This is topic The Real Guy From "21" in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-31-2008, 12:55 AM:
 
Jeff Ma, who the main character in the movie "21" was based on, attended a screening I projected at tonight. He was there to introduce the show & do audience Q&A. If you've seen the movie you also know he played a small part as a dealer in some of the casino scenes.

Here's a couple of pictures:

At The Q&A


Signing Autographs & Chatting After Show


He was a real nice guy, and arrived early so we had some time to chat before his "gig". One of the things he told me in response to a question I asked was that he did not actually hide all his money in a false ceiling as depicted in the movie. He told me his favorite hiding place was at the bottom of his dirty laundry basket because he figured no one would want to go digging through his dirty socks & underwear.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 03-31-2008, 01:24 AM:
 
Haven't seen the film but know a little about the story. Did he say the movie is fairly truthful to the real story or did they take a lot of liberties?
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 03-31-2008, 02:10 AM:
 
Jim, what theater is that? Totally off the subject, but the concession area looks EXACTLY like the one I worked at before it closed down. Yellow wall paper and all haha.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-31-2008, 09:28 AM:
 
Mike,

The book that the movie was based on (Brining Down the House) was in part based on some fictionalized stories and the movie has the team run by an MIT professor (which is false and not in the book).

And the plot having the main character join the team because he can't find tuition money (despite being portrayed as the smartest kid in the whole school) has to be fictional; the smartest kid in the school would be on a full-ride scholarship. And in reality, the kids funded the gambling with their scholarship money.
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 03-31-2008, 09:29 AM:
 

quote: Mike Heenan

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Did he say the movie is fairly truthful to the real story or did they take a lot of liberties?

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Well, for one thing (at the risk of pointing out the obvious! ) Jeff is Asian, the main character in the movie is not.
I specifically asked him about this and he was not upset by it, even though some Asian-American groups are urging boycotts of the movie because of this casting decision.
In fact, he told me that while discussing the movie rights, the producers asked him who HE would like to see portray him in the movie. He told me he suggested several actors, all of whom were Caucasian. It was a rethorical question anyway, since he had no actual input on casting decisions. And no, I didn't think to ask him which actors he did suggest to play himself.

He said he & Jim Sturgess have actually become good friends after hanging around alot during filming and doing many media interviews and personal apperances together.

I think one thing I witnessed that shows he personally was at ease with the racial transformation is that after the movie many people approached him to have him autograph posters we were givng away. He seemed to have no problem signing his own name under Jim Sturges' picutre.

In addition to the "laundry basket" I mentioned in my original post, here are some other examples of literary licence and trivia that came up either in our private conversation or during the Q&A:

> The 'Ben Campbell' character in the movie claims his father is dead. Jeff's father is still alive.
> There were actually several MIT card counting teams, the story was based on combined experiences of all of them.
> He was never beaten up by casino personnel. He was however escorted off casino premisis several times by casino security people who made sure he saw the guns under their belts to make sure he knew they were serious.
> They took a lot of liberties with the Kate Bosworth character and his 'love life' in the movie. He said the actual women on the MIT card couting teams were "kinda nerdy". He said that in his book he based the female character on a couple of ex-girlfriends.
>While on location in Vegas, he & Kate Bosworth went out late one night and tried to play at a couple of casinos, but they knew he was in town and recognized him and said he was told he had to stay "at least 20 feet" away from any card table.
>The college professor character & leader of the card counting team (Micky Rosa/Kevin Spacey) never exsisted in the way he was portrayed in the movie. The real leader was an MIT alumni and almost all their "meetings" took place off campus.
>His favorite Las Vegas movie is "Vegas Vacation" (1997/Chevy Chase)

quote: Allison Parsons

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Jim, what theater is that? Totally off the subject, but the concession area looks EXACTLY like the one I worked at before it closed down.

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