With every film festival I attend, there's always that one movie that stands out; the one film I get behind, talk up to my friends and really pimp out as much as I can. Not because I have something to gain from it making money -- I do it because I thoroughly enjoyed the experience I had while watching it. And it's an experience I want my friends and family to feel as well. At this year's Tribeca Film Festival, that film for me was Zak Penn's The Grand. Now, perhaps it has something to do with my love for mockumentaries -- the fact that I wrote and directed one myself -- or that I simply adore everyone in this cast. Whatever it is, the movie hit me in a way that just felt so good.

Fortunately, I was able to sit down with writer-director Zak Penn a few days after watching The Grand. Penn, who is more known for writing superhero flicks like X-Men: The Last Stand and next summer's The Incredible Hulk, also happens to be a very funny guy who surrounds himself with some of today's top comedic talent. Look, maybe you'll like The Grand, maybe you won't. I will admit that if you're not a fan of the loose, improv mockumentary-type style, then you might not get this film. Personally, I hope you do. That way we can convince Penn to make another comedy, because I'm already itching to see what he has in store for us down the line. What follows is the very low-key conversation we had inside the swanky lobby of the Tribeca Grand hotel. We talk everything from casting and shooting The Grand to how he approached one of Hollywood's most talked-about scripts; that being the highly-anticipated follow-up to Ang Lee's Hulk.

Cinematical: Most know you as the guy who writes superhero flicks, but then you've directed two low budget mockumentaries. Is it a case of one for the money and one for the passion, or do you get an equal amount of enjoyment out of each project, be it big budget or indie?

Zak Penn: Will, the X-Men movies I happen to really like. That's not an unfair characterization of how I do it, however sometimes the ones you do for money are also the ones you do for passion. Like with X3, I worked my ass off for a year and a half on that movie -- I love the franchise and would do anything to work on it. It's not about the money. But, it does pay a lot of money and it allows me to do stuff like [The Grand]. There is a truth to it in that doing that production re-writes, doing assignments, things like that; it's not nearly as fulfilling as doing something like The Grand. Particularly, I don't even try to write comedies for Hollywood anymore. I've written a couple, and I don't like the way they come out. PCU was the last comedy I wrote, and that was the last one I wanted anything to do with. So yeah, it's like I go do these movies to make a living, keep my family afloat, and then I go do these more interesting independent movies because, to me, at least I'm doing something different; something that's worth seeing.

Though most recognize Zak Penn as being the guy who writes all those superhero flicks (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk), he also has a wicked sense of humor. Back when he was still writing with Adam Leff, the two penned the hilarious cult hit PCU, and three years ago Penn teamed up with filmmaker Werner Herzog on the mockumentary Incident at Loch Ness. Now, he's back in the director's chair with one of two poker flicks playing at this year's Tribeca Film Festival; the other being the Curtis Hanson film Lucky You. Featuring an all-star cast of talent, and some of the funniest on-screen bits I've seen in a long time, The Grand marks Penn's second mockumentary -- a no-holds-barred look at the highly-comedic (at times), yet painful world of high-stakes tournament poker.

For me, it was a film that by far topped anything Christopher Guest has worked on recently, and though there are times when Penn gives his actors a little too much freedom -- to a point where the joke has already run its course -- The Grand ultimately ends up being a rare gem; I guess you could say it's the Royal Flush of comedies. But like with most mockumentaries, the majority of credit has to be given to the pic's cast. Here we have a talented group of veteran comedic actors who, when let loose, managed to deliver the goods in bulk. It didn't matter what part of the story they were up to or who was on screen, these people put so much funny into their performances that if you're not blinded by the tears your laughter has created, then I'd say something is definitely wrong. Either your sense of humor left you for another woman, or you just didn't get it. And if it's the latter then, well, you're really missing out -- because, folks, this truly is what comedy is all about.

Who would have thought Zak Penn, he of countless superhero movie scripts (in addition to such highlights as PCU and Inspector Gadget), would have anything in common with slightly unhinged (in the best possible way) German genius, Werner Herzog? It turns out that the two get along like gangbusters, as evidenced by Herzog's starring roles in both Incident at Loch Ness (Penn's directorial debut) and The Grand, the improvised poker flick that Penn is currently putting together.

Herzog is joined in the cast by a host of poker-loving actors, including Ray Liotta, Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, Ray Romano and Jason Alexander who, if his appearances on Celebrity Poker Showdown are anything to go by, will prove himself both annoying and painfully unfunny. Penn's plan is to direct from a screenplay outline, but to allow the actors to improvise most of their dialogue as they play real poker on their way to the championship round of a pretend international tournament; he starts shooting next month.

Ok, ok: Vegas and gambling and cards are still totally trendy and hip. Or at least, studios hope they are, because just yesterday a deal was signed for another gambling-based movie, this one about poker (yes, just like Deal, which was announced last month). Unlike Deal, though, which is a story of a mentor and student, and their epic poker battle, this new film is a "family comedy" about a family that is compelled by life to go to Vegas and play Texas Hold 'Em. What happened, see, is that their eight-grade son somehow lost all of his sister's savings (The Hollywood Reporter goes out of its way to emphasize that the boy had good intentions -- there is no sibling malice allowed in family comedies), and the family has no choice but to gamble to get it back. Obviously. In that situation, what wholesome family wouldn't roadtrip to Vegas? And "learn the true meaning of family along the way?" It's a no-brainer.

Yuri Zeltser and Cary Bickley will write the screenplay for indie group Bristol Bay Productions.

I wondered last week whether the Vegas/poker frenzy that has been gripping the US was finally coming to its end - ratings are down for the endless tournaments on TV, and some are wondering about the effectiveness of new, poker-based advertising. I never came up with an answer, but since there is at least one more poker flick on its way, we need to add a small production company and their cast and crew to the list of those who are fervently hoping the answer is "no."

As far as I'm concerned, even if poker is dead in the water the film, entitled Deal, has a chance for one reason and one reason only: it stars Burt Reynolds. Oh hell yes. Disappointingly, however, the plot sounds incredibly cliched, not to mention exactly like the one that drove the trying-really-hard-but-incredibly-boring ESPN series, Tilt. In the movie, Reynold's character - an ex-gambler - "teaches a hot-shot college student how to 'play the player,' vs. just the cards." You'll be stunned, I'm sure, to learn that the two have a falling out which eventually finds them "competing against each other in the World Poker Tour championships." Shocking.

The film also stars Shannon Elizabeth and Charles Durning, and is expected to start shooting in New Orleans early next week.

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.