| August 1998
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EN and Matt Damon
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Harper's Bazaar September issue has a one page article (p. 398) on Matt Damon and Edward Norton entitled
"Good Guys Don't Gamble". It features a casual pic of the two and consists mainly of a summary of Rounders,
a discussion on their participation in the World Series of Poker, and their views on playing poker.
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Rounders articles
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Details magazine September issue has a cover article on Matt Damon along with an accompanying article by Rounders
screenwriters David Levien and Brian Koppelman on the underground poker scene called "Dens of Thieves."
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Fight Club pic
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People(8/31/98) has a pic of Brad Pitt from Fight Club in the Star Tracks section (p. 18). View the pic!
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Fall Movie Preview
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The September edition of Premiere magazine features a fall movie preview and discusses
both Rounders (pic of Damon, comments by director John Dahl) and American History X
(comments by Fairuza Balk and Edward Furlong). The page before the Rounders section is a full page
ad of the Rounders film poster
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AHX TV segment
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Access Hollywood (8/26/98) had a first look at American History X. The
scenes in the segment were different than the ones in the AHX trailer found on
Hollywood
Online. The release date mentioned in this segment was Oct 30 (probably just for limited release)
For more info on this segment and the movie itself,
visit the American History X page.
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AHX, Rounders
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The Mr. Showbiz Confidential column (8/26/98) is entitled "Norton's Big Screen Gamble".
In the column, Norton talks about Rounders and also gives his opinion about the
American History X editing disagreements.
View the column! For more info on the AHX disagreements,
follow this link.
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Rounders premiere
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Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and E! News Daily all featured
segments (8/26/98) on the Tuesday, Aug 25 premiere of Rounders.
People Daily Online
(8/26/98) featured a photo of Famke Janssen, Edward Norton, and Gretchen Mol at the
Rounders premiere.
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Rounders free tickets
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Hollywood Online
is holding a contest in which they are giving away free movie tickets to see Rounders.
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IFC's Split Screen
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The Independent Film Channel's
series "Split Screen" starts its third season (episode #21) with a segment
on Matt Damon and Edward Norton participating in the World Series of Poker. It
premiered on IFC on Monday, but it repeats on Saturday, August 29 @5:30pm.
This episode will also show on Bravo on
Friday, August 28 @ 11:30PM & 4:30AM.
Go to IFC's Split Screen Page.
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Rounders prelim website
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Miramax now has a Rounders page on their
site. Visit Miramax's site.
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Rounders TV segment
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Access Hollywood (8/24/98) had a behind the scenes look at Rounders tonight.
E! News Daily (8/25/98) had a small interview with Matt Damon on Rounders
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Boston Film Festival
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Variety.com (8/21/98) reports that Rounders will be
shown on the opening night of the Boston Film Festival, which is being held from September 10-20, 1998.
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Rounders TV segment
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Entertainment Tonight(8/20/98) had a segment featuring scenes from Rounders. The scenes
were Damon telling Mol how much he liked returning to poker and a beaten up Damon asking Turturro
for money. Between these two was a flash of scenes from the Rounders movie trailer.
Get Rounders trailer A,
trailer B
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Rounders poster
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The Rounders movie poster featuring Edward Norton, Gretchen Mol, and Matt Damon is starting to show up
in various places. One site with a very large image of this poster is Dark
Horizons. At the bottom of the poster, it reads "Read the Miramax novel and screenplay". At his time,
no information on these upcoming print versions are available on
barnesandnoble.com nor on Amazon.com, two of the largest online bookstores.
However, the poster mentioned above does not seem to be the only Rounders poster. Check out the
Rounders Photo Gallery to see both posters.
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Rounders
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MattDamon.com has a wonderful Rounders
section called 'Rounders' Hotel
and Casino
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Fall Movie Preview
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Entertainment Weekly Fall Movie Preview issue (August 21/28, 1998) features Rounders
in its September movies section. The Rounders portion contains a one and one half page picture
of Edward Norton, Matt Damon and John Turturro at the poker table (modified by EW for a stylistic effect) along with comments
by Norton, screenwriter Brian Koppelman, and director John Dahl (two and 1/2 pages, one large pic).
American History X is mentioned in the October section (one paragraph, one pic)
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Counting Crows song
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Entertainment Weekly Online
reports (8/11/98) that Counting Crows have just recorded a song that will play during the opening credits
of Rounders
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EN interview
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The September issue of Jane magazine has an interview with Edward Norton conducted by the
screenwriters of Rounders, David Levien and Brian Koppelman (one page, 2 pics- casual one of Norton,
the other a scene from Rounders of Matt Damon and Gretchen Mol).
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Toronto Film Festival
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Army Archerd's Just for Variety column (Variety.com,
8/7/98) reports that American History X director Tony Kaye is trying to remove the picture
from the Toronto Film Fest. More on the situation
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AHX prepared for release
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Army Archerd's Just for Variety column (Variety.com,
8/5/98) reports that New Line is happy with a version of American History X which it is preparing
for an October 16 (limited?) release. This comes after a public battle over editing between director
Tony Kaye and New Line. More on the editing of AHX
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On-set of Fight Club
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The Hollywood Stock Exchange website
has a column by Miss Information (7/15/98) that describes her visit to the set of Fight Club and some info
on the screenplay. WARNING: The column does contain plot spoilers, so view at your own risk. However, this
site has a good way of visually camouflaging the spoilers so it is possible to read the article without finding
out too much. Visit the column!
