Wild Card (2015 film)

Wild Card

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Simon West
Produced by
Screenplay by William Goldman
Based on Heat
by William Goldman
Starring
Music by Dario Marianelli
Cinematography Shelly Johnson
Edited by Padraic McKinley
Production
company
  • Current Entertainment
  • Quad Films
  • SJ Pictures
  • Sierra / Affinity
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release dates
  • January 14, 2015 (2015-01-14) (France)
  • January 30, 2015 (2015-01-30) (United States)
Running time
 92 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million[2]
Box office $76.0 million[3]

Wild Card is a 2015 American action thriller film directed by Simon West, and starring Jason Statham, Michael Angarano, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Milo Ventimiglia, Hope Davis, and Stanley Tucci. The film is based on the 1985 novel Heat by William Goldman, and is a remake of the 1986 adaptation that starred Burt Reynolds.[4] The film was released in the United States on January 30, 2015 in a limited release and through video on demand.

Wild Card was a "box office bomb", making only $6.0 million against a $30 million budget.[5]

Plot

Nick Wild (Jason Statham) is a recovering gambling addict who takes odd jobs in Las Vegas as a "chaperone" (his version of a bodyguard) to support his addiction. After helping a client impress a woman (Sofia Vergara), he accepts a proposition from meek self-made millionaire Cyrus Kinnick (Michael Angarano) to show him around Vegas and provide him with protection while he gambles.

While eating at a diner, Nick's waitress friend Roxy (Anne Heche) hands him a message from a woman he knows, Holly (Dominik Garcia-Lorido), who wants him to stop by her house. Holly, a professional escort, explains she had a date the previous night at the Golden Nugget. Afterward, she was brutally raped and beaten by three unknown men in their hotel room. Holly asks Nick to find out who they are so that she can sue them, though unbeknownst to Nick, she plans to take revenge.

Nick discovers that the man responsible for raping Holly is Danny DeMarco (Milo Ventimiglia), a gangster. DeMarco had his two thugs dump her in a hospital car park. Nick goes to the hotel to confront DeMarco, disguised as someone sent by another criminal. A confrontation develops but Nick defends himself, overpowering DeMarco and his men, who are tied up as Nick calls Holly. In the room, Holly contemplates castrating DeMarco, who breaks down and begs her forgiveness, Holly decides to take $50,000 from DeMarco's desk and leave.

Holly splits the money with Nick and leaves Las Vegas. Nick decides to take Cyrus to a casino and gamble with his half of DeMarco's money. Playing blackjack with dealer friend Cassandra (Hope Davis), he has a winning streak, amassing a total of $506,000 in casino chips. When cashing out, Nick has a sudden anxiety attack and tells Cyrus that even though the $500,000 will last him for many years, it isn't enough to last him for a lifetime. Back at the casino tables, Nick loses all of his money in a single bet. When leaving the hotel, Nick is attacked by DeMarco's men, and has to fight his way out of the casino.

The next day, Nick goes to a meeting with Baby (Stanley Tucci), the mafia boss of Las Vegas. Baby has received a complaint from DeMarco, who claims that Nick broke into his hotel room, pistol-whipped him, and killed two of his men – all to fund his gambling addiction. Baby warns Nick that if he cannot prove his innocence, he will have to be killed. Nick tells Baby that DeMarco is lying, explaining that DeMarco obviously had killed two of his own men because they had witnessed him pleading for his life. To prove he is telling the truth, Nick tells Baby that when Holly considered castrating DeMarco, she had cut the side of his penis with garden shears. Baby asks DeMarco to pull down his pants and prove Nick wrong, but after he refuses, Baby concludes that DeMarco is lying and lets Nick go free.

Nick goes back to his local diner. He is approached by Cyrus, who offers Nick $500,000 and a plane ticket to Corsica, but only if he helps him "become a man" and learn how to defend himself. DeMarco and his men appear in the diner. Cyrus starts singing, creating a distraction for Nick. After realizing that DeMarco won't stop until he is dead, Nick finally kills DeMarco and all of his men with two eating utensils. Cyrus gives him a cheque for $500,000 and the plane ticket, telling him that he has earned it. After saying goodbye to each other, Nick leaves Las Vegas for good.

Cast

Production

Simon West said that Jason Statham developed the project himself "maybe over five years".[6] At one point, Brian De Palma was slated to direct until West replaced him.[7] West stated:

“ He [Statham] showed it to me once when we were doing Mechanic, but I was off doing something else, but then he showed it to me again after Expendables 2 and I got into it, because of the writing really. William Goldman is a hero of mine... I actually worked with him on The General's Daughter. He did plot hole work on the script. So this was a chance to work with him on a whole script – not just a polish on a script.[6] ”

West said the script filmed was the one Goldman wrote over thirty years ago. He later elaborated:

I rang him up and said, "I'm about to put the record straight and fix this film for you." I did ask him, what's your one piece of advice for me when shooting this? He said, "Just make sure that Nick is the toughest guy you've ever seen in your life." That, I think is his approach – no matter how complicated the character is intellectually, no matter how much dialogue there is, or twists and turns Goldman puts in the script, at the end of the day, he has this one thing that he has above his desk that reminds him what the character should be. It was the same for me – once he told me that, "Nick's the toughest guy in Vegas", every scene informs that. Even when he's not doing anything, everybody in the room knows that, and everybody knows his history, what he's capable of. And so he ultimately doesn't have to do that much, because he is the toughest guy in Vegas.[8]

"“It was nice firstly to have a script that was so set, because on any big movie scripts are constantly in flux," said West. "It also made it easy to sell to actors like Stanley Tucci and Sofia Vergara because their parts were very set out. There’s nothing in the script that’s really aged, there’s no pyrotechnics or technology really.”[9]

Filming

Filming began in early 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana.[10] The principal photography began in February 2013.[11]

Simon West said the three fights were "character driven".

each one of the action moments is character-driven, so you're right, it builds up. So when it does explode, it's exploding for the right reason. The first one, he's getting back into his old skills – precision fighting. The only way he's going to get out alive is by relying on his old skills. And he's a master of that. The second fight explodes out of anger, and it's really anger at himself for going back to being a gambling addict. They're character-driven fights. Whereas traditionally in action films, they're light relief – they're almost commercial breaks in the story. These ones come out of the situation his character's in, not just that he's in jeopardy and has to fight his way out of it – they're emotional fights.[8]

Marketing

The trailer for Wild Card debuted on December 12, 2014. West later recalled:

“ It was a formidable thing, there are pages and pages of dialogue – it's a drama really. It's not an action film really, it's a character piece. Jason [Statham] is the lead in every scene and he has huge dialogue scenes. I knew he was passionate about it, but was like, "Are you happy with all this dialogue stuff?" and he said, "Yes, yes. I love it. I want to do it." So I turned up on the first day not knowing what it was going to turn out like. Especially after The Mechanic where he only has five lines in the whole film! That character has no dialogue. But we turned up on the first day and he knew every word by heart and was amazing. So, Wild Card, I think will surprise a lot of people – it's a very strong dramatic piece by him. There are, of course, also two or three fights! I think some of his best fights ever are in it. They're very realistic and we spent a lot of time on them, so they're very detailed and very well executed I think. But it's a great performance, and he's surrounded by some very cool actors: Stanley Tucci, Anne Heche, Sofia Vergara... he's in a proper actor's environment and he really stepped up. I was amazed. I think this is just the beginning for him, I think you'll see a lot more dramatic stuff from him.[6] ”

Release

Lionsgate released the film in a limited release and through on demand on January 30, 2015.[12]

Box office

Wild Card was a not a box office success, making only $6.0 million against a $30 million budget.[13]

Critical reception

Wild Card has generally received negative reviews from film critics. The film currently has a rating of 32% on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on 53 reviews, the film scored an average rating of 4.9 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Hardcore Jason Statham fans may enjoy parts of Wild Card, but all other action aficionados need not apply."[14]

Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a negative review, calling Wild Card "predictable". She summed up her review by saying that Wild Card "is no royal flush, no full house, no three of a kind. A bust is I think the term I'm searching for".[15]

References

  1. ↑ "WILD CARD (15)". British Board of Film Classification. February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Wild Card Movie Release Date & Star cast", Slantix, December 28, 2014. Retrieved on January 31, 2015
  3. ↑ Wild Card (2014), Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on November 9, 2015.
  4. ↑ "'Heat' Remake: Jason Statham Cast in Update to 1986 Film Starring Burt Reynolds". news.moviefone.com. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ , Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on August 29, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Director Simon West talks to us about his new film Salty, directing Con Air and STATHAM!", Live For Films accessed 13 December 2014
  7. ↑ Rodriguez, Cain (November 2, 2012). "Simon West Replaces Brian De Palma On 'Heat' Remake Starring Jason Statham". Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  8. 1 2 http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/simon-west/34566/simon-west-interview-wild-card-statham-action-the-blob#ixzz3ssf8IYdk
  9. ↑ http://www.hmv.com/video/-i-wanted-to-do-this-great-story-justice-hmv-com-talks-to-wild-card-director-simon-west
  10. ↑ "Jason Alexander, Max Casella Join 'Heat' (EXCLUSIVE)". variety.com. May 6, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  11. ↑ "JASON STATHAM'S 'HEAT' REMAKE GETS A NEW DIRECTOR". screencrush.com. November 1, 2012. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  12. ↑ Evry, Max (December 1, 2014). "First Look at Jason Statham in Wild Card". comingsoon.net. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  13. ↑ Wild Card (box-office performance), The Numbers. Retrieved on February 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Wild Card (2015)", Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on February 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Sharkey, Betsy "Vegas-set 'Wild Card' draws an, oh, so predictable hand", Los Angeles Times, January 29, 2015. Retrieved on February 3, 2015.

External links

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