From: The Deadbolt

At this time last year, most people in the States hadn’t even heard of Jim Sturgess. Twelve months later, he seems to be in every other movie. He stole hearts in Across The Universe, stole scenes in The Other Boleyn Girl, and is about to steal some cash in 21l, the sort-of-true story of Jeff Ma and his team of MIT students that broke the banks in Las Vegas with their card-counting system. Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an exceptionally smart student who happens to be struggling financially and is handed a way to pay for his dream of Harvard Law School and then some. Ben has a head for math and he becomes the leader of a team of students who have an elaborate card-counting system at the blackjack tables in Vegas. The 26-year-old Sturgess is quickly becoming one of the hottest actors on either side of the pond with co-starring roles with Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ray Liotta, Rose McGowan, and Ben Kingsley all coming up before the end of the year. And there’s still a chance he might star in a musical stage version of Spider-Man, with songs by Bono and The Edge and direction by Universe helmer Julie Taymor. Sturgess spoke about the musical, his research in Vegas, the rush of gambling, why so many people responded negatively to Across The Universe, and much more when he sat down with The Deadbolt recently while doing press for 21l. We kept the cards off the table.

The Deadbolt: When you’re considering a project, what’s most important to you - the overall story, your character, or the collaborators?

Jim Jim Sturgess: The overall story, definitely. That’s the film. That’s what makes it. You can have a lot of great actors and a bad story and it’s not going to be a good film. If you have a good story with unknown actors, it can still be beautiful and sometimes even more so.

The Deadbolt: So what appealed to you about this story?

Jim Sturgess: It was just so high-energy. It was a page-turner. It was just enjoyable. I had such a good time reading it that I really believed it would be a fun, great film.

The Deadbolt: You read the screenplay. Did you then go back and read the book (Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich)?

Jim Sturgess: I didn’t read the book until I had been offered the part. It all happened very quickly for me. I wasn’t even aware of the book. I was just working off the script at that point. I didn’t even know it was a true story. When I found out that [it was true] the intrigue and the interest just kind of doubles. This is crazy. Then I read the book, after I had been cast. I saw the changes they had made and the choices they had made and accepted them for what they were. I really then just kept with the script. And then Jeff and I hooked up and spoke a lot. I had a million questions and he had a million stories. That became its own journey.

The Deadbolt: You consulted with him before filming?

Jim Sturgess: Yep, and went to Vegas and hung out in Vegas.

The Deadbolt: How do you prepare for a role like this? You actually went to Vegas and sat at the tables?

Jim Sturgess: Yeah. I had to just be surrounded by that crazy city and all the things that it brings you and offers you and changes you. We sort of did some research before we started shooting - two weeks - and then we started shooting. So, I was in Vegas for about a month and a half.

The Deadbolt: Where did you guys shoot, the Hard Rock?

Jim Sturgess: Mainly, the Planet Hollywood. There’s some Hard Rock in there. We were all over the place. We were mainly based in the Planet Hollywood.

The Deadbolt: Did you learn how to count cards?

Jim Sturgess: No. There’s a reason for it and it’s so specific to this guy and these kids from MIT are so gifted. You can’t learn how to do it in two weeks. I understood it in theory and I had a go. I went out with Jeff and I would have a try but it isn’t easy. It doesn’t even look easy. It’s just not easy.

The Deadbolt: Did you lose a lot of money?

Jim Sturgess: I was one of the lucky ones, I have to say. I lost a sh*tload of money and then had the rush of winning it all back again. That was my first time going, ‘Okay, I understood this place now. I understand how you get addicted to it. I understand why people obsess about it - the absolute horror of losing that amount of money combined with the joy of winning it all back.’ It’s pretty amazing. There’s also the superstition. I lost a sh*tload of money and I was just going back to the hotel we were staying at and I found a chip in my pocket. I was down nearly $2,000, which is A LOT for me. I just threw this chip down at a table in another casino as I was on my way back to going to bed and I won it all back again. It was a $100 chip. Then I understood - I was on an unlucky table and I found a lucky one. I could understand why people would want to switch tables or switch dealers or go to another casino.

The Deadbolt: Were you a gambler before the movie?

Jim Sturgess: No, not at all. It’s a different way [in England]. English people throw money down on the dogs or the horses or the fruit machine, which is a slot machine in a pub. It’s a very different culture.

The Deadbolt: What was the most challenging part of the production?

Jim Sturgess: The subtle journey. For me, I almost didn’t want people to notice the gradual change until it’s like, ‘Yeah, he really has turned into a bit of an assh*le.’ I wanted that to feel pretty seamless, I guess. I don’t know if it worked but I wanted to keep everything pretty simple. There’s something about him that you can feel has changed but I wanted to keep it as real as possible. My fear of the film was that it was going to be like Revenge of the Nerds 3. Speaking to [Director] Rob [Luketic], I realized he was on the same page and didn’t want to create that. I think it would have been an easy story to do that with.

The Deadbolt: What’s the biggest lesson you learned from Kevin Spacey?

Jim Sturgess: Nothing as far as him sitting me down and teaching me, but certainly everything in the sense of being around somebody who’s so good at what they do. You hope that it rubs off on you in some sort of way. Just watching how he approaches his roles and holds himself on set. The guy works so hard, running the theater and he was right in the middle of doing all this stuff back at the Old Vic. He’s in the job for all of the right reasons. That’s good to know.

The Deadbolt: Who else is in the job for all of the right reasons? Who do you admire?

Jim Sturgess: There are so many actors. I went to see an amazing thing in Austin when I was at SXSW. It was a film called Explicit Ills. A young actor named Marc Webber had directed it. I think he’s my age. Paul Dano is in it, Rosario Dawson, and a lot of first-time actors. It was so great watching them and seeing them see the film for the first time and then they did a big Q&A at the end. It was so great to see this actor tell this story that was so real to him and so heartfelt. You could see it when you watched the film. It’s those little moments that are what it’s all about.