alright, I have said this before ... William Hurt could play the role of Oliver Ortmann ... Am I insane or should I have my eyes checked ? :grin:
 
JCIN said:
Gotta disagree with you here. The thing that blew up up poker was the hole card cam and a dude named Chris Moneymaker. Once males 18-40 got the idea that they could be rich and famous by playing poker with out any experience (the angle pushed by ESPN) it was on like Donkey Kong.

Rounders might have stirred some interest but Moneymaker and the god like power of the viewer knowing what is happening when the players don't is the hook.
Click to expand...

The only game in pool that might work like that is pill pool. The viewers know the players pill #. Johnnyt
 
Matt Damon, although he apparently favors poker again.
Michael Douglas, David Brenner, Jon Lovitz.
Where's Max Eberle, he should be able to answer that one!
http://www.mypooltv.com/CelebPool.htm

I can see it in lights now..... Return of the Poolhall Junkies: Hustlin Baltimore to the Bellagio for the Bullet.

Did I miss any?

nathandumoulin said:
Also, I feel that one of the primary reasons why the Color of Money was so successful, was because Tom Cruise is a very capable pool player. To make another pool move of the same caliber would require a lead role who is equally capable at the table.

Does anyone know which celebs are handy with a cue?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
International POOL Perspective

I've got the seed:

Our new Kuwaiti pool playing friends who are making themselves known in the pool world know people in Kuwaiti who could fund an American writer to create a new perspective on pool, involving money, politics and a little sex thrown in for good measure. A little betrayal would also go a long way in making the movie a success.

Even though the lure of megabucks is what the surface story would reveal, the real story is about the EXTREMES that pool players will go to become the best and what is important to them. A cast of International actors would help to make the movie popular world wide.

The "Ugly American" image could be ended with the American pool star eating a little humble pie, kind of like what we are doing right now with oil.

The International player/stars would all have their place in the sun even if only for a few brief moments, at least to show that for the most part, we all want the same things in life.

JoeyA
 
Drew said:
Out of curiosity...

One more thing
Why is it always the responsibility of Fox or Paramount to come out with this fantastic pool movie? I believe several regular posters have written much about the subject of pool. One even has a script written and ready to go. Instead of sitting around talking about what the major studios need to do, why not film it by ourselves. I happen to know there are script writers, video editors, photographers, and investors who post regularly on this site and are very devoted to the game of pool...We even have a celebrity with, I assume, plenty of connections in the film and tv industries.
Click to expand...

You're exactly right. Why does this movie have to be mainstream? Most mainstream movies that have been made in the last 10 or 15 years are unimagtinative, unoriginal crap anyway, big budgets with no creativity. The thought of yet another movie remake makes me want to vomit, I mean makes me want to "engage in an involuntary protein spill." So please, no remakes of The Hustler or The Color of Money. I'm sure there are plenty of great pool minds here that could come up with a better script than some Hollywood Hack, and an original one too. Also, there's no need for a big name actor to star in the movie if you have an interesting and creative script.
 
Drew said:
That's why I mentioned Blair Witch Project. How about a couple other unsuccessful independent movies? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Reservoir Dogs - Distributed by MiraMax (subsidiary of Disney, not small)
The Usual Suspects Distributed by Polygram, Gramercy, and MGM (not small). Oh yeah, also had Kevin Spacey!
Dr. Strangelove Directed by one of the most influential directors ever - Kubrick!-
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Hello! Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslett, Elijah Wood!
Little Miss Sunshine Steve Carell, nuff said
Memento - B movie at best

Perhaps you've never heard of Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. Both are critically acclaimed directors who produced their movies without major studio backing.
Click to expand...

My point above is that none of the successful films you brought up were small. They all, except Memento, had major players attached to the films. The films may have been made on a small budget; however major studio and distribution is why they were successul. Most of the above were great movies.

I am actually a film student with Kubrick being my all time favorite director. I know what I am talking about.

Da Bank said:
look, a lot of people on here have said that big film studios would never fund a project about pool again. That's totally insane to make a statement like that.

A movie about ANYTHING has to have a great plot, great writing, etc. unless it is catering to a recent fad that they know they can promote to make money (Fast & Furious, etc.). Pool, as we all know, is not a growing fad that the kids will eat up. The script has to be engaging and the characters have to be outstanding. The movie cannot just be about pool, like pool hall junkies was.

But that doesn't mean that a great movie can't be written and produced that is based on the pool world. The pool culture is just as valid a sub-culture as any to write about. If someone writes a great script and the world in which the film is based is the pool world, there is absolutely NO reason why a big studio wouldn't pick it up.

