Breaking Glass Pictures
has tabbed Feb. 11 as the DVD debut date for writer/director Bernard Rose’s 2
Jacks, a generational tale about the inner-workings of show business in
Hollywood with a Tolstoy twist.
The knee-jerk is: Wow,
what a cast Rose has assembled for this indie production. It looks to be a budget-buster.
Danny Huston (son of John
Huston and grandson of Walter Huston and accomplished actor in his own right — 21
Grams, The Constant Gardener, The Proposition, etc.) and Jack
Huston (Danny’s nephew, who is perhaps best known as Richard Harrow in the Boardwalk
Empire cable series — although you might not recognize him here … also
in American
Hustle, which is just opening) as father and son for starters.
Add in Jacqueline Bisset
and Sienna Miller, who play the same character at different points in time,
plus Billy Zane, Richard Portnow, Jamie Harris (son of Richard Harris) and the
exotic Izabella Miko (among others) and you begin to suspect that they are
friends and friends-of-friends who joined the production based on Rose’s clever
script adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic 1856 short story, “Two Hussars.”
If this isn’t enough to
attract you to this Breaking Glass Pictures release, then simply check out the
producer credits and therein could be the secret as to how this indie was
assembled.
Actress-turned-film
producer Julia Verdin, who is building quite the resume as a filmmaker, reached
out, networked and did what any good producer would do … she begged, she cajoled
and she said “please.” She delivered a
winner.
The opening introduces us
to Danny Huston as Jack Hussar, Sr., a filmmaker with a track record who has
seen better days — the gambling, drinking and womanizing have all taken a toll. He’s on the hustle to make a new film, but
lacks the financing and some of his connections have distinctly turned cold
(bridges burned, so to speak). Through
all of this he still manages to make time for the seduction of a young beauty
named Diana (Sienna Miller), which becomes an important plot element.
After this sequence is
played out, the film jumps ahead some 20 years and we are introduced to his
son, Jack Hussar, Jr. (Jack Huston), who is trying to follow in his father’s
footsteps, but we soon suspect that he may have the intelligence, but not the savoir-faire to accomplish what his
father did.
After all, getting a film
made in Hollywood is, and always has been, one part talent and one part “the
art of the deal.” 2 Jacks focuses, quite
nicely, on the latter.
Bonus features on the 2
Jacks DVD release include a behind-the-scenes production featurette and
footage selected from various film festival Q&A sessions.
.jpg "Three Stooges Six Film Collection From Mill Creek Entertainment On Feb. 4")
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