Poker is war in the guise of a sport.

The real world is like a poker game. Putting on your poker face, looking for tell signs, placing smart bets and using your head are things we all try and do to get ahead in our worlds. We try to make the best of whatever hand fortune has dealt us.

Think about what it's like sitting at a poker table with people whose only goal is to cut your throat, take your money, betray you and leave you out back talking to yourself about what went wrong inside. This is the metaphor of the movie.

Official Trailer


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Signed Poker Club DVD - Special Offer
Cemetery Dance Publications are offering exclusive signed copies of The Poker Club DVD.
They will be signed by both screenwriters (Johnathon Schaech and Richard Chizmar) AND author Ed Gorman ...
To purchase these RARE SIGNED copies, please visit
 
This exclusive offer is only available for a limited time, so don't delay.

Johnathon Schaech started his acting career taking the lead in Franco Zeffirelli’s THE SPARROW.  He went on to play the title characters in HOUDINI and JUDAS and starred in such films as HUSH, THE FORSAKEN, THE DOOM GENERATION and Tom Hanks' THAT THING YOU DO - to name a few.  Recently he starred in two award-winning indies, LITTLE CHENIER and SEA OF DREAMS.  In 2008 he starred in the theatrical blockbusters QUARANTINE and PROM NIGHT.   Johnathon  has written for Showtime’s MASTERS OF HORROR series, and last year he wrote for NBC’s new series FEAR ITSELF.   Schaech is currently writing the screenplay for Stephen King’s FROM A BUICK 8 for horror master Tobe Hooper and Stephen King’s QUITTERS INC. for Samuel L Jackson.
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Lori’s character, Jan Tyler, is faced with trials of deceit, betrayal, and emotional challenges throughout this suspenseful thriller. When asked to describe the movie she said, “The movie is about loss, control and companionship. It also expresses how the small, thinly-veiled lies we tell can weave their way into something vast and dark.”

During the interview Lori expressed her appreciation for the entire cast and crew, and a special high regard for her co-star Johnathon Schaech, “Whenever we are discussing the story, or what our character’s would or won’t do there’s nothing we can’t say to each other.” The Poker Club is the 4^th film that Schaech and she had worked on together, “He and I always joke….He’s been my brother, my fiancé, my husband; he’s threatened to kill me, has killed me, has loved and hated me. You know….. Just like family.” 

Just listening to Lori express her respect for her fellow actor, and her appreciation for everyone involved with the movie, one can tell she is a golden, grounded human being.

Some of Lori’s favorite classic movies consist of: “Raging Bull, To Have and Have not, The Big Red One, and Five Easy Pieces.” She, also, aspires to stretch and expand her characters across the gamut, and desires to work with, “Werner Herzog, Terrence Malick, Wayne Kramer, Darren Aronofsky, and the list goes on.”  

But Lori’s story does not start and stop with movies. Not only has she been a successful actress and model, this beautiful blonde haired, 5’7”, actress holds an Honor’s Business degree from the University of Texas. While in Texas, and visiting family, Lori says food and music are at the top of her to do list, “County Line BBQ, Hyde Park Bar and Grill, and Chuy’s tex-mex are very cool places and I hit them every time I go home.”

 

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Jana Kramer was in Adam Sandler’s CLICK and the theatrical blockbuster PROM NIGHT.   She was recurring on NBC’s critically acclaimed FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.   She has also worked on hit shows such as GREY'S ANATOMY and CSI.   Jana can be seen on ABC’S PRIVATE PRACTICE in March of 2009 and is now on the highly popular 90210 as Portia Ransom.   She has two features coming in 2009; Sony’s THE POKER CLUB directed by Tim McCann starring Johnathon Schaech and Johnny Messner, and Warner Brother’s SPRING BREAKDOWN opposite Amy Poehler and Parker Posey.   Jana has also been picked to be the up and comer in Jonathon Ressler’s 50 extraordinary women, which includes others such as writer Jodi Picoult and Hayden Panettiere

Tim McCann has directed four critically acclaimed independent feature films. Desolation Angels (1997), won the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) at the Toronto Film Festival, the Merchant Ivory/Kodak Award at the Telluride Film Festival, and was Critic’s Choice at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Revolution #9 (2002), McCann’s second feature, premiered at the 2001 Telluride and Toronto film festivals, where critic Roger Ebert praised it as one of the best films at each festival, calling it “brave” and “utterly absorbing”. Variety reviewed the film as “a highly assured, ambitious pic - located  somewhere between the loopy fantasy of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and the harsh sterility of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest:… McCann’s third feature, the cult noir Nowhere Man (2005), garnered further critical praise. Recently, McCann directed and produced his fourth feature film, Runaway. Runaway won Best Feature Film at the 2005 Austin Film Festival. McCann teaches film at Purchase College, S.U.N.Y.

Interview with Tim McCann
Director of  “THE POKER CLUB”
By Bob Gosse

2/17/09
I’ve known Tim McCann since film school at SUNY Purchase. Since then, he’s directed five features, which have won awards at festivals in Toronto, Telluride, Rotterdam and Mar del Plata, among others.  His first film, “Desolation Angels”, was presented by directors Jonathan Demme and Barbet Schroeder in release. His second, “Revolution #9”, won a Media Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology for its compelling depiction of schizophrenia. “Runaway” - which I produced - starred Robin Tunney, Aaron Stanford, and Melissa Leo, and won best feature at the Austin Film Festival. I was interested in talking with McCann about “The Poker Club” because it is a change in course for him. McCann is known for his character driven New York indies. This was a genre film. I had recently made the same transition, having just directed “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell”, a dark comedy, but more mainstream than my other stuff. On a rainy day in February, we found time to duck into Fred 62 for caffeine and conversation.

GOSSE: How did “The Poker Club” come about?
MCCANN: “The Poker Club” was a novel by Ed Gorman, adapted by Johnathon Schaech and Richard Chizmar. I first read the screenplay a few years ago, this sort of jagged nightmare with a breakneck plot. Relentless pacing. I was very taken with it. And beyond the general downhill momentum of the story, it had a main character – Aaron Tyler (Schaech) – whose story I think is resonant.

GOSSE: It’s a different kind of role for Schaech.
MCCANN: Aaron is a guy who has reached a point in his life where he is content. He’s got a great family, his job comes easy, he seems to be set. And
that’s the thing. He has no idea how vulnerable he really is. He ends up having
an affair with this beautiful secretary (Jana Kramer) and it becomes the linchpin of his destruction. Now his life is spiraling out of control. Things he took for granted one day are destroyed the next.

GOSSE: But it stays a mystery until the final minutes.
MCCANN: It’s a bloody, disorienting ride, and it’s terrifying for the main guy because he has no idea what is happening. Schaech plays Aaron with a distant, almost sociopathic remove – because that’s how far away he’s become when he unknowingly gets this whole thing rolling. And when the confusion and panic set in, when people close to him are getting killed, and he finally understands the reason… In a way it’s like he has been brought back to reality.  It’s a mule kick to the back of the head, but it makes him wake up and realize what really matters. And how fragile it all is.

GOSSE: What about the title? There is very little card playing in the film.
MCCANN: Poker is the metaphor. The conceit of the film is that the game of poker relates to our behavior in life.   We have hidden feelings and strategies, and then we have a surface agenda.  This gap deepens the larger a conflict becomes. You have bluffs and lies. Chance impacts us greatly. Each move can have a chain reaction through our social circle, and so forth.

GOSSE: I was surprised, for this type of film, the performances are pretty
strong.
MCCANN: We built the cast around Johnathon, and we had a few key factors going in: the actors were appropriate to their roles. They related well. And they were really into the project. From there, you know, processes differ – some actors tend to ad lib and personalize the dialogue, some hue closer to the script, using the language as a kind of a bed to develop their emotions and all that. Some actors are hungry for feedback, some are more protective. I think the key is that they understand their motivations, and have the time and space to work through the scenes. This doesn’t mean that the process isn’t fraught with doubt. It can be. But if the main ingredients are in place, they usually bare themselves out in the final product.

GOSSE: How did you cast?
MCCANN: It’s always a combination: the casting director, Eve Battaglia in New York, had lists, and there were personal contacts. Lori Heuring had worked with Johnathon before.  Jana Kramer was actually on “Prom Night” with Johnathon while we were in pre-production. Loren Dean, who we were all a fan of, was suggested by Eve. And so was Judy Reyes, who we were lucky to get during hiatus.  Messner, we went to through his agent, but he and Johnathon knew each other. He came in and kicked ass.

GOSSE: And Mike Risley was in your film “Revolution #9”.
MCCANN: Mike starred in “Rev. 9”, with Adrienne Shelly and Spalding Grey.  And he had a part in “Nowhere Man”.

GOSSE: Where did you shoot the film?
MCCANN: It was a two week prep, three week shoot in Branchville, New Jersey and Milford, Pennsylvania. We shot in Hi-def on a Sony F900R, and cut it
using Final Cut Pro.

GOSSE: Do you prefer Hi-def or film?
MCCANN: If you push the envelope with film, it is more pleasing aesthetically, it feels organic. With HD it gets electronic and distracting.  You need to be conservative in capture, then push it in post. Production wise, HD is a better workflow, despite the new frontier headaches. I love both. How about you?

GOSSE: I prefer film. I just did my first DI and was bowled over by what you can do. But the HD imaging has made leaps and bounds in the past four years. With some of the new digital primes the image quality is just as good as 35mm.  But I am an old school film snob. But it’s a question of budget.
MCCANN: That’s a minor detail, yeah.

GOSSE: Just a little one.
MCCANN: People don’t realize, money is just paper.

GOSSE: You got the check, right?

Tim McCann’s films
have won numerous awards, including the International Critic’s Prize (FIPRESCI)
at the Toronto Film Festival, and the Merchant/Ivory Award at Telluride. He
lives in ....New York.........

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Tim's Official Web Page

Johnny Messner, Loren Dean, Judy Reyes and Johnathon Schaech 
Star in the Terrifying New Thriller 

THE POKER CLUB 
 
Death Deals Its Hand April 21, 2009 on DVD 
 
 
Culver City, CA (2/9/09) – The stakes turn deadly in the
terrifying new thriller THE POKER CLUB, available on DVD this
April 21, 2009, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 


Johnathon Schaech (Quarantine, Prom Night) stars in this
suspenseful and pulse-pounding thriller about four friends 
caught in a deadly game of betrayal and intrigue. This boldly
original film features intense performances, taut direction
and a shocking ending in which all bets are off.


Fans of intelligent, Hitchcockian thrillers will want to cash
in their chips for THE POKER CLUB, arriving on DVD this April
with an SRP of $24.96. 

Take a peak at the filmmakers’ hand with ace bonus features
including a commentary with director Tim McCann and Johnathon
Schaech. Be sure to draw THE POKER CLUB into your hand when
it debuts on DVD this April! 
 
Synopsis 
For years, Aaron Tyler (Johnathon Schaech, Quarantine,
Prom Night) has been getting together with his three best
friends Monday nights to play poker. But tonight, everything
is about to change forever when the men accidentally kill
a burglar who’s broken into Aaron’s house. Fearing the
consequences, Aaron and his friends dispose of the corpse 
and agree to take the secret to their graves. However, they 
soon discover someone knows what they’ve done and is now 
playing a murderous game of revenge with them in this 
horrifying thriller. 

Also starring Johnny Messner (Anacondas: The Hunt for the
Blood Orchid, The Sweetest Thing), Judy Reyes (TV’s “Scrubs”
and “Oz”), Lori Heuring (Prom Night, Mulholland Drive), Loren
Dean (TV’s “Bones,” Gattaca) and Jana Kramer (Prom Night,
Click). 
 
THE POKER CLUB was directed by Tim McCann, whose prior credits
include Nowhere Man and Runaway, which won the Best Feature
Film Award at the 2005 Austin Film Festival. 

It was scripted by the writing team of Richard Chizmar and 
Johnathon Schaech (Road House 2: Last Call) and produced by 
Chizmar, Schaech, Bruce Devan (Kingdom of Heaven) and Jordan 
Gertner (Bully).  

THE POKER CLUB is an adaptation of Ed Gorman’s popular horror
novel and has a run time of approximately 82 minutes. Rating
pending. 
 
DVD Bonus Material 
* Commentary with Director Tim McCann and Johnathon Schaech 
DVD Catalog #: 29751 
DVD UPC Code: 0-43396-29751-7 
DVD SLP: $24.96 
Order Date: 3/19/09 
Artwork is available at www.SPHEPUBLICITY.com 
Visit Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on the Web at
www.SonyPictures.com 
 
 
ABOUT SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT 
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Entertainment company. SPE is a division of Sony Corporation
of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. 
SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production 
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