Bruce Willis and Rebecca Hall are in consideration for Stephen Frears adaptation Lay The Favorite written by Beth Raymer. D.V. De Vincentis wrote the script for Focus Features and Random House Films.
The book is a memoir of how Raymer became involved with a group of older guys who had figured out how to get one over on the Vegas sports book system.
Here is the books description from Amazon:
It’s hard not to like the breezy, ingenuous voice of this plucky protagonist who proves she’s game for any kind of new experience. Hailing from Ohio, Raymer eventually made her way to Las Vegas when she was 24 and found a lucrative position assisting a Queens-born, Stuyvesant High School-educated gambling operator, Dink Heimowitz. The lovable, irascible, big-bellied Dinky had shucked life as a bookmaker back in New York, having run into trouble, for professional sports gambling; he put Raymer and the other motley staff on the phones setting up bets for all kinds of sports matchups (baseball, football, horse racing, hockey) in order to find a line that gave him an edge. Dinky referred Raymer to a high-flying bookie on Long Island, Bernard Rose, who had his own offshore network. As girl Friday Raymer fetched doughnuts, placed calls, and acted as a runner, making wads of dough, but mostly Raymer cherished working among the assortment of gambling types, the low-end hustlers and misfits she chronicles with evident tenderness.
Just like in Vegas, no bet is a sure bet. Both Willis and Hall are also circling other projects. Willis is circling Moon Rise Kingdom from Wes Anderson. Baz Luhrman is looking at Hall for the role of Daisy Buchanan in the adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Word is though that Carey Mulligan has since risen to the top.
Source: Deadline
