Ryan Reynolds’ latest film “Mississippi Grind” premiered at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center Tuesday night.
In attendance at the world premiere was Ryan Reynolds and the directors of the film.
“Mississippi Grind” is about a gambler named Gerry (Ben Mendelsohn) from Iowa, who, like most gambling addicts, finds himself in a bit of a pickle. He’s broke. He’s losing all of the time. He owes a lot of people money.
Insert Curtis (played by Reynolds). He walks into Gerry’s life like a beautiful leprechaun, bestowing incredible luck upon him.
Curtis is a bit of a drifter. He has no set home. He just travels all over the place. Even though he’s a bit of a good luck charm for Gerry, he doesn’t care about winning…mostly because he wins all of the time. He doesn’t really ever lose.
Curtis is drawn to people like Gerry, guys on self-destruct mode. He’s tried to help other people like him in the past, people that need help seeing how they can become a better person. Yet, all through this, you wonder if he is truly trying to save Gerry from himself? The answer is: who knows.
After being threatened by some loan sharks, Gerry gets this idea that he should go to New Orleans to win enough money to pay off everyone. He doesn’t have much money, so he asks Curtis for a $500 loan. The buy-in to the poker tournament in New Orleans is $25,000. Gerry proposes they stop in a few places on the way to New Orleans to win the money they need. Curtis fronts him $2,000 and they head on an epic journey from Iowa to New Orleans to win it big.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooca5idaNSk]
Here is the audio from the talk with Reynolds, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (the directors) at The Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Of note, for Reynolds fans, he says that after Deadpool, it will be the last time he plays a superhero character.
Mississippi Grind hits theaters on Friday, September 25th.