You have reached Jim-Sturgess.com, a growing resource for the talented British actor known from his work in the films Across the Universe, The Other Boleyn Girl and 21. Up next is Crossing Over due out August 22 (US). Here we will keep you up to date with all the latest news, media downloads and information. Bookmark us and check back often for the latest on Jim Sturgess!
The Arcade recently had the opportunity to interview Jim Sturgess, the 26-year-old star of the upcoming movie 21. Based on the successful novel Bringing Down The House, 21 recounts the journey of five MIT students and a professor beating the casino blackjack odds through card counting.
After being accepted into Harvard Medical School, Jim Sturgess’s character Ben Campbell finds himself unable to pay for the expensive tuition. One of his professors (Kevin Spacey) discovers Ben’s brilliance and invites his to a secret card counting club. Ben thinks that joining the club will curb his anxiety about paying for school, so he decides to stay in the club until he reaches his goal of $300,000. The team members study during the week at MIT, then fly to Las Vegas on weekends to test their gambling abilities. Within all this excitement, however, Ben finds himself becoming greedier and more eager to lead the team. We first asked Sturgess about playing the lead role.
Ben Mezrich’s page-turning nonfiction book Bringing Down the House tells the story of six MIT students who card-counted their way to millions in Vegas. Now it’s a Hollywood movie, 21, starring Jim Sturgess as blackjack team ace Ben Campbell, which opens today. (Campbell is based on Jeff Ma, who in the book is named Kevin Lewis. Yeah, it’s kinda confusing.)
What got you interested in 21?
When I first read the script I had no idea it was based on true events, so I viewed it as just a good script and a great story. Then the minute I was told it really happened, when I was told these guys went to Vegas and pulled this thing off, I was immediately more intrigued.
Jim Sturgess is on the brink of stardom. He has top billing on a big-budget film opening today, 21, while appearing in a smaller role in another film currently in wide release, the period drama The Other Boleyn Girl. He was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s “30 Under 30″ actors just last month.
The 26-year-old English actor is quick to point out he’s no overnight success, but he notes that when success starts happening, it starts happening pretty fast. “It comes in a big tidal wave,” he says in an interview in the District earlier this month. But “I didn’t just fall out of bed and someone gave me the opportunity to be in a film,” he quickly adds. “It’s a process that’s gone on all my life, really.”
It’s the ultimate dream of anyone who’s ever set foot in a casino — win fast, win big, win the “Rain Man” suite, win the girl of your dreams, win enough to bring down the house.
For the real-life players behind 21, a new film that centers on a group of M.I.T. card-counting grifters, it was a dream that became reality.
“A group of M.I.T. math geniuses come to Las Vegas and get the keys to this rock-and-roll lifestyle,” director Robert Luletic explained. “There was a fantasy element to it that I couldn’t help but be attracted to.”
Fantasy, sure — if your fantasy is to find the hardest way possible to make an easy living.
Here is a nice interview from Cinematical. Jim talks about 21 and also discusses a little bit about Julie Taymore and his upcoming film Crossing Over!
On Julie Taymor
“She really found me at a point where I needed to be found.”
In 21, which hits theaters tomorrow, Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an M.I.T. student who’s recruited into a group of Vegas card counters by a fellow student. In fact, the entire group is made up of students and its leader, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), also happens to be a professor at the University. The fact-based film was inspired by the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich, and most of what you will see in 21 really happened — with certain faces, places, names and events changed to fit a more Hollywood-ized mold. Directed by Robert Luketic, 21 also stars Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.
21 (2008) 