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EW article
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The cover feature for the Aug. 7, 1998 edition of Entertainment Weekly is Hollywood's
25 Greatest Actors. Norton is one of the actors mentioned in the "Who's Next" section (no pic, 2 sentences). Also, the Summer 1998 edition
of Fade In has a list of the "Top 100 People in Hollywood You Need to Know".
Norton is also mentioned in this list (no pic, 3 sentences).
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| July 1998
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Venice Film Festival, AHX meeting
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Rounders will be shown in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, which runs from
September 3-13 (Variety website, 7/30/98). Director John Dahl and
Matt Damon are scheduled to attend the event to promote the film. Variety website
(7/31/98) also contained an article on American History X. This article concerned
an unusual meeting between director Tony Kaye and New Line Cinema executives.
Read the article.
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Out of the Past
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Out of the Past has a NY release date of July 31. For more information on the film,
visit Zeitgeist Films
site or the Out of the Past page on this site.
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Fight Club teeth chipping
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Entertainment Weekly (7/24/98; Reel World p. 48) has a mention on Fight Club.
It states that Brad Pitt voluntarily had his teeth chipped for his role in the movie. He will have them
fixed when the film wraps. The paragraph mentions that filming will finish at the end of October
(filming started on June 8th).
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POKERwwwORLD
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POKERwwwORLD site has a section on Rounders.
Its located on the "Front Page" section. Go to Rounders Section
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Rounders trailer online
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Loews Trailer Park
just added the Rounders movie trailer to their site. This trailer is different
than the one on the Hollywood
Online Site, which done while the movie was still in production. The newer one has some
different scenes in it, but its still very similar to the first. I saw this trailer played in the
lobby of a movie theater over the July 11-12 weekend. I imagine that it will start showing as a
theatrical preview very soon.
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World Series of Poker coverage
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ESPN televised (7/11/98) the final table in the Texas Hold'em Match (No Limit) of the 1998 World Series of Poker.
This program also featured an interview with Matt Damon and Edward Norton. They both played in the tournament
and were knocked out in the earlier rounds. For more information on the interview and on their participation in the event,
visit my poker page. For official results,
visit the 1998 WSOP official page.
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Rounders screenplay excerpt
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The July 1998 issue of Esquire contains an excerpt from the Rounders screenplay.
The excerpt mainly sets the scene around Damon's
character Mike, with voice-overs that describe his philosophy of poker. It then leads into Mike
trying his hand at high stakes poker, risking more money and playing with the pros. It shows the
interaction of the players around the table. The excerpt ends before the hand is revealed.
The Rounders screenplay was written by David Levien and Brian Koppelman. From the
Writers Website Rounders screenplay review that I've seen, this excerpt is most likely the
opening scene or one of the first scenes in the movie. The screenplay review reveals the majority of the
action in the film. Don't view it if it might spoil the movie for you.
Rounders screenplay review (view at your own risk) [broken link].
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Orson Welles
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The Hollywood Reporter Weekly Edition (6/30-7/6/98) discusses the reemerging popularity
of Orson Welles. The article describes upcoming projects on Orson Welles (including a small
mention of RKO 281). It also discusses why some friends of Welles are upset to
see previously unproduced Welles' projects moving forward.
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New Yorker letter
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The New Yorker magazine (7/6/98) contains a letter by Edward Norton in response to an article
on Courtney Love (6/8/98). Love has been fighting the release of the film "Kurt and Courtney" by
filmmaker Nick Broomfield. "Kurt and Courtney" is in documentary form
detailing the life and death of Kurt Cobain and his relationship with wife Courtney Love. Norton's letter
states that Broomfield interviewed individuals for the film that would purposely paint an unflattering
picture of Love and that the author of the New Yorker article, Daphne Merkin, is basically
taking advantage of the stir caused by Broomfield's film. I have not seen the film nor have I read the
article so there is not much I can say about either. In a
Wall of Sound interview with Broomfield, he does describe Love in harsh terms.
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| June 1998
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AHX director article
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The Los Angeles Times Calendar Section (6/23/98) had an article on Tony Kaye, the
director of American History X. The article described Kaye's disagreements with
New Line Cinema over editing of American History X. I am unable
to produce a summary that can describe the complexity of the situation from all sides, so I have
included the entire text of the article. Read the LA Times article
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RKO 281
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Variety's website (6/22/98) is
reporting new info on RKO 281. This movie was first mentioned by
Variety (April 1997) to be a big budget picture detailing the fight between Orson Welles and William
Randolph Hearst. The director was to be Ridley Scott and the first rate
cast that was proposed included Edward Norton, Marlon Brando, Madonna,
Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman. The story mentions that the picture may now become an HBO movie
instead and how some of the plans have changed. Norton is the only actor listed above that
is not mentioned in this article, which is strange since he was
proposed to portray Welles in the movie. Read the article!
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Fight Club filming starts
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The Hollywood Reporter Weekly Edition June 16-22 (Films in Production
section) reports that Fight Club started filming on June 8th. It is being shot in Los
Angeles and the cast includes Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham
Carter, Meat Loaf, Eion Bailey, and Jared Leto.
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Rounders trailer
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Entertainment Tonight (6/12/98) had a segment on Rounders. The segment was a first look
at the movie trailer (preview). The trailer is basically the same as the one available by
download off the Hollywood Online
website Movie Guide Section with a few modifications. Matt Damon is the central focus,
looking at his dual life as a student (with girlfriend Gretchen Mol) and as a card shark to help
friend Edward Norton. Entertainment Tonight added a voice-over
to explain the plot, removing the voice-over by Miramax. There was a change of some scenes
in the trailer. The older trailer had more emphasis on some of the other actors and on
"atmosphere" (just my opinion). The newer one seemed to have added scenes with two goals
in mind: (1) show a sweet relationship between Damon and Mol and (2)emphasize that Norton's
character is a sleezeball (just my opinion again). Since the name of Norton's character
is supposed to be Worm, I don't think I'm going out on a limb.
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RKO 281, Runaway Jury
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Please see the upcoming projects list on the main page for updates on RKO 281
and the Runaway Jury. Edward Norton has withdrawn from the Runaway Jury
and may or may not be in RKO 281 (personal
communication with Brian Swardstrom, In House Entertainment 6/2/98). For more info,
see the main page
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| May 1998
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Rounders script review
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The Writers Website has a review of the Rounders screenplay.
While it doesn't reveal the ending, it does reveal the majority of the action.
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WSOP pic and summary
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People magazine May 25 issue in the "Scoop" section (pg. 15)
has a few paragraphs on the World Series of Poker (WSOP). It features the
same picture of Damon and Norton that was in the Entertainment Weekly
story on WSOP. More on WSOP
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KTF screenwriter joins Fight Club
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Variety's website (Dish column-
5/21/98) reports that Stuart Blumberg is the latest addition to the cast
of the Fight Club. In October 1997, Variety announced that
Blumberg, Norton, and Howard (Hawk) Koch Jr made a deal with Columbia for
Keeping the Faith. Norton will star and possibly direct the picture,
Blumberg wrote the screenplay, and all three will produce the film. Visit
the Keeping the Faith page for information on the
upcoming film.
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Rounders pic
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US magazine June issue (pg. 53) has a picture (with a short caption)
of Norton and Damon on the set of Rounders. Entertainment Weekly
May 22 issue (p. 12) has a paragraph that details Damon and Norton at the
World Series of Poker, along with a picture of both of them at the event.
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AHX and Rounders trailers
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Movie trailers for both American History X and Rounders
are available! The Hollywood Online
website Movie Guide Section has pages for both movies. From these pages
you can view (or download) the movie trailer, which is the preview that
you see in the theater shown before the movie you came to see. Be prepared
to wait, the AHX trailer is 7.5 MB in .mov form while Rounders
is 11.6 MB. Tip: if you are having trouble downloading (like I was), you
may want to try doing this early in the morning when the Internet traffic
is low.
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WSOP segments
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Both Access Hollywood and E! News Daily had segments of
Norton and Damon at the World Series of Poker.
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WSOP coverage
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Entertainment Tonight had a segment on Norton and Damon at the
World Series of Poker. The Entertainment
Tonight website features has an interview with Damon and Norton, along
with a Quicktime movie and an audio quote.
Take a look
at the text of the interview. A number of the wire services wrote up
this event, which I've included on a separate page.
More
info on Damon and Norton at the poker tournament. A more comprehensive
summary is on the Rounders page
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Meat Loaf joins Fight Club
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Variety (5/12/98) reports that rock star/actor Meat Loaf has
joined the cast of Fight Club. They didn't mention which role he
would play .Variety story on Meat Loaf
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Summer Movie Preview
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The May 15 issue of Entertainment Weekly has a Summer Movie Preview
Section (it covers May through August releases). It mentions a August release
for the documentary Out of the Past, but does not mention Rounders
at all. Unofficial sites have been reporting both August and September
(Sept.11) release dates. The Miramax site
has no mention of Rounders at this point. Movieline (May 1998) discusses
a late summer release for the movie. Since the best source of nailing down
an upcoming release date seems to be tarot cards, I would imagine that
September is as good a guess as any for Rounders release.
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EN and Damon in WSOP
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The Associated Press (5/5/98) reports that Matt Damon and Edward Norton
are expected to participate in next week's no-limit Texas Hold'em final
of the 29th annual World Series of Poker.
Associated
Press Story. 1998
World Series of Poker site
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Bonham Carter signs on to Fight
Club
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Variety.Com has posted (5/4/98) the official word that Helena Bonham
Carter has joined the Fight Club. It also provided this description
of the plot: "Pic is about a young man (Norton) who falls into a love triangle
with a woman (Bonham Carter) and another man (Pitt). The two men start
a secret society that offers young professionals the chance to engage in
brutal fisticuffs." Variety story on Bonham
Carter
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