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COVER STORY HBO hopes for a winner with 'Luck' By Kate O'Hare © Zap2it After bringing the worlds of late 19th-century South Dakota gold miners and 21st-century Southern California surfers to HBO, David Milch follows up "Deadwood" and "John From Cincinnati" with a multilayered, multifaceted portrait of the world of Thoroughbred racing. Going beyond just the horses to trainers, jockeys, veterinar- ians, shady quasi-criminal types and degenerate gamblers, "Luck" creates a canvas of intense desperation, burning ambition, devastating peril and staggering beauty, all set against the lush backdrop of Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., near Los Angeles. After a sneak preview that aired on Dec. 11 following the season finale of "Boardwalk Empire," "Luck" — which pairs Milch's acclaimed writing and storytelling with the producing and directing talents of Michael Mann ("Thief," "The Last of the Mohicans," "Ali") — launches its regular run on Sunday, Jan. 29. Dustin Hoffman tops the huge cast as Chester "Ace" Bernstein, a man with a questionable past who gets out of prison and em- barks on a career as a covert Thoroughbred owner, with his loyal driver, Gus Demitriou (Den- nis Farina), acting as his front- man. Ace is a careful, deliberate man who plays things close to the vest. For Hoffman, that came out of choices made in preparing for the role. "It wasn't a conscious deci- sion," he says. "What you're wearing or not alters you. It doesn't take much.You learn your lines, you're told a few things. They say, 'Do you ever wear your hair straight back?' 'No.' 'Will you try that?' And Michael Mann says, 'Hey, I like it with your hair straight back.' 'Let's see what suit you're going to put on.' "He has an image of the char- acter, and you're going with that image.You learn the lines, then they just come out a certain way, and you're altered." Among those followed on the backstretch are trainers Walt "The Old Man" Smith (Nick Nolte) — inspired by, Nolte says, legendary trainer Jack Van Berg — and Turo Escalante (John Ortiz), who has more than a professional relationship with his vet (Jill Hennessy). There are jockeys on the way up, such as Irish Rosie (Kerry Condon), and those trying to come back, such as Ronnie Jenkins (played by jockey Gary Stephens). On the fringes of the track life are the degenerate gamblers, including one group — whose most socially adept member, Jerry (Jason Gedrick), also has a weakness for cards — struggling to find a way forward after a life- altering bet. Although Milch has followed racing most of his life, owned Thoroughbreds and laid down more than a few bets, it took him a long time to get around to writ- ing about it all. "Certainly," he says, "I had an adequate exposure to it. I did a lot of research, but the deepest truths of that world — I won't say that they had eluded me, but there's an expression, the ripe- ness is all, and I finally was ripe enough. "These are not characters who let themselves be easily known, and a lot of them are composites. ... It takes a little while for the world to fully de- clare itself, but I hope they will hang in, because it's definitely worth the trip." For Mann, who's more familiar with racing cars than horses, it was a foray into a new reality. "The thing that surprised me the most," Mann says, "was the first time I was in a vehicle, and we were doing a tracking shot, and I was three or four feet away from a racehorse going full out — and it's stunning. "David talked quite a bit about a sense of nature and the spirit of being that close, involving Nick Nolte stars in "Luck" Sunday on HBO. yourself with the animal, like a trainer does, like Escalante would do — but when you're ac- tually up next to what feels like a 1,500-pound jack rabbit, that's a whole different thing. "The athleticism of it, the spirit ... it's not like you have to en- courage them to race; you have to repress the instinct to race. All they want to do is race." But these days, the slow ro- mance of race day, with its long pauses and brief explosions of action, is fading in a world of in- stant gratification. "The pity is," says Nolte, "that horse racing is losing the imagination of the public. The mythology and the connection of man and horse is being lost. Gambling's taken over. They want to turn horse-racing tracks into casinos." That world is also part of "Luck" through Gedrick's Jerry, who loves poker as much as the ponies. "It just takes one win," says 1 x 5.5" ad Expressions North Gedrick, "even if it's just a hand, to create a certain rush. Once you start playing more often, the losing becomes a bigger rush than the winning. "It's almost like the chemical experience that you have is more intense and encompassing phys- ically than actually winning." 2 – JANUARY 29 - FEBRUARY 4, 2012 – BRAINERD, MN/DISPATCH 1 x 4" ad Disability Specialist 2 x 4" ad Lakes States Bank

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