Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men) stars as One Eyed Jack Faro, the survivor of 74 - yes, 74 - failed marriages in Zak Penn’s offbeat improvisational comedy, The Grand. Jack inherits a seedy casino called the Rabbit’s Foot which hosts a $10 million poker tournament. The casino’s in sorry shape and a billionaire (played by Michael McKean) wants to take over and tear the place down. But Jack’s not going to give up without a fight and the casino’s poker competition might just help him save the Rabbit’s Foot.
Since he was playing a guy named One Eyed Jack, Harrelson brought his own eye-patch to the set, just in case it was needed. The actors weren’t given a lot of details on their characters and were really allowed to use all their improvisational skills to get into character. “…For me, I just liked the guy’s sideburns and the look of the guy,” said Harrelson. “In terms of researching the character, I just tried to spend a lot of time f**ked up and womanizing, really, so that got me in character.”
Saturday Night Live alum Chris Parnell tackled the role of a real weird guy who comes from the world of online poker, quotes movies, and drinks protein shakes. Parnell likes doing improv every now and then, even though he feels more pressure when he’s asked to perform without a script. That said, the actor also believes the experience can be very rewarding. “There was a 27 - 30 page scriptment that Zak sent us that we got and it was the structure of the movie, the basic layout of it. And then when we would shoot, [we] would kind of have an idea of, ‘This is where we need to get to and this is kind of what needs to happen in this scene,’ but even that wasn’t always for sure,” explained Parnell about the process on the set.
While the other cast members basically winged it, Parnell does admit to writing some of his dialogue out beforehand. “[Zak Penn] wanted him to be a socially dysfunctional character and he basically has Asperger’s. So I read something about that and tried to get an idea of a version of what that might be. And then added my own details and things. I wrote a lot of stuff; I cheated, as Woody likes to point out.”
Parnell wasn’t much of a poker player or a fan prior to making The Grand, but Harrelson says he definitely enjoys playing. “I love it. I really do think it really is a drug of sorts. It gets you all jacked up and your adrenaline pumping, but I’ve had a lot of very intense poker moments,” said Harrelson.
Harrelson would even play after the day’s shooting was over. “I just went as myself when I played outside, I didn’t stay in wardrobe or character. But, yeah, I was playing in little tournaments. You would think it would be one of those things where they’d be like, ‘Actually we really want to keep you in,’ but I find that they’re really gunning for you. They want to be the guy that puts you out,” confessed Harrelson.
Harrelson even has his own theory on why poker continues to be so incredibly popular. “It seems like you kind of get caught up in the excitement of it. You see what each person’s holding, so you’re kind of really looking at it from a vantage point of all the knowledge. You’re going to see whether or not so-and-so is able to able to pull it out or so-and-so is able to bluff it off. You get invested in it. I think it’s pretty fun to watch because I can remember when I first heard they had Texas Hold ‘Em on television I thought, ‘That’s never going to go.’ And it is really pretty riveting, if you like the people. If you find someone you can root for.”
Parnell added, “Also, most people can’t get into the boxing ring or don’t care to, but you can learn to play poker. And the more you learn about it, it is possible to get better at it. There are definite skills and things that you can do. You can practice and make yourself better at it. I think there’s a lot of machismo with it. There’s a cool factor that I’m lacking in and that’s why I don’t play it. But I think that appeals to a lot of people.”
