Kevin Spacey to Play George Hickenlooper's Casino Jack

May 13, 2009
by Brandon Lee Tenney

Kevin Spacey is set to return to true story-based films as he takes on the role of Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack. Abramoff, a name you've most certainly heard around the news circuit (or, more likely, on The Daily Show), is the disgraced Washington power broker and notorious con man who is currently serving a prison sentence. His life is to be the focus of the Norman Snider-scripted film. More specifically, Abramoff's bribery schemes and fraudulent affairs with Native American casinos that landed him in prison will provide the meat of the film. Dogtown and Factory Girl director George Hickenlooper will be directing this.

I'm not quite sure how intriguing this project really is. I'm also unsettled by Spacey's co-star - Hayden Christensen. This film may act as a sort of catharsis for us American tax payers, allowing us to vicariously take down an abuser of the broken system, but I'm weary. And not too excited. Maybe it's because I know how the story will end, which you just can't get away from when adapting such a high-profile story. Maybe it's because that ending isn't hard time in the state pen, but a satellite prison camp (as in, minimum security, white-collar). Sure, it's justice - but is it satisfying, cathartic, dramatic film justice? I think not.

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