He bet on himself and won
Gambling adviser pitches his life story to Hollywood Played by Matthew McConaughey in Two for the Money
LOS ANGELES—
Who will win the World Series?
“ It’ll be the Cardinals.” Not that we’d want to encourage illegal gambling or anything, but if you really want to put money on the post season, you should go with St. Louis.
Sports adviser Brandon Lane says so, and he has a pretty good track record. Mostly in football, granted, but still . . . Back in 1998 he picked the last 14 Monday night games of the season, and the three first the next. He claims that 17 in a row is, “ the most incredible streak this industry has seen.” Lane is holding court at an L. A. press junket for the movie Two for the Money
and defending his chosen occupation.
“ There’s nothing wrong with gambling. Obviously it falls on the individual. Some bet more than they should. I can’t police that . . . we’re all good at something and you can run away from your calling or you can recognize it and say ‘ this is what I’m good at.’ ” Two for the Money, which opens Friday, is directed by D. J. Caruso ( The Salton Sea) and stars Al Pacino, Rene Russo and Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey plays Brandon Lane. Except in the movie he’s called Lang. And in real life, Lane a. k. a. Lang was born Link. It’s a bit confusing, but if you can figure it out, you can probably master the point spread. Lane got into “ sports advising” after a career in basketball proved impossible. In a movieesque moment he substituted for the game picker at the audio text company where he worked; showed innate ability; was discovered by a New York company and rose in the ranks of sports betting. While gambling is illegal in most U. S. states, advising people on where to put their money is not.
In the movie, Lang hooks up with Al Pacino’s character, Walter, a loud yet lovable dema-
gogue, and succumbs to the seduction of money and power. Russo plays Walter’s wife Toni. And keeping it in the family, Russo’s real- life husband Dan Gilroy wrote the script.
“ When I was in my five- year run with Walter, I told myself, I’m in the middle of something that would make a good movie, and I had to detach myself from it in order to get a movie deal,” he says.
“ When I detached myself in ’ 95 I came to L. A. with the sole purpose of ‘ I’m going to network a movie’ — not so much about my life, but about this business and this industry.
“ And I said, what am I going to do to make this happen: I’m going to get a job as a caddy, because if you give me your ear for five hours, I’m a salesman; If you give me five hours, I’m going to have you running naked down the street, singing “ Kumbaya.” And four months later I caddied for Dan Gilroy and gave him the idea for a sports gambling movie, sat down with him and Rene over lunch . . . and they optioned my story and here we are with Two for the Money.”
Russo, who served as executive producer on the Vancouver- filmed project, says she encouraged her husband to do the script.
“ My husband said he’d met this guy on the golf course and I said, ‘ just write it.’ I sorta talked him into writing it. He was kinda complaining about it and I said ‘ oh, just write it.’ He just came home and told the story and I said, ‘ you know, I love that.’ ”
Lane, who recalls himself in his heady, New York days, as “ that suit- wearing, Mercedes- driving, slick- talking, moneymachine,” now operates a web- based betting advisory business at brandonlane. com.
Despite his assurances that betting is harmless, he doesn’t touch the stuff himself.
“ It’s like a coke dealer doing his own product. You can’t cross that line or step over that line. If you do, you’re history. I never will do that.”
Despite the movie playing a little fast and lose with the facts and not always showing Lane/ Lang/ Link in the best light, he’s still delighted.
“Most of the dialogue, the tricky catchphrases, are my catchphrases . . . It’s pretty on the money, it really is. I’m so pleased with how it portrays the emotional rollercoaster ride.” On his website, there’s an extra- happy group photo of Lane and the cast of Two for the Money
under the headline “ The movie about my life in theatres October 7.”
“ To not only have Matthew, but to have Al and Renee, if you were going to tell me that that’s who it was going to be, I would have told you to put me in a room with four white walls.”