Ah, Danny Huston — we don’t know why we love him but we do. Or at least this writer does…
For every great movie he’s chosen to grace with his considerable presence (“Children of Men,” “The Proposition”) there’s a complete stinker (“Wolverine,” “The Number 23”), though kind-of-okay performances in films that should have been better (“The Aviator,” 30 Days of Night,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Birth”) are really his stock in trade. But our foolish hearts are loyal nonetheless, and are gladdened at the news that after his one-line performance in “Clash of the Titans” (and it wasn’t even the “Release the Kraken” line), and a brief turn as Richard the Lionheart in “Robin Hood” (which was pretty laughable), Huston has been cast in what appears to be a meaty and controversial leading role, even if the film itself seems destined to be little-seen.
The film is “Playoff” to be directed by Israeli director Eran Riklis, among whose previous works “Lemon Tree” and “The Syrian Bride” both deal, to a more or less metaphorical degree, with the thorny issues surrounding his home country’s international relations. It’s territory that “Playoff” will also cover, though this time through the prism of Max Stoller (based on real life’s Ralph Klein), an Israeli basketball coach and Holocaust survivor who brings his Tel Aviv team to victory in the European Championships, only to court massive outrage when he accepts an invitation to coach the German team thereafter. If this all sounds a little politics-heavy, well, it probably is, though apparently the film also focuses on Holler’s resurfacing memories as he returns to Frankfurt.
“I have to speak German and Hebrew and even play a bit of basketball, so it’ll be a challenge,” Huston said in interview, “but the film is really about childhood and how the stories and memories of your past are often lies.”
Shooting starts on June 29th in Frankfurt, and while this writer’s not particularly well-educated about the director’s former work [ed. “Lemon Tree” is a solid piece of work], if we get 90 plus minutes of Huston in even fair-to-middling form, we’ll make the effort to search this one out. We assume some effort may be needed as it’s unlikely “Playoff” will be dominating multiplexes any time soon, you know, because they’ve made the idiotic decision not to shoot it in 3D.