Look at the movie Rounders. It was based on texas hold'em, a game that has been around for a lot longer than when the movie came about. No one even knew what it was, other than they knew what poker was. After that movie came out, because it had great characters, a good story, and great actors who did the movie justice... Texas Hold'em blew up on an insane level. Rounders almost single-handedly was the original reason for that games growth in popularity.

That's why if you get a big name like a Matt damon, a Brad Pitt, Downey Jr, Norton, etc... it can be great and it can boost the sport.

Let's see a movie called "Pool Club" with Norton and Pitt. "The first rule of pool club is... YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT POOL CLUB!"
Click to expand...

The movie studios will do whatever they think will make $$$. If a good enough script fell into the "right hands," it would be in production ASAP!
 
Last edited:
One of my hero's...JohnntT!

Johnnyt said:
LMAO. Probably me. Johnnyt
Click to expand...


No John. I would lobby long and hard to the producer, the director and the candlestick maker that YOU be the BOUNCER! :eek:

Everybody knows that every good pool hall worth an insurance policy needs a bonafide harda$$ as their obligatory bouncer.

Just think of it, JohnnyT...You get PAID to walk around with guns all along your waist, in your pockets and in ankle holsters. Every lap or so around the room, a Louisville slugger falls out of one of your pant legs. You got a set a studded brassknuckles hanging around your neck on an old tire chain.

Somebody puts 50 cents in the pop machine and nothing comes out and they innocently slap it or kick at it one time and BOOM! POW! KER-SPLAT! It'll be like one of those old Batman movies where him and the Penguin's henchmen are going at it full tilt! The jukebox is playing "Another one bites the dust" before it too gets knocked over by another flying body!

Everybody remembers you as a kind hearted, compassionate nurse John. Well, I have some secret footage of how things really ran on YOUR wing!....:thumbup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdJtn3Q3l0s&feature=related
 
Terry Ardeno said:
No John. I would lobby long and hard to the producer, the director and the candlestick maker that YOU be the BOUNCER! :eek:

Everybody knows that every good pool hall worth an insurance policy needs a bonafide harda$$ as their obligatory bouncer.

Just think of it, JohnnyT...You get PAID to walk around with guns all along your waist, in your pockets and in ankle holsters. Every lap or so around the room, a Louisville slugger falls out of one of your pant legs. You got a set a studded brassknuckles hanging around your neck on an old tire chain.

Somebody puts 50 cents in the pop machine and nothing comes out and they innocently slap it or kick at it one time and BOOM! POW! KER-SPLAT! It'll be like one of those old Batman movies where him and the Penguin's henchmen are going at it full tilt! The jukebox is playing "Another one bites the dust" before it too gets knocked over by another flying body!

Everybody remembers you as a kind hearted, compassionate nurse John. Well, I have some secret footage of how things really ran on YOUR wing!....:thumbup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdJtn3Q3l0s&feature=related
Click to expand...

LMAO. I don't know where you guys come up with these videos. I will say that there were a few I would like to have done that to. They were mostly dealers that were shot in the legs. Can no one do a head shot here in Florida?
But by the time I got out of nursing school I was a different person. Hell I came very close to going back to church. Johnnyt
 
CrownCityCorey said:
My point above is that none of the successful films you brought up were small. They all, except Memento, had major players attached to the films. The films may have been made on a small budget; however major studio and distribution is why they were successul. Most of the above were great movies.

I am actually a film student with Kubrick being my all time favorite director. I know what I am talking about.



The movie studios will do whatever they think will make $$$. If a good enough script fell into the "right hands," it would be in production ASAP!
Click to expand...

Memento had Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano who both starred in The Matrix one year before.

Before 1995, Kevin Spacey was generally unheard of. Then The Usual Suspects and Se7en turned him into a superstar.

Dr. Strangelove is arguably the movie that put Stanley Kubrick on the map. You could argue Paths of Glory or The Killing but Dr. Strangelove's success eclipses any of his previous films.

Reservoir Dogs is distributed by Artisan and was produced independent of any film studio. Without the help of Harvey Keitel, the film would probably have never been made. Tarantino was working in a video store when he made Reservoir Dogs.

Little Miss Sunshine was produced by Big Beach Films. WTF is Big Beach Films???? Steve Carell came from The Daily Show. Although 40 Year Old Virgin was released before Little Miss Sunshine, he was cast on Little Miss Sunshine before 40 Year Old Virgin.

Eternal Sunshine, the most expensive of the movies I listed, was also produced free of any major studio and is distributed by Focus Films.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top