Actor Kevin Spacey has two weeks left in Vegas, where he’s on location, filming the extraordinary story of the MIT students who card-counted their way into the headlines for ripping off the Strip casinos.
He admitted that blackjack also happens to be his favorite casino game. “I happen to love twenty-one,” Spacey said. “That was one of the reasons I was attracted to this book and turning it into a movie; because I think it’s the greatest game ever, and it’s a beatable game. I’ve had some runs which have been pretty incredible
The current untitled movie began filming here last week and is in town for another two weeks before moving to Boston for location scenes near MIT. Actor Lawrence Fishburne plays the casino security chief who tries to stop the cadre of card counters
“I agree the movie will probably sell a lot of books on what the students did, and that’ll send a lot of people to Vegas to see if they can still get the system to work for them.»
So does Spacey think it’s possible to break Vegas? “If you read these books, it’s absolutely possible to break Vegas,” he said. “But, I don’t know anymore if it’s possible. There’s so much technology now. There’s face recognition so if they catch you and they know you’re doing it, although it’s not quote “illegal’ because you’re just using your mind. The people that are illegal are the ones who have cameras in their cuff links.”
Spacey said it was more than his love of blackjack that led him to make the movie. “When I read Ben Mezrich’s book ‘Bringing Down the House,’ which is what our film is based on, it just struck me as one of those great coming of age stories,” he said. “It sort of follows his path. He doesn’t have a lot of money, he’s incredibly smart, perhaps a genius and certainly unbelievable at mathematics. He eventually discovered that he could count cards, up to six decks and his team was in with it. He goes on a kind of Faustian Bargain; the deal with the devil. These kids end up going to Vegas when they’re not being MIT students and playing all these roles. They work as teams and play different people so they’re pretending to be the son of a diplomat or the daughter of some southern rich guy but what they’re actually doing is seeing how the deck is doing, they work in teams and they have all these signals.”

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Synopsis

In this film based on a true story, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor (Kevin Spacey) teaches a group of students to use mathematics to count cards and increase their odds of winning at Las Vegas casinos. The students are able to bring home millions as a result

-I first read the book Bringing Down the House a couple years back, and knew instantly that Hollywood would make a movie about this real life tale of how six M.I.T. Students took Vegas for Millions. The feature film version is titled 21 and stars Across the Universe’s Jim Sturgess in the lead, Kevin Spacey as the teacher/leader, in addition to Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Aaron Yoo. Sure, director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, Monster-in-Law) doesn’t instill confidence, but it’s hard to mess up a heist film (although Oceans 12 accomplished that feat). The new movie trailer makes the movie look very fun.

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The movie 21 coming up in 2007 is just one of those that you hear about far in advance and get excited for, although a specific release date is not set, and it hasn’t begun filming (but will in February), The project, produced by Kevin Spacey among others, and directed by Robert Luketic of previously Legally Blonde (uh oh) and Monster-in-Law, is about a group of young men from MIT who become experts in the art of card counting and head to Vegas to beat the casinos.

The film is based on Ben Mezrich’s bestselling non-fiction book “Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions.” Spacey optioned it in 2002 and will also star in it as well as produce. Recent news from Variety has stated that Spacey has found a lead: Jim Sturgess, who will play one of the MIT students.

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