Rounders, the 1998 film directed by John Dahl and starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Malkovich did fairly well commercially when it came out, with a domestic box office of $22 million. But it’s what the film has done since its release that has earned it legendary status. The movie about professional poker player Mike McDermott virtually kicked off the poker boom, and now Texas Hold’em is played by an estimated 40 million people on a regular basis. Now would be an ideal time to revisit the characters that helped make poker mainstream, twenty years on.
In a recent interview on the Rich Eisen show, Damon talked about how the option for a sequel to Rounders had been discussed. On the talk show, the multiple Oscar nominated actor spoke of how the youth of today are brought up with online poker, and have seen millions of hands by the age of twenty-one while playing in online tournament settings. This modern way of playing poker has turned it into an entirely different game to the one that was depicted in Rounders all those years ago, and players are now operating on a whole new level. According to Damon, the writers of the film, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, have thought about how it would be interesting to pit the McDermott character from the previous film against the online-poker-trained generation of today.
It’s certainly an interesting premise, and one which would definitely appeal to the players that hone their skills online day in, day out. And considering that poker is now one of the most popular pastimes in the world, it hasn’t been represented that much on the big screen over the years. Damon doesn’t exactly need to reprise his role in an effort to boost his career – if he were to do it, it would be for the love of the project. But if there was a Rounders 2 it could be beneficial to Norton, who has not quite become the legendary actor that many had predicted after his early work. After making a name for himself in starring roles in classics such as American History X and Fight Club, Norton rarely lands a part these days as the lead actor. In addition to perhaps reinvigorating his career, fans of the original film would love to see Norton’s Lester “Worm” Murphy character again, whose antics stole the show at times.
Rounders was distributed by Miramax Films, who a few years ago came to an agreement with The Weinstein Company that said the latter could make sequels of some old Miramax films. Last year, Harvey Weinstein claimed that he had discussed making Rounders 2 with Matt Damon and was sure it was going to go ahead. He said the film would start in Paris, would once again feature Damon and Norton, but would involve a new bad guy to replace Malkovich. According to Deadline, the producer has his eye on Robert De Niro for the part. It would most definitely be cool if this long-awaited sequel came to fruition, but unfortunately it’s still too early to say.