You may know Vince Van Patten from his numerous forays in either poker, acting or tennis. He’s probably most famous for his poker but he’s also beaten John McEnroe (you cannot be serious) at tennis which as you know is a pretty big feat. If you’ve heard of the Hollywood actor Dick Van Patten then you’ve probably heard of this geezer.
Well, the famous tennis player come poker commentator has decided to write a film based around the theme of gambling. Of course, over the last two centuries we’ve had plenty of films based around gambling which we’ve covered in a previous article. It seems that the WPT commentator has decided to follow his father’s footsteps taking a risk with Hollywood. Van Patten believes that poker movies have missed the mark. ‘I don think they’ve done it justice yet,’ said Van Patten, ‘I think they’ve missed the mark, for the most part, I’ll hit it.’
Related – 10 Gambling Films You Need To Watch Before You Die
Van Patten hopes to hit it with a comedy centred around true events and focusses on high rollers. It’s based on ‘the crazy bets they make’ according to the wannabe screenplay writer, ‘the bigger-than-life people, which you see all the time in LA.’ If you were thinking it would be like Rounders, or the Cincinnati Kid, you’re definitely mistaken. From what Van Patten is suggesting it’s going to be more like The Office with the likes of Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute sat around a poker table – we’d definitely pay to see that! He’s even tamed up with David T. Friendly, who was responsible for producing Academy Award winning Little Miss Sunshine.
It’s not as if Van Patten lacks experience in writing, co-authoring a fictional poker novel The Picasso Flop. More of a crime thriller than a poker comedy; The Picasso Flop tells the story of professional poker player Jimmy Spain as he visits his wealthy former cell mate and accepts an offer he can’t refuse.
Work is starting pretty soon so make sure you bookmark us to keep updated. What would your perfect gambling movie be based on? Let luckynuggetcasino.com know in the comments section below and who knows, maybe Quentin Tarantino will grab you for his next production (probably not).
