TPM Muckraker

« previous | MUCK HOME | next »

Two Thumbs Up! Kevin Spacey To Play Abramoff in Casino Jack

Get ready for Jack Abramoff: The Movie.

The well-sourced Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke reported Friday that Kevin Spacey and director George Hickenlooper were visiting the disgraced former lobbyist in prison -- as part of their research for Casino Jack, which will start filming next month, with the man who once played Keyser Soze in the lead role. (Variety had reported last August on plans for the project, then known as Bagman.)

Finke:

The story is described to me as a modern day GoodFellas set in Washington DC that plays like a thriller involving Karl Rove and others in former President George W. Bush's inner circle. Cameras will roll later next month.

Finke also has the scoop on the supporting cast:
- Abramoff crony Mike Scanlon: Hayden Christensen
- Tom DeLay: Spencer Garrett, from Public Enemies
- Adam Kidan, who teamed with Abramoff on the ill-fated Sun Cruz Casinos venture: David Cross from Arrested Development
- Abramoff's wife Pam: The production team is in talks with Tea Leoni.

No word on who'll play Rove -- though Ed Begley Jr. could probably pull it off.

As for the jailhouse meeting itself, Finke's source reports that "Abramoff was in good spirits and very charming with the actor. For two guys who couldn't be more different, they seemed to get along very well."

In fact:

At one point during the meeting, Spacey was sharing his impersonation of Bill Clinton with Abramoff, while Abramoff shared a pretty good impersonation of Ronald Reagan with Spacey.

Abramoff can't legally profit from the movie. But Finke's source says he met with Spacey and Hickenlooper because he wants to get out his side of the story:

Jack feels he has nothing to lose if he can at least convey his perspective even if it's from inside prison walls. Frankly, he feels like he was thrown under the bus by his fellow Republicans, especially John McCain who wanted to use Jack to help sell himself to the American people as the great reformer. The reality is Jack wasn't doing anything that wasn't happening on K-Street already. In fact it's still happening to this day and everybody knows it.

Of course, Abramoff's links to Hollywood go back over a decade. He once ran a production company which in 1988 made Red Scorpion, a low-budget anti-communist thriller starring Dolph Lundren, and followed it up with a sequel in 1994.

Hickenlooper, a self-proclaimed political junkie, is a cousin of Denver's Democratic mayor, John Hickenlooper.


8 Comments

| Leave a comment
user-pic

Wasn't Abramoff given a lighter sentence in exchange for "giving up" what he knew? When is he planning on doing that exactly? From the red carpet before the Oscar's?

user-pic

Other casting ideas:

Grover Norquist -- Seth Rogan

Ralph Reed -- Ron Howard or Tobey Maguire

By the way, I love Kevin Spacey and I'm sure he'll do a great job, but I see Abramoff as more of a James Gandolfini type.

user-pic

Another casting idea: Typical American taxpayer consistently screwed by pay-to-play government: ME.

user-pic

Moose,

you beat me to it, I was just going to mention those two sleaze bags, Reed and Norquist. My thoughts were not about casting but how much time and and depth will be devoted to these two.

I wonder if any of the troglodytes involved will try to get an injunction against distribution of this movie.

user-pic

Exactly. If Ambramoff=Tony Soprano, then Norquist=Paulie Walnuts and Reed=Big Pussy.

user-pic

He's getting out of jail in 2011. Pretty nifty trick.

user-pic

OK, here goes;

Reed - played by Pee Wee Herman

Norquist - played by a bearded Don Rickles

Abramoff - played by Burt Reynolds

user-pic

Here are my 'casting calls' for "Casino Jack:"

Jack Abramoff: Kevin Spacey
Ralph Reed: Rob Lowe
Grover Norquist: Russell Crowe
Michael Scanlon: Paul Bettany
Tom Delay: Spencer Garrett
Conrad Burns: Chris Cooper
Bob Ney: James Spader (weight gain)
John Doolittle: Wayne Knight
Steven Grilies: Brian Dennehy
Kevin Ring: Kevin Costner
Italia Federici: Bonnie Hunt

Leave a comment

Advertisement
Please disable your adblocker!
Ads are how we pay the bills!

Subscribe
Tip Line

Josh
Marshall

Bio

Zachary
Roth

Bio

Tag Cloud



Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Advertise Liberally
Share
Close Social Web Email

"To" Email Address

Your Name

Your Email Address