In the new film Double Down South, directed by Oscar winner Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society), Lili Simmons (Banshee) takes on the world of keno pool gaming. The film’s trailer, released in advance of its premiere at this month’s Newport Beach Film Festival, depicts Simmons’s character Diana, a rising star in the world of keno who becomes entangled with some deadly characters. She found a mentor in keno veteran Nick (Kim Coates), but when they tried to take on the world champion, they found the going far more difficult than they had anticipated. Diana arrives at Nick’s, the “keno capital of the world,” and immediately wins over the crowd and even Nick himself with her humour and natural talent, as shown in the teaser.
She soon becomes the club’s main draw, bringing in a steady stream of customers even as she and Nick work together to hone their skills. While Nick has shown his aggressive side on more than one occasion, Diana has managed to stay on his good side, and the two of them have a mutual love of placing large bets. Nick and Diana’s massive wager with the world champion provides Diana with an opportunity to recoup her losses from past bets, making Double Down South a redemption narrative as well.
On the other hand, Nick and the champion have a checkered past. Since Diana doubts Nick would play by the rules, he now has a valid reason to go after her, especially since she has expressed a desire for transparency. She claims to be the “greatest keno player alive,” but if she doesn’t pull off the victory, everyone’s lives are in jeopardy. In the preview, Nick is portrayed by Coates with a chilling intensity that makes it apparent he is prepared to harm Diana and others close to her if she destroys him. Schulman has not written or directed a feature picture since 1997’s 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, and 2009’s Double Down South, which he also wrote, is his first film since writing the TV movie Anatomy of Hope. However, prior to those movies, he wrote many box office successes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, What About Bob?, and his Oscar-winning magnum opus Dead Poets Society, which starred the late Robin Williams.
The filmmaker has said that this latest film would be autobiographical since he was exposed to keno gambling at an early age and it had an influence on him. Igby Rigney, Tom Bower, Justin Marcel McManus, Rebecca Lines, and Cameron Cowperthwaite all feature in Schulman’s return to the big screen alongside Krysten Simmons and Kim Coates. The film’s initial title, Southern Gothic, has been changed after the cast was announced. Rick Wallace, Sara Sometti Michaels, and Seth Michaels are all serving as producers on the project.
On October 15 it will premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival, making it the first film ever to do so. Purchase your seats right now. Triangle 6 in Costa Mesa, California is where you’ll want to be tonight at 7:30 p.m. PDT to catch the showings.