Wahlberg portrays a college professor who has a secret addiction to gambling and is on the verge of landing himself in big trouble.
- Oct 23, 2014
AceShowbiz - Those used to seeing Mark Wahlberg with his bulge may be getting used to his slimmed-down image in "The Gambler". The 43-year-old "Transformers: Age of Extinction" actor portrays a professor with gambling problem in the movie remake which first teaser trailer has just hit online.
The one-minute video is flagged red band for its profanity-laden conversations. It's basically John Goodman's loan shark character Frank telling Wahlberg's Jim Bennett that borrowing money from him will expose the gambler to violence and trouble if things go south. "If I give you this money and you don't pay me back, there are no rules. You get up, you get out," Frank says in the teaser.
"The Gambler" is adapted from the short novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was turned into a feature film back in 1974, starring James Caan as Jim. The story centers on a New York English professor who inspires his students but suffers from a secret gambling addiction. The affliction causes him to extort money from his mother and convince one of his students to shave points in a basketball game.
Rupert Wyatt, who directed "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", is helming the action movie from a script written by "The Departed" scribe William Monahan. The pic will open in limited theaters on December 19 and expand on January 1, 2015.
