Screenwriter, filmmaker, and podcaster Brian Koppelman (“Ocean’s Thirteen,” “Rounders,” “Billions”) is a really open man, and on his The Moment With Brian Koppelman podcast, he does AMAs (ask me something), the place he solutions mailbag questions. But, for some time there, the author/director/showrunner used so as to add one thing to the impact of, simply don’t ask me questions on “Rounders 2.”
The context right here is “Rounders” is Koppelman’s 1998 poker film he co-wrote with artistic companion David Levien and directed by John Dahl. Starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton, the movie was a bomb on the time, however it’s since grown into a giant cult traditional, particularly because the world of poker exploded on tv and on-line. “Rounders 2,” a sequel, has been mentioned, seemingly for years, and apparently began to get underneath the author’s pores and skin on social media as a result of it grew to become a sort of working joke that individuals would at all times ask him about it.
Regardless, when Koppelman was on Twitter (he give up in the course of the Elon Musk period, laborious guilty him), he used to often drop hints about “Rounder 2” being a factor (till the incessant questions appeared to bother after which he dropped it).
So what’s the standing of the film, if something in any respect? Well, nonetheless ongoing, based on Matt Damon. And Ben Affleck could also be concerned too. Both have been on Bill Simmon’s The Ringer podcast selling “Air,” the Nike drama that Affleck directed and co-stars in, and options Damon in one of many lead roles. Simmons loves “Rounders,” so naturally, the sequel got here up.
“‘Rounders,’ that actually reminds me… actually, I didn’t want to do this on the podcast,” Affleck mentioned, seemingly shying away from discussing one thing that they ultimately talked about barely.
“We’ve been talking about it for years,” Damon mentioned. “We’re investigating whether we can do it because it’s so…” after which Simmons reduce him off (argh).
“We’re investigating,” Affleck confused. What Damon was probably about to say is that “Rounders 2” is probably going mired in a variety of rights issues like lots of the Miramax movies of that period (Harvey Weinstein was concerned too, which makes it additional sophisticated and messy most likely).
That’s about so far as they received with particulars, however they did discuss concerning the unique movie at size. “That movie was a bomb,” Damon mentioned. “The whole thing it was years later—2007, I think it was when it finally went into the black.”
Will “Rounders 2” ever occur with Damon, Norton, and perhaps Affleck as a brand new foil? Time will inform, and hold your fingers crossed. In the interim, hearken to the podcast under.