The pilot episode of HBO's Luck, a new horse racing series, introduces a lot of characters, and isn't always clear on their role in the story. Most central may be Ace (Dustin Hoffman, I Heart Huckabees, Tootsie), who is released from a three year prison stint, in which he took the fall for an entire organization. Whether Ace is on the up and up with his old colleague (Alan Rosenberg, The Guardian, Cybill) is unknown, but Ace is definitely not keeping his activities legal, pursuing the secret purchase of a racetrack, and using his assistant/pal Gus, a.k.a. The Greek (Dennis Farina, Law & Order, Snatch), as a front to buy a horse. Ace also seems angry.
Hoffman has never starred in a television series before, and it's amazing to get someone with his level of talent on the small screen every week. Ace is a fuzzy character, a man of few words, but Hoffman conveys much with a glance or a tone. He's a tortured character whose motivations are incredibly murky to the audience, and thus, should be a rich, rewarding, role for Hoffman to play. With Rosenberg and Farina on board, too, both of whom are great with finding the comedy in dramatic moments, this is probably going to be the most central storyline, and a good one at that. It also, after just the first episode, draws one in quite completely.
Ace's, or rather, the Greek's, horse is trained by Escalante (John Ortiz, The Job, American Gangster), who is definitely not a nice man. Unlike Ace, Escalante wears his temper on his sleeve. He is well respected as a trainer, so perhaps his ability to do a great job is what draws people to work with him; it's certainly not a sunny disposition. But then again, it's entirely possible, given the circumstances around which his anger occurs, that perhaps Escalante isn't a bad guy. He could just be driven, and take his job very seriously. It's hard to tell. Though, going by gut, the first impression of him, as a world class jerk, will probably pan out.
Article comments
1 - Billy Blatz
The roles you choose to identify Farina by are bizarre. And who says HBO has intelligent viewers? Look how long Entourage lasted. And good luck getting horse racing banned
2 - Jerome Wetzel
Billy Blatz - Thanks for your comments! You are right about Entourage, but I was talking about an overall trend for HBO dramas (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc.). I also completely agree with your assertion that horse racing probably won't be banned. I just mentioned the emotion it evokes in the scene.
As for which roles I choose for Farina, here's my (completely unscientific, subjective) formula. I look the actor up on IMDB. Since I write about TV, I look for the actor's TV roles first, to see if there is a substantial one, preferably in the last ten years. Farina did 46 episodes of Law & Order from 2004-2006, so that qualifies. Knowing Farina is primarily a film actor, going by his credits, I also like to toss in a film. For that I look at the 'Known For' at the top, as well as the last dozen or so movies to see if there's a part that stands out or I remember him from, again, preferably in the last decade or so. Snatch is his #1 Known For role on IMDB, and seeing nothing more recent that stands out more, I chose that. I personally remember him vividly from Big Trouble, but as that isn't a huge movie lots of people have seen, I skipped that. Hope that answers your concern. :)