Playing casino games is an activity which people all over the world have loved to take part in for a long time. Whether it is roulette, poker or blackjack, these fun games offer excitement, thrills and plenty of drama for players. The popularity of casino gaming has made casinos themselves a major part of popular culture and something most people are familiar with now.
Of course, in modern times, this has developed to include safe, secure online casinos. These digital platforms offer a unique blend of convenience, cool bonuses and awesome games that have found favour with millions of people around the UK. If you plan to have fun with these types of games online, just remember to find the best UK casino sites to play at first. This is key because it will mean you can game safely and have the best time.
When it comes to casinos being a part of pop culture, their presence in many TV shows and films is a major reason behind this. One casino-inspired film which made waves recently was Molly’s Game – but what is it about and what is the real story behind it?
Molly’s Game – What was the film about?
There is no doubt how much passion films and TV inspire in UK fans. You only have to look at Peaky Blinder’s fans reaction to Stephen Graham making an appearance on that show for proof of this. Molly’s Game picked up a lot of passionate fans when released in 2017 and was the first film directed by Aaron Sorkin.
Starring Jessica Chastain in the lead role, it also has great supporting performances from actors such as Idris Elba and Kevin Costner. Based on the memoir by casino entrepreneur Molly Bloom, the movie tells the tale of how Bloom moved to LA when injury ruined her bid to become an Olympic skier. After picking up a job as a waitress to make money, she ends up helping to run underground poker games for Hollywood celebs, sports stars and business high-flyers in a club called ‘The Cobra Room’.
After deciding to setup her own underground poker games in LA, she eventually ends up running them in New York. After a while though she is put under pressure by Mafia members to hire their services to muscle players who have not settled their debts with her and is put under investigation by the FBI. Although a deal is offered where she would receive no sentence in return for handing over her gambling records, she declines and is given 200 hours community service in addition to a $200,000 fine and one year of probation.
How does real life differ from the film?
As with most films, the action depicted on-screen is not always 100% true to what happened in real life. But what is the real story behind Molly’s Game?
As with a lot of movies, many differences lie in the names given to people and places. ‘The Cobra Lounge’ for example was re-named for the film. In real life, the first poker games Bloom got involved with in LA happened at the famous Viper Room on Sunset Strip. In addition, Bloom’s boss there in real life was named Darin Feinstein – not Reardon Green.
Another big character-based difference between reality and Hollywood revolves around Charlie Jaffey – Bloom’s lawyer in the film. He did not exist at all in real life and was someone director Sorkin made up to benefit the story. While Bloom did go to court and have lawyers, Jaffey was not a real person.
Of course, the other big difference between the film and real life is that the true identities of the huge names who played at these underground poker games is never revealed. We never find out Player X’s real-name for example – but strong rumours still abound that this is allegedly Spiderman star Tobey Maguire.
Molly’s Game – Fact vs fiction
When trying to work out the truth around Molly’s Game, it soon becomes clear that director Aaron Sorkin actually told the story pretty accurately on the whole. Of course, it is sometimes not possible to fit everything into a movie from a book and it is necessary to change the names of characters to avoid legal trouble.
While there are certainly a few obvious ways the film of Molly’s Game deviates from the true story, it does seem to give a pretty straight up version of what really happened to Molly Bloom. Whether the true identities of everyone who played at these underground games and how much they each lost will ever come out is open to debate. It would certainly make for huge headlines if it did though!
You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.