Jack Abramoff is something of a contradiction across the pond. Most people see the former lobbyist as a Gordon Gekko type, who charmed people out of parting with money at the highest levels and never quite delivered, while some still see him as a hero. The fact he’s been spending time in prison might tip you off as to which side won out – and now his story is being told in George Hickenlooper’s Casino Jack, in which Kevin Spacey plays Abramoff, and which has just shoved a trailer online over at Apple.
Abramoff is such a meaty subject for filmmakers that there’s already a documentary about him – Alex Gibney’s Casino Jack and the United States of Money – and it’s easy to see why. A big-money lobbyist for powerful firms, he uses a smooth personality and style to crank open the wallets of some of the country's wealthiest people, ostensibly (he claims) to try to do good but in reality to build a fortune for himself.
But his greed soon overtakes him and when he and partner Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper) rope in a mafia-connected friend (Jon Lovitz) for their latest scheme, the trouble really starts. Soon he’s being investigated by the Feds for massive fraud.
Hickenlooper’s take is listed as “inspired by” the story, so expect some fictionalised events and people here and there – still, Abramoff’s story couldn’t be more cinematic if it included giant robots battering each other across Los Angeles…
Check out the trailer over at Apple and wonder just how much fun Spacey had playing this guy.