Matt Damon: “Everyone Would Come Back for Rounders 2”
Matt Damon: “Everyone Would Come Back for Rounders 2”
Both the stars and writers of poker’s most enduring film say a sequel is a realistic possibility.
“Everybody would probably come back,” Rounders star Matt Damon told PokerListings. “The actors all had a really good time working together.
“I know Edward would want to do it; we had a blast working together. [Director] John Dahl I’m sure would like to do it. Maybe someday it will happen.
“The only reason to do a movie like that would be if we had a great idea. If the two writers suddenly said eureka! We have a great idea. Then everyone involved would be interested in exploring it.”
According to one half of the David Levien and Brian Koppleman writing team, who penned both Rounders and the casino caper flick Oceans 13, that “eureka” moment may not be far off.
“We’ve been concentrating on Rounders 2 lately; Ideas are percolating,” Levien told PokerListings. “It’s great to know that all of the original players want to come back and do another one.”
DiCaprio in Line for New Poker Movie?
The Hollywood rumor mill recently had Leonardo DiCaprio set to star in a Rounders sequel using a Levien and Koppleman script based on online casinos.
Levien confirmed that project is in the works, but its association to Rounders is circumstantial at best.
“We did just set up a project centering on the world of offshore online casinos with Leonardo attached,” Levien said. “It’s a little ways down the road, but we’ve started researching.”
“It’s a great world. Some of the countries where online casinos are based are like the new version of the Wild West, and with so much money on the line there is lots of drama attached.”
The two writers just seem drawn to the world of poker and gambling.
“Vegas, the poker world, the casino environment, and the characters that gravitate around them are endlessly fascinating to us,” Levien said.
“We’ve always been interested in poker players who develop these skills and literally live by them; putting their money on the table and living or dying by how good they are.”
Rounders is hands down the most popular and influential poker movie ever made.
It’s been quoted, impersonated and dissected at more poker tables and online forums than any other film. Those discussions often center on how the movie was written and why these two writers picked poker as the setting for their first feature film.
“I Just Lost All My Money at an Underground Poker Club. It Was Awesome.”
Levien says it was the game itself that that drew them in.
“Brian and I had been working on the rough beginnings of a screenplay idea about two friends, and deciding what to do with one’s life, and we weren’t sure exactly what world we were going to set it in,” he explained.
“Then Brian called me at about three in the morning and said ‘I just lost all my money at an underground poker club. It was awesome. We’ve got to set the movie here.’
“The next night we went, and kept going back, playing at clubs all over the city every night for a year. We read all the available important poker books too, and began writing the script during the mornings.”
One of the underground poker clubs in question was New York’s famed Mayfair Club, home court to Dan Harrington, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and a host of colorful characters.
Speculation regarding the various characters in the movie and who they were based on has run rampant since the film’s 1998 release.
It has even been claimed the movie was based on actor/comedian Norm MacDonald and although he occasionally played at Mayfair, Levien says Rounders really had nothing to do with him.
However, he did confirm rumors that the “Teddy KGB” character was based on a player known as “Eddie KGB,” and that “Joey Knish” was actually based on a rounder named “Joel Bagels,” but he squashed all speculation regarding Damon’s character “Mike McDermott.”
“Brian had just gone to law school at night, but didn’t want to practice law, so we got the idea: What if something that seemed conventionally wrong, like poker playing, was really the main character’s destiny, and something usually considered proper, like being a lawyer, wasn’t the right choice,” he said.
For Rounders biggest fans, the most frequently argued question has always regarded what Teddy KGB was holding in the film’s final hand.
Unfortunately, Levien and Koppleman still refuse to end that debate.
“That’s probably the most asked question in regard to the movie, but it’s something we never answer,” Levien said.
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User Comments
Teddy KGB was holding 10-10 for top set on the flop. When he throws his cards at the end, they flash face up for about two frames. You can see it if you slowmo the footage, or by looking at the screenshot i uploaded: –
we posted a idea awhile back on the site, check it out here http://ratpackpoker.blogspot.com/2010/09/rounders-2-script-and-plot-line.html
Yes. I want that sequal. Like in the poker — ” ALL IN ”
I want the film about winning the WPT
Would love to see this sequel with some side bet action twisting the finale for the final table in the movie. No matter who wins the WSOP, the winner of the side bet would be laughing all the way to the bank. Keep the GF out of it unless you kill her off in the first 30 min, to setup the movie.
Just watched the end, we never see KGBs hole cards, cards showing is what he threw on the table.
R2 should take up ten years later, WSOP, Mike is makeing a come back after making it big in LV with a great showing and winning 2 WSOP ..went on a skid and lost it all…..now hes about to comebake and make it three….if only he can get over TKGB and the worm plus a lot of lucky young kids ….is his losing streak over or will worm put him under?
My idea……..It starts with Mike staying in Vegas prepping for the WSOP Main Event…Then, you see Worm doing his thing, being on the run…He gets arrested for something minor, and stays in jail overnight…On the TV at the jail is the WSOP, he sees Mike, goes to Vegas after he gets out, they meet, talk, blah blah. I dunno what happens from there…but, at the WSOP final table, it’s Johnny Chan, KGB, and Mike and some random pros. Johnny Chan knocks out KGB, and it ends up, Mike vs Johnny Chan…heads up for the WSOP main event. Johnny Chan facerapes Mike, Mike doesn’t care about the money he won, he just thinks he can beat Johnny Chan again….Mike challenges Johnny for Mike’s WSOP winnings, heads up. Mike wins, somehow. roll credits.
I would love to see a sequel to one of the best movies ever made.
The tall Russian girl will be a cherry on the top
lets play some cards
I love this movie but why was Gramma so upset at Mike winning? I mean, he bought Worm’s debt for 30 cents on the dollar and made his profit without having to kill anyone!
Worm has to be a strong. Character in the new movie because he was the reason of all of Mike’s troubles in the first one. They end up upset with each other, and they need to make ends meet. Now… Everybody is expecting Damon and Norton to be back on the sequel, although any other character could make it… To be honest… I would like to see Mr Malkovich in Vega’s with them too. I hope they decide to make the movie…
KGB has pocket tens, just watched that scene frame by frame and they’re clearly pocket tens.
Why would KGB even play that night if he was going to get the money anyway in the morning. You can only skin a sheep once. I would say A-10 makes the most logical hand given the way KGB played the hand, but 10 10 maybe, its a movie. KGB thought he was drawing, and even if Mikey had Aces up, he likely had a weaker two pair, at least thats what KGB thought. Sequal likely will include worm finding his way onto Russ Hamilton’s Ultimate Bet cheating team.
A played the DVD back frame by frame, and it looked like A 10 diamonds.
I think the best Idea would be about mike going to vegas to play the wsop but runs into some bad people again and has to round his way out of it with the help of worm. but the problem is that its mikes fault that he is in the jam and worm has to help .
This movie should pick up where the original left off. Mike in a taxi heading for Vegas. He gets to Vegas and plays in the WSOP. Only to face Worm at the final table. Please do not bring back his ex gf lawyer!
Oh, I hope Teddy didn’t have a set a 10s!!! That would totally ruin the movie! It would mean Mike played the hand wrong at the end and just got lucky. A straight should not be slow-played against a set, due to the possibility of a full house. I always read Teddy on ace-ten.
KGB had 2p or a set the final hand… He put Mike on a draw that’s why he said “The ace could not have helped you”…
For me the best story would to make edward nortons “Worm” be the main character and the film to follow his story from maybe even before the original films timeline and show more of the underbelly of the poker world, maybe climaxing in a tournament where all of the characters would be involved.
Gramma comes out of the closet in rounders 2. I guess that answers the question of “rolling fags in the village again?”
haha freeman i agree with the board pairing, does it to me everytime i flop somethin pretty, flop the nut flush, turns into the worst hand on the table by the river
Please, no sappy reunion of Mike and Jo. They were really wrong for each other. I guess they almost have to center the sequel around a deep run in the WSOP.
Or Mike decides to go on a campaign to win all of Phil Hellmuth’s money in big cash games on TV 🙂
And yes, Teddy had a set of 10s. If I had Mike’s straight and slowplayed it, the board would have paired.
he was flush