It took filmmaker Alex Gibney a long time to get former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney and former lobbyist Neil Volz — both punished for their roles in the Jack Abramoff scandal — to open up for his documentary, “Casino Jack and the United States of Money,” which comes out Friday.
But now that they’re talking, they’re really talking, touting Gibney’s documentary and even chatting happily about the other Abramoff flick “Casino Jack,” out later this year.
“See the documentary first, the documentary is going to be more real-life, and the other is Hollywood,” Ney told Yeas & Nays. That said: “Kevin Spacey can pull off anything.”
Spacey will play Abramoff in “Casino Jack.”
Ney was upbeat about other casting decisions for the dramatized “Casino Jack.”
“This is why I’m happy,” Ney said. “I lost 60 pounds in prison, so I went from the overweight member to the more thin prisoner,” he continued. Ney pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2006 and spent 17 months in prison.
“They picked Jeff Pustil, handsome guy,” Ney said. “Fact, I’m going to send him an old congressional picture, I’m going to send him a picture from Bob to Bob.”
Volz, who served as Ney’s chief of staff before taking a job with Abramoff himself, said there were different expectations for the two films, though he also conceded to being a Spacey fan.
“Oh man, ‘American Beauty.’ He was amazing in that movie,” Volz told Yeas & Nays.
Ney and Volz were back together in Washington for a screening of “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” last week. The documentary details Abramoff’s many moneymaking schemes and web of Washington connections, but fails to get Abramoff in front of the camera. As for getting others players, mainly Ney and Volz, to participate, director Gibney had an easy explanation.
“I bribed them,” he joked.
The documentary opens Friday at E Street and Bethesda Row theaters.
