Samir Oliveros is back in the director’s chair with his first feature film in nearly a decade with The Luckiest Man in America. The filmmaker, who previously made his debut with the 2017 dramedy Bad Lucky Goat, has teamed with writer Maggie Briggs to tell the story of the most infamous episode in gaming show history. In 1984, Press Your Luck welcomed Michael Larson on as a contestant, believing him to be an excited fan of the show, only to later find themselves contending with someone far craftier than they anticipated.

Oliveros put his trust in Paul Walter Hauser to bring Michael Larson to life in The Luckiest Man in America, aiming for the right mix of sympathy and ambiguity with his actions. He’s also built a star-studded cast around Hauser, including Oscar nominee David Strathairn as Press Your Luck co-creator Bill Carruthers, with whom Larson unknowingly enters a mental game of chess in his attempts to win as much as possible. Joining them are The White Lotus‘ Walton Goggins, John Wick: Chapter 4‘s Shamier Anderson, Game of Thrones‘ Maisie Williams, 1923‘s Brian Geraghty and Together Together‘s Patti Harrison, among others.

In honor of the movie’s release, ScreenRant interviewed Samir Oliveros to discuss The Luckiest Man in America. The co-writer/director discussed his and Briggs’ approach to depicting the infamous game show scandal, including why there are no clear heroes amid the ensemble cast, as well as crafting the visual palette of the film in a way that set itself apart from other ’80s-set тιтles, and why Hauser was the perfect choice for playing Larson.

The Luckiest Man In America’s Ambiguous Morality Is “Exactly What The Intention Was” For Oliveros

“…We Structured The Movie For It To Work Like An Onion…”

INTERVIEW

With the movie coming nearly a decade after his last feature film, it certainly seems like Oliveros explored a range of options for what should be his follow-up feature. When it came to why The Luckiest Man in America was his choice, the co-writer/director recalled seeing the Press Your Luck clip of the real Larson and being compelled by the contestant, feeling that “I could tell that he was hiding something” and that “he was not showing his real self“.

“I was like, ‘This guy knows something that we don’t’,” Oliveros expounded about his feelings about Larson’s appearance on the game show. “And when I started exploring that and finding out more about his life and his character, I thought he would be a great protagonist, because he makes really bold decisions.“

In looking at how he and Briggs approached telling Larson’s story with a sense of ambiguity, Oliveros confirmed “that’s exactly what the intention was” for the duo, as they wanted their characters to be “in this gray zone in which they shouldn’t know if they should be vouching for the guy or impeding him.” This led to them focusing on four questions when writing, those being, “What is he doing? How is he doing it? Who really is this guy? Why did he do it?“

From there, Oliveros and Briggs structured The Luckiest Man in America‘s script “to work like an onion“, in which the audience was “peeling layers until you got to Michael’s emotional core.” He went on to cite the acclaimed neo-Western drama Paris, Texas as a major influence on the writing process, recalling how audiences start with the opinion of “Who the f–k is this guy?” in regard to Harry Dean Stanton’s Travis, only to then have their minds blown by the time the movie reaches its ending and has shown all of his layers.

This didn’t stop with their depiction of Larson, either, as Oliveros and Briggs also approached depicting Carruthers and the team of network executives in the production room watching Press Your Luck and planning ways to stop him from a place of ambiguity. The co-writer/director does acknowledge that “because we didn’t know what was happening up there, that was the way that we were going to be able to dramatize the story“, which led to the creation of “all the antagonism for” Larson as the film proceeds.

Oliveros also pointed out how there was an intentional separation of Larson and Carruthers across The Luckiest Man in America‘s runtime, save for the one scene after the audition in which the latter convinces the former to return to the game and keep winning. The co-writer/director explained that part of the fun of their dynamic was that they “feel each other’s presence” without being in the same room, praising Hauser for depicting Larson’s belief of “feeling observed and knowing that there was something at work that was not in his control“.

Oliveros Had A Unique Approach To Researching The Movie’s Real Story

One Larson Detail Came From A Family Member Of Another Character

Though Larson became a subject of infamy in the years that followed his Press Your Luck episode, he also remained something of a mystery to the public, with only a handful of interviews and a documentary chronicling his life. When it came to putting together the facts of the scandal, Oliveros revealed that he and Briggs largely pulled from the episode itself, along with said documentary and “a couple of articles” and “recorded interviews” in order to inform their depiction of the matter.

Additionally, Oliveros revealed that they had Bill Carruthers Jr., the son of Press Your Luck‘s creator, on the show as a creative consultant. “He gave us a bunch of really fun information,” Oliveros enthusiastically explained. “So, for example, the plate that he brings to the audition that gets broken at the end, he actually brought into the audition, and he told us a lot about Michael, because he was in the room with him. So it was a mix of all that.“

The Luckiest Man In America’s Visual Style Is Not Meant To Evoke ’80s Nostalgia

There Are Also Two Distinct Looks To The Film For Thematic Reasons

In the wake of Stranger Things‘ success, the era of the ’80s has become a major point of exploration in the world of filmmaking, with everything from the IT movies to Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! keeping the trend alive. While The Luckiest Man in America could have done so, Oliveros very purposely wanted to avoid having a “nostalgic” feel in the film’s visual palette, but rather a “classic” one with a “traditional color palette, and not such a washed-out ’80s look.”

One key way Oliveros was able to capture this look was with the use of a “working 1983 tube camera for the tapings“, which they partly used as “a reference for color saturation” of the film. The director also revealed that they were able to use it for the three-cam setup layout they had to recreate the episode’s taping in order to match the other two cameras used for the scene.

In addition to avoiding a nostalgic look, Oliveros also sought to translate the gap between Larson and Carruthers by having two distinct visual styles for the game show floor and the production booth, the former of which was “really warm with the reds and yellows and oranges” while the latter was “really cold with the blues and grays“. Oliveros also pointed out how the cinematography is only handheld in the control room, as he and cinematographer Pablo Lozano wanted to create a “shaky and nerve-wracking” atmosphere. The game show floor, meanwhile, has everyone “putting on a facade” and “pretending to be very good contestants“.

Oliveros Purposely Turned To The World Of Comedy For Casting Larson

“Paul Was Definitely At The Top Of The List.”

While a script and direction are plenty important to capturing an ambiguous tone, having an actor who’s able to navigate the two is equally important. In reflecting on the casting process for Larson, Oliveros turned to the world of comedy in order to find his protagonist, largely because it “gives you that little, funny ʙuттerflies nervousness in your stomach” about whether to trust the lead character.

“It’s not a laugh-out-loud thing, but more of a thrilling thing, but we also wanted somebody that had dramatic chops, so that they could show us the two sides of the balance,” Oliveros explained. “Like when we’re in the commercial breaks, and when he’s on the phone, and all those other moments where we needed a dramatic performance.“

The co-writer/director confirmed that “Paul was definitely at the top of the list” of who he wanted to play Larson, recalling having seen Richard Jewell before Black Bird began airing when they were first putting the film together. It was the Apple TV+ show that truly convinced him Hauser was right for the part, as his Emmy-winning turn as Larry Hall left him ready to send it to Hauser “first“:

And then, the conversations with Paul were about the onion that I was explaining earlier. We spoke about Travis in Paris, Texas, and we spoke about not revealing too much, and the less, the better. So, that was kind of the challenge throughout