The popularity of poker has grown incredibly during the last decade and there are a number of reasons for this growth spike. The legalization of online poker in multiple states across America, the increase in the number of online poker tournaments, the massive size of guaranteed prize pools are some of the reasons why poker has grown so much.
Poker Movies Also Boost Popularity
Hollywood has also helped boost the popularity of poker by making some really cool poker movies over the years. The most popular poker movie of all time is arguably Rounders which came out in 1998. In recent years, some of the poker movies that have made a buzz include Molly’s Game in 2017; All In – The Poker Movie in 2009, Lucky You in 2007, and The Grand in 2007.
Poker Face – Starring Russell Crowe
A new poker movie titled Poker Face starring Russell Crowe went into production earlier this year and was supposed to wrap up in August. The producers are not sharing a lot of info on this movie just yet as they want to get the movie completed before putting out teasers.
Poker Face is a movie about high-stakes poker and revolves around a tech billionaire who gets exploited. He decides to take revenge on his detractors by playing a high-stakes poker game and hit them where they really hurt.
The initial plan for Poker Face was to have it shot and wrapped up in Miami. However, Crowe who directs the movie and plays the lead role pushed for the movie to be shot in his home country of Australia. The production team ended up going to New South Wales to shoot the film and were only six days away from finishing Poker Face when COVID-19 hit.
Poker Face – Interrupted By COVID-19
Australia as a whole was not as badly impacted as COVID-19 as some of the other countries. However, in recent times a spike in COVID-19 related cases has forced a number of states to impose lockdown measures in order to control the spike of COVID cases. New South Wales is currently number one on the list when it comes to the most positive cases.
Fox Studios which is producing Poker Face put in place all of the necessary measures to protect the film crew and actors. The production for Poker Face went on for 11 weeks where everyone on set was tested for COVID-19 thrice each week. There were no issues until the final week when one of the crew members tested positive for COVID and the entire production had to come to a halt.
Russell Crowe who has acted in a number of blockbuster movies including Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and The Quick and The Dead went on Twitter to inform his followers that the production of Poker Face had to be stopped due to COVID-19.
There is no information as of now as to when the team will be able to commence production on Poker Face again. Recent reports suggest a second-team member has now tested positive and this could cause an even bigger delay to the completion of Poker Face.
Aussies Unhappy With Poker Face Shooting
While a lot of poker fans were bummed out to learn that production on Poker Face has come to a halt, there were a lot of Aussies who criticized Russell Crowe for continuing to shoot Poker Face in New South Wales when the state was going through a COVID crisis. They questioned the NSW government for forcing the common man to stay behind doors in the lockdown but allowed a celebrity like Russell Crowe and his team to film Poker Face.
While the suspension of production on Poker Face will delay the release of the movie, the extra publicity that Poker Face is getting due to the COVID-19 crisis will help promote the film in Australia and around the world.