Luketic Heads to Vegas

Depending on where you look, poker Vegas-style card games are either as hot as they've ever been, or are on the way out. Given the fact that I can't watch TV without seeing either an ad for an online poker site (that, by the way, "is not a gambling site") or that baby Phil Hellmuth whining about something, the former seems likely. However, I've also read criticism recently that television ads that use poker for a gimmick have missed the boat, and are no longer getting the responses they once did. Who to believe? Well, if you're Columbia Pictures, you hope and pray that Vegas is hot hot hot, because you've just greenlighted 21, a movie about those kids from MIT who kicked Vegas in the ass.

The rights to Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, a novelist's non-fiction look at well, what it says, were optioned by co-producer Kevin Spacey who, he wants us to know, bought them after reading an excerpt in Playboy. Because he's totally straight. Just in case you were wondering. The movie has been in the works for long enough to be associated with several directors (Brett Ratner and Shawn Levy were both previously rumored to be taking on the project), and is currently in the hand of Robert Luketic. Luketic is also directing Dallas, however, so it's unclear when 21 will go into production.