James Toback wasn’t thrilled someone was remaking his movie “The Gambler,” and that there was nothing he could do about it.
Toback was just a kid when he wrote the 1974 drama starring James Caan, Paul Sorvino and Lauren Hutton, and had no rights over possible remakes or sequels. Producer Irwin Winkler did.
“He had a better lawyer than I did,” Toback told me. “This is the despicable thing about the American attitude toward ‘intellectual property.’ ”
Toback, then teaching at CUNY, had some of his students appear in the original film, and based two characters on his grandfather and mother. And, by the way, he was a gambling addict.
“It’s totally autobiographical. I have a real personal connection to that film,” said Toback, whose credits include “Bugsy,” “Two Girls and a Guy” and “Tyson.”
Toback learned of the remake in a trade journal. “I thought it was peculiar that no one called me. But they made up for it by making profuse apologies, giving me some money and making me executive producer.”
The remake, set in Los Angeles, just wrapped, and stars his friend Mark Wahlberg, along with Brie Larson, Jessica Lange, John Goodman and George Kennedy (who is 89.) It will be released next year.