According to recent reports from a number of Entertainment news sites, Hollywood film star Bruce Willis has been cast in a lead role in an upcoming movie-adaptation of Beth Raymer’s memoir “Lay the Favourite” — an autobiography which documents the rise of online gambling in the late 1990s.
The film will be directed by Stephen Fears: the director behind acclaimed films such as “The Queen” and “High Fidelity.” Fears has said that filming is scheduled to commence in April and that other Hollywood A-listers could be set to join Willis, specifically Justin Timberlake and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Zeta-Jones is said to be up for the role of Beth Raymer herself — the former cocktail waitress who documented her experiences with a number of online sports gamblers in her best 2010 memoir. Timberlake may possibly take the role of a senior figure at a Long Island-based sportsbook, while Willis has been confirmed to portray a down-on-his luck sports gambler named Dink.
A film of this type will be in good company, since a number of high quality and renowned movies which involve the popular gambling industry have been produced over the years. Indeed, Paul Newman’s 1970s hit picture “The String” and the recent baccarat-heavy James Bond success, “Casino Royale,” are but two examples.
Perhaps the most memorable film to specifically bring ports betting itself to the silver screen, however, is Casino: the 1995 Martin Scorsese epic in which Robert DeNiro shone in his role as Chicago bookmaker Sam “Ace” Rothstein.
