Catherine Zeta-Jones Joining Bruce Willis in Lay The Favorite?

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Isn’t it ironic that a film about gambling seems to have the deck stacked against it? Hopefully the project’s luck will start to turn around now that Deadline is reporting that Catherine Zeta-Jones is in talks to play the role of Bruce Willis’ wife in Stephen Frears’ Lay the Favorite.

Bruce Willis and Rebecca Hall had signed on before problems began and they seem to be sticking with the movie adaptation of Beth Raymer’s gambling memoir. Likewise, Frears was tapped early on to helm the film. Just about everything else has changed, which could turn out to be either really good or really bad for the movie. In Hollywood, you just never can tell.

Lay the Favorite was originally going to be financed by Focus Features but they blinked when the film came in with a $20 million budget. Random House, Pathe and Emmett Furla partners Randall Emmett and George Furla reached into their own pockets to keep the film alive, although the original shooting locations of New York and Las Vegas have been scrapped in favor of New Orleans and Las Vegas because it’s a better move financially.

In the film, Willis portrays a legendary gambler that’s determined to figure out how to get an edge on the Vegas sports book system. Hall will be the young woman who gets involved with the guy who believes he can beat Vegas. Hopefully Willis will get over that gambling bug before he has to pick up his badge again for the fifth movie in the Die Hard series.

Lay the Favorite is expected to start shooting in April… as long as it doesn’t encounter any more roadblocks.