Source: Showbiz and Style

“I very nearly lost my mind,” admitted Across the Universe star Jim Sturgess about staying in Las Vegas for over a month to shoot 21, his latest film.

Jim, who won fans as the lead in the Beatles music-inspired Across, plays one of the M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) students who are recruited by an unorthodox math professor (Kevin Spacey) to make millions of dollars at blackjack tables in Las Vegas casinos.

The high stakes action-adventure, directed by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, Monster-in-Law), is based on Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House, which reveals how a real-life team of gifted college students beat casinos in Vegas and elsewhere around the world by counting cards and using an elaborate system of signals.

These bright young minds, including Jeff Ma, upon whom Jim’s character is based, made millions of dollars before they were banned for life from playing cards at casinos. Laurence Fisburne plays one of the casinos’ menacing enforcers.

“People tell you that you should only go to Vegas for the weekend,” Jim said in a press con held in the Sin City. “It was a tough gig. We started with high energy, and we burnt ourselves out quickly. One day, I realized that I hadn’t left the building for five days! The thing that got me the most was the audio at the casino floor—ding, ding, ding, ding—this went on and on and in your mind for hours. I remember saying to Kate (Bosworth, his costar), ‘I have to get out of here!’”

Fortunately for Jim, Boston was the next filming destination for the 21 crew. The British actor said, “Boston was the perfect remedy. It had an English feeling. It was so down to earth. It was everything that we were hoping it would be.”

Kate, who plays one of the card-counting students, was asked about her love scene with Jim. “We shot that toward the end,” she replied. “It was quite a funny experience. Whenever you shoot a love scene, everyone—the whole crew—gets slightly nervous and awkward. That energy permeates throughout the set. Jim and I thought it would be quite an innocent moment. The scene was written like, we kiss and we float off. So, we went to the rehearsal and we knew each other really well at that point. I felt like he was my brother. We were thinking, this will be fine.”

She continued: “We got there and Robert said, ‘I want this to be pretty passionate. I want you to throw her up against the window.’ Jim and I looked at each other. I said to him, ‘Vodka?’ I just threw back shots of vodka. That was how we got through the love scene. It was not hard. He’s gorgeous, and I adore him. We got a bit drunk, to be honest. There was no dialogue, thank goodness!”

Director Robert Luketic shared how he came to cast Jim: “I couldn’t find who my lead actor was going to be. I auditioned exactly 111,111 guys (laughter) and I was getting desperate. Jennifer Todd, a friend of mine, was in the middle of editing Across the Universe (she’s a coproducer). I put off my lead-actor search for a minute, and I went over to visit Jennifer. She showed me some scenes with Jim and I said, ‘Who the hell is that?’ Jim had this innocence that I was looking for. People who were auditioning had either one quality or another. Jim had all the qualities I was looking for!”

Jim, who clarified once and for all the confusion about his birth year (1981, not 1979—so he is 27 years old), is certainly going places. He appears next with Harrison Ford and Sean Penn in Crossing Over. Also a singer-songwriter and a former band member, he announced: “I got to write the song for that film, so that was great!” Also coming up is Fifty Dead Men Walking with Ben Kingsley.

The look on your face in that scene when you see Las Vegas for the first time from the plane window was for real.

I flew in with Rob Luketic. He wanted to fly into Vegas with me. He said, “I want to see your face as you look out the window and see Vegas for the first time.” He saw my reaction, and he recreated it in the movie.

Do you gamble in real life? How did Las Vegas surprise you?

I never gambled before in my life. The only kind of gambling we do back in England is throw money on horses or dogs, or we have the fruit (slot) machines in the pubs. That’s about as wild as it gets. We don’t have anything like Vegas in England, so it was a bit of a culture shock to come here.

Once you got there, did you at least play blackjack?

I only played blackjack. That was the rule I made myself. I met Jeff Ma, the guy whose story the movie is based on, the first or second day I was here. We spent a lot of time together. He took me out and corrupted me (laughing).

Tell us more about your first impressions of Vegas.

I was walking around kind of wide-eyed for most of my time in Vegas. Luckily, I got to indulge in the Vegas lifestyle and had the excuse of doing it for research purposes (laughing).

A lot of it doesn’t interest me. The nightclubs with the dancing girls are not my scene. It was interesting to see it because you hear about it and see it in the movies. But, you start realizing that there’s actually very little to do there other than gamble, go to their crazy bars and watch a show—all those Cirque du Soleil shows which are pretty amazing. Everything else is a blur.

Did those guys upon whose real-life stories this movie is based really carry all that cash in their crotches and other parts of their bodies?

Those are true stories. They would strap all the money to their bodies. They would put some of the money in their jeans and stuff.

Did they try to teach you how to count cards?

They definitely tried but they didn’t succeed (laughing). Math is not one of my strong points.

Acting with a great actor like Kevin Spacey must have inspired you. How did you first meet?

Kevin phoned me when he found out that I got the part. I picked up the phone and I went, “Hello.” He answered, “Hello.” I said, “Who’s this?” He replied, “It’s Kevin Spacey.” I was like, oh, s–t. He was very nice and he invited me down to the Old Vic. We had lunch and then I went to see his play in the evening. We went out afterwards. We really got to know each other

before we embarked on this crazy Vegas journey. When you’re acting alongside somebody who’s really good like Kevin, you just kind of up your game.

Your character works for a men’s store. When he gets the opportunity to make more money, he goes for it. What jobs did you have before breaking out as an actor?

The worst job I had was as a pot wash boy in a restaurant, which means you wash all the pans, dishes, plates and cutlery. I did that for a long time. You’re at the bottom of the chain. When I moved to London and I was trying to make it as an actor, I worked in a shoe store selling sneakers. I’d go to an audition if there was one nearby. One time I had this big audition. I learned all the lines the night before. At the store, they play such loud hip-hop music. So, the drums were still going in my head at the audition, and I forgot all my lines. I was like, I really have to stop doing this job (laughing).

Still in keeping with the movie’s themes, has having more money changed you in any way?

I’ve never really had much money in my life. When you do something and get paid a bit, it’s hard to just start throwing money around.

One thing that was really nice was, I was able to fly some of my friends over to Vegas for the screening of the movie. I’d love to be able to buy an apartment and basic things that I need. I still go to the market and buy $5 shirts (laughter).

Do people recognize you, especially since Across the Universe has already been shown?

My picture was in the room key and on the blackjack felts where people were playing. There was a giant poster on the wall and on the screens, and they were playing the trailer. I was walking around like, someone’s got to recognize me, come on (laughter)! —Not a sniff!