Source:
Daily NewsFilming just wrapped on "Casino Jack," in which Kevin Spacey plays jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Having gotten a peek at Norman Snider's deft script, we can tell you that some of its real-life characters have cause for concern.
The screenplay paints George W. Bush and Karl Rove as much chummier with Abramoff than they've acknowledged. ("How you doing there, buff guy?" Bush asks the black-hatted con artist in one Oval Office scene.)
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay comes off worse. Cigar-smoking DeLay, played by Spencer Garrett, is seen golfing with Abramoff on that infamous junket to Scotland. He also enjoys the Polynesian scenery on the Mariana Islands, where Abramoff solicits his protection for American textile manufacturers, who, we see, are running sweatshops. Dining together at Abramoff's D.C. restaurant, Abramoff tells DeLay: "Tom, you'll never get a check in this restaurant." Says DeLay: "Good. … You're my dearest friend, Jack."
Reached at their Texas home, DeLay's wife, Christine, who accompanied him to the Marianas, fumed: "The Justice Department didn't find one e-mail that Tom and Jack exchanged! And yet they were supposed to be so close. They said Jack gave him cigars. He never did."
Bob Ney, former U.S. representative from Ohio, also takes his licks in a scene where Abramoff asks him to speak in the House on behalf of Abramoff's client, Suncruz Casinos. When Ney asks for "a pass on this one," Abramoff snaps,
"After the dollars I've funneled into you this year? I don't think so."
Ney, who served time for his role in the Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, quibbles that he didn't go to Scotland on the same trip as DeLay and only endorsed the casino "in the Congressional Record." But he admits he had "improper" dealings with Abramoff.
Mostly, he's pleased to be portrayed by Jeff Pustil. "I was afraid they'd pick some fat old guy," laughs Ney.
The script ends with Abramoff in prison, writing a letter to Bill Clinton, apparently
in the hope of winning the ex-President's help in gaining early release.
Director George Hickenlooper, who had five jailhouse interviews with Abramoff (Spacey came to one), says the "charismatic charlatan" told him he did write to Clinton.
"Jack feels betrayed by Bush and the Republicans," says Hickenlooper. "He knows their skeletons. He thinks that's why Bush turned down the Justice recommendenation for a reduced sentence. He's too dangerous to let out."
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/08/16/2009-08-16_kevin_spaceys_abramoff_is_tight_with_bush__cheney_in_casino_jack.html#ixzz0OP4QYSNORead more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2009/08/16/2009-08-16_kevin_spaceys_abramoff_is_tight_with_bush__cheney_in_casino_jack.html
BOP.gov
Name Register # Age-Race-Sex Release Date Location
JACK A ABRAMOFF 27593-112 50-White-M 12-01-2010 CUMBERLAND FCI
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