Unlike many other child/teenage stars from the 80’s whose careers have nosedived, Christian Slater is still acting in movies…..well, sort of.  Of course, it’s kind of hard to say he’s still a star since his last big role was in the 2005 film Alone in the Dark.  But hey, at least it’s something.  Perhaps Slater might be able to revive his star power in a new poker movie he’s going to star in called Girls, Guns, and Gambling.

The film is set to be released in 2011, and just the cast alone is interesting enough since Gary Oldman and Dane Cook are co-stars with Slater.  As if Oldman sharing the screen with supposed comedian Dane Cook and has-been Slater isn’t strange enough, wait till you get a load of the tagline.

The producers of Girls, Guns, and Gambling bill the movie as, “Elvis impersonators, Indians, modern cowboys, a 6-foot-tall blond assassin, a frat boy, a corrupt sheriff and a prostitute into a chase for a priceless American Indian artifact stolen during a poker game at an Indian casino.”

To clear the tagline up, Oldman is going to play Elvis, Dane Cook is going to be the sheriff, Helena Mattsson is the 6-foot-tall blond assassin, and Christian Slater is presumably the frat boy, although he’s listed as John Smith.

This movie sounds like every terrible Las Vegas/gambling stereotype brought to life.  Strangely, Girls, Guns, and Gambling also sounds like it will be fun to watch.  One can’t help but wondering how much it will have to do with poker as opposed to the chase for the Indian artifact.  Nevertheless, it should be entertaining.

Typically, if you show me 5 poker movies, I can show you at least 4 bad poker movies. However, sometimes a film comes along that gets poker and gets film making at the same time.

Shark Out of Water is a new short film by Juan Riedinger, produced by Andrew Halliwell. It’s garnering some significant buzz and has been hitting the film festival circuits as of late.

It’s well-acted by Matty Finochio and Artine Brown (with a subtle, yet good, Phil Hellmuth cameo). It’s a poker movie made by guys that know and play poker. They were literally sleeping in a casino during some of the shooting. That’s dedication.

The film depicts what can happen when players put poker ahead of everything else, and then hit a bad run. It’s compelling and troubling at once.

Shot in Vancouver, Canada, the film reads like a proof of concept more than a complete movie. By that I mean, it’s a short and thus has its limitations. I would like to see a poker-based feature from these guys. After watching SOOW, I feel like it would be an instant hit amongst poker players and drama-lovers alike.

Our Affiliate Director, Atil, had a chance to sit down with Halliwell recently and I’ve included that invterview below. I really suggest checking out the piece and the film. Both are great.

When is the official launch date?
The film has already screened at a number of festivals across North America, but we officially launched our DVD with Special Features on November 15, 2009. The ‘launch’ became ‘official’ when we heard Phil Hellmuth himself “tweeted” about the film on his personal page, stating: “I have a scene in Shark out of Water, a short film that was a nominee for Best Short Drama at the Leo Awards.” This definitely started a buzz about the film and attracted A LOT of people to our website: www.sharkoutofwater.com.

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