Zak Penn is getting back in the director’s chair for a follow-up to his brilliant mockumentary, Incident at Loch Ness. This time the subject is poker, and the movie is called The Grand; once again the film will be improvisational, with a cast of terrific actors playing real poker games.
The story is about an international poker tournament, and unlike Loch Ness, the actors will all be playing characters instead of themselves. Variety lists the cast as including Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Ray Romano, Jason Alexander, Cheryl Hines and Incident at Loch Ness star and German genius Werner Herzog. Earlier this week I received some information about this film that included the cast list Variety printed, but also some extra names, including David Cross, Richard Kind, Michael Karrow (who was great as the cryptozoologist in Incident) and none other than the immortal Gabe Kaplan, Mr. Kotter.
Who ever imagined we would live to see the day when Mr. Kotter and Werner Herzog would share the same frame?
My source tells me there are still more names, including some cool cameos, to be announced. The Grand starts shooting in Vegas in July.