Read our roundtable interview with actor-comedian Jon Lovitz, who portrays Adam Kidan, the former owner of SunCruz Casinos and former president of Atlantic & Pacific Mattress Company, in ‘Casino Jack.’ The new comedy biopic, which was directed by the late George Hickenlooper, follows the career of Jack Abramoff, a Washington, D.C. lobbyist and businessman who bought SunCruz with Kidan. Both Kidan and Abramoff pled guilty in 2005 for their purchase and handling of SunCruz, among other financial crimes.
Question (Q): The movie’s director, George Hickenlooper, recently passed away. What was like to work with?
Jon Lovitz (JL): He was the best. I was talking to the president of ATO, which is distributing the film, and said “I became friends with George,” and he said “I became friends with George.” The cast, everyone wanted to become friends with him. He was just the nicest guy. He was very humble, very intelligent, very articulate, really nice. He was just great. One reason I think the movie works is because he was so good to all the actors. So everybody just gives their best work. He always said “You’re such a great actor,” he made you feels so great. I was with him at the Austin Film Festival Wednesday and Thursday (October 27 and 28, 2010) and he died Saturday (October 30) night.
Q: How did you find out?
JL: Well, Spencer Garrett (who plays Tom Delay in the movie) called me. I was crying, it was horrible. We were both crying. I’m not ashamed to say it. It was a shock, horrible. We were all, Kevin Spacy (who portrays Abramoff in the film), me, Spencer, everyone in the movie, were all thrilled to be in a really good movie. I haven’t been offered roles left and right, but the ones I have been offered weren’t good, and I said I didn’t want to make another bad movie. It turned out to be a great movie. George said “You’re great in the movie.” I said, “You made the movie, and I’m glad you didn’t cut my scenes.” I said, a movie’s out for three months, and then after that it’s on DVD forever. But I’m proud to say I’m in a really good movie, a great movie. At the Austin Film Festival, they had the screening, and the audience loved it. I mean, they laughed at everything and every moment. Then there was a question and answer period. George, I can tell you what he said basically. When he grew up, his mother was very political, and was a leftist. He went to Yale, and became a Republican. About six years ago, he became a Democrat. He goes, “Now I think it’s good when the parties change. It’s good for awhile, and then the Republicans get greedy, and things should change, and then they change back. That’s kind of how he felt, he was very politically oriented. That’s why he was so interested in this.
Q: When you were looking up information on Kidan, when you were looking up the role, what was your first impression of what he was like?
JL: I’ll tell you, there was hardly anything on him on the Internet. I found two pictures of him, and some video of him walking to court. So the first picture I saw, he was pretty bald on top, but he had red hair. But he’s smiling really smart, like this (he smirks). In the movie, I did that a lot. The next picture of him is in court, his hair’s all white, he looks like this (he opens eyes really wide, and has a surprised look on his face). So I said, “Oh, there’s two opposites right there.” So how do you get from that to that? Then I read on-line, I had to, about the case and about SunSail (what the cruise line is called in the movie), but it’s really called SunCruz. It’s all real. Kidan started a sandwich chain in Canada, which is still there, in Toronto, then went down to Ft. Lauderdale. (Land-developer, SunCruz casino operator and restaurant owner) Gus Boulis was killed. The guys arrested for the murder worked for Kidan. George said “Do you want to talk to him (Kidan)?” and I said “No, he’s in prison, maybe he murdered this guy.” I didn’t want him to be mad at me, and say “You didn’t play me right.” It didn’t matter, because at the end of the day, you have to play him like in the script, that’s who you’re playing. So I used that, and what I read. Certain things, one of the first things you do as an actor, you look at what all the other characters say about your character. Look at Kelly Preston’s character (she plays Abramoff’s wife, Pam), after she meets me, she has this scene, and she says (to Kevin) “Why are you working with that guy?” She’s completely grossed out about him, disgusted. So that tells me what I have to do to make her say that. In that scene, if you watch it, I’m hitting on her, winking at her, a complete sleaze. Was he like that? I don’t know, but that’s what was in the script. So that’s what you have to play.
Q: How familiar were you with the rest of the case before signing onto the movie?
JL: I remember hearing about it, I remember hearing he (Abramoff) was a super-lobbyist, and there was a big scandal. But I really wasn’t educated about it, that’s all I knew. I didn’t really know what a lobbyist did, and then I started reading about it, learning to be honest. I said I wanted to play the character real. George offered me the part, and to be honest, I didn’t know who he was. But he was really nice. I didn’t really know who he was, but I thought, if he’s good enough for Kevin Spacey, he’s good enough for me. I know Kevin’s really smart. I’ve known Kevin for years. He wanted me in the movie too. That made me take the part. Working with Kevin was great, he is such a good actor. I’ve known him for years. He really feeds you up great, he serves everything up like a softball, and you can serve it right out of the park. He was great to work with. George said “You and Kevin have a good chemistry, it’s great.”
Q: At what point in your life did you know comedy was for you?
JL: Since I’m like five. My dad was a doctor, he had a nurse, he had two kids, Greg and Michael. I stayed at their house one night, and Michael was like four, and I was five. He had these twin beds, and his mom was like, “Okay guys, go to sleep.” But there was light coming in the room. I couldn’t sleep. I would just lay there, and couldn’t close my eyes. All of sudden, Michael would just pop up and make a face at me. Then he did it again, and kept doing it. I was crying-laughing. It was killing me. I remember then thinking I want to be funny like Michael. I had a grandfather, my parents got divorced and my dad got remarried. He was a great guy, and we were very close. He was a really funny guy, hilarious. I wanted to be like him. My dad would goof off. Then I saw the Woody Allen movie ‘Take the Money and Run.’ I saw this movie and said “This is the guy.” He had so much of a sense of humor. At that point I wanted to be funny like Woody Allen.
Q: One of the interesting things about the movie is that it takes a serious story and tells it in a light-hearted way. Is that an interesting balance, as you play an over-the-top character. It is based on drama, a scandal.
JL: What happened was the script was written as a straight drama. George went to visit Jack Abramoff five times. The way he was was different from how he was portrayed in the press. He said he was very funny, he would do impressions and he had a good sense of humor and was charming. I knew he’d be charming, that’s how he got away with everything. They started putting more of that into the script. I remember taking my scenes seriously, then I would think, this is too flat. I’d see humor in it, it would be obvious. There was no other way to do it. Like the first scene I’m in, the dinner, he (Kevin) says “I’m trying to give you something, I’m trying to give you something.” Then I say “What’s Imelda (Marcos, a Filippino politician) like?” For whatever reason, I’m crazy about Imelda Marcos, and I’m kinda letting him know I’m in. The thing about Kevin is, he totally picked up on it.
Q: The fight scene you’re in (between Kidan and Boulis, who is played by Daniel Kash) is really brutal, was that difficult to shoot?
JL: No. I mean, we shot it at night, and I was tired. That was the only time I was like, “George, how long is this going to take?” He said “As long as it takes!” Then we both said sorry, I was cranky, he was cranky. It was nothing really, we both felt bad. It was kinda fun. It was way worse the way they show it. I was like, “Wow!” It’s the way they shoot the stuff. George said “You’re a great dramatic actor, you made the scene.” I said “That’s nothing! That’s the easiest stuff to do.” Even when your kids hit you, you’re like “Ohhh…” That’s all I was doing. So he knees me. “Ohhh…” You know what I mean. It’s not pleasant. I was glad when it was over. The guy was hitting me on the chest. After awhile, you’re like stop. You work it out. Daniel was great, he was a big part of that scene. He’s acting. Then you have the sound effects. When I saw the scene, it was way more brutal in the movie. Way more than I thought it would be. It’s the way he cut it back and forth. I think that’s where the movie really turns.
Written by: Karen Benardello
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