Director: George Hickenlooper
Writer: Norman Snider
Producers: Gary Howsam, Bill Marks, George Zakk
Production companies: Rollercoaster Entertainment, Vortex Words + Pictures
Key cast: Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Kelly Preston, Rachelle Lefevre, Jon Lovitz, Maury Chaykin
Distributor: eOne Films
International sales: Hannibal Pictures
Budget: $12.5 million

Casino Jack has the makings of a big Hollywood studio production: an impressive cast led by double Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, an Emmy-award winning director in George Hickenlooper, and a headline-grabbing true story about a high-profile American lobbyist’s fall from grace.

Yet the $12.5 million political drama is CAVCO-certified and originated at home from a screenplay by award-winning writer Norman Snider (who penned David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers), and was ultimately pulled together by a trio of Canadian producers including George Zakk, Bill Marks and Gary Howsam.

“[When] Kevin agreed to come on board the movie… that gave it legs,” recalls Howsam, who was introduced to the project through long-time friend Richard Rionda of Hannibal Pictures, which is handling international sales, excluding North America.

Talent agent Cassian Elwes, formerly of William Morris (which repped Spacey at the time), sent the actor the script and when he met up with director Hickenlooper (Factory Girl) in London last March, the duo “hit it off and shared a vision of the movie,” according to Howsam, who produces through his Toronto-based Rollercoaster Entertainment which owns U.S. rights to the film.

Once their star signed on, the producers had to scramble to ready production for the third week of May in Hamilton to coalesce with the actor’s busy schedule.

“We had to work hard to get it ready for that time, which was a bit of a push,” remembers Howsam, who credits coproducer Marks for swiftly recruiting the key crew for the film, including DOP Adam Swica (Survival of the Dead). Concurrently, Howsam turned to Toronto composer Jonathan Goldsmith (Away from Her) to do the score, while veteran American editor William Steinkamp (Tootsie, Scent of a Woman) also signed up for the project.

“The hand of Steinkamp is definitely there [in the final product],” remarks Howsam, adding that Casino Jack was the acclaimed editor’s first non-studio film.

Spacey (American Beauty, The Usual Suspects) stars as con-man Jack Abramhoff, the former high-powered U.S. lobbyist whose bribery schemes and fraudulent dealings with Indian casinos landed him in a federal prison. His six-year sentence was reduced, and he was recently paroled to a halfway house. Canuck Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile) co-stars as Abramhoff’s partner Michael Scanlon. The all-star cast is rounded-out by Kelly Preston, who plays Abramhoff’s wife Pam, Jon Lovitz, and Canadians Rachelle Lefevre and the late Maury Chaykin in one of his final roles.

Howsam says Spacey’s professionalism and dedication to the film had a tremendous impact on the cast and crew.

“He came completely prepared, had visualized all of his wardrobe… when your star is there and focused and delivering, there’s no room for dogging it,” Howsam says. (As part of his research, the actor also met with Abramhoff at Cumberland federal prison outside Washington.)

The veteran producer and former CEO of Peace Arch Entertainment, whose credits include The Tudors and The Good Shepherd, turned soft as he also recalled working with Chaykin, who passed away in Toronto on July 27, his 61st birthday. The noted character actor, who plays Big Tony, attended a cast and crew screening of the film at Deluxe just before Christmas.

Even though it was a smaller part, Chaykin is “terrific in the movie [and] had some of the best scenes,” smiles Howsam, who also recently worked with the actor on Sidney Furie’s Conduct Unbecoming.

“We spent a lot of time together… he had health problems but worked around it,” Howsam says, adding that the producers have decided to dedicate the film’s gala screening at TIFF to Chaykin.

The producers had hoped to have Casino Jack‘s world premiere at TIFF because the film was shot nearby Toronto and many of the key people involved are local, according to Howsam.

The film had not yet locked a U.S. distributor by press time, though producers were in discussions with several companies Stateside. Howsam says they were holding off on selling some bigger foreign territories until a U.S. distributor came on board.

eOne owns Canadian rights and is planning a December release.