Poker stars Jack Binion, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Hoyt Corkins, Eli Elezra, Antonio Esfandiari, Sam Farha, Maureen Feduniak, Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Phil Hellmuth, Chau Giang, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Harman, Dan Harrington, John Hennigan, Karina Jett, John Juanda, Jason Lester, Erick Lindgren, Minh Ly, Mike Matusow, Daniel Negreanu, David Oppenheim, Max Pescatori, Matt Savage, Erik Seidel, Huck Seed, Mimi Tran, Cyndy Violette, Marsha Waggoner and Robert Williamson III are all involved in the movie, which is set for release in early 2006.
Academy Award-winning director Curtis Hanson ("LA Confidential") said, "With millions of people watching poker weekly on television, it was important to capture the authenticity of the game and its players. To that end, the poker tables in ‘Lucky You’ are primarily populated by poker players, not actors pretending to be poker players. Our stars trained for months in order to convincingly play side by side with top poker professionals cast in fictional roles."
Oscar winner Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump") wrote the script which follows a professional poker player (Bana) who learns about life from a struggling singer (Barrymore) and butts heads with his dad (Duvall).
Poker player Jason Lester said "Lucky You" is getting it right. "I can’t recall any movie ever really showing high stakes gambling in such an authentic manner. Having real poker players makes it more realistic and that’s so important for any kind of gambling movie," explained Lester.
Source: Warner Bros Pictures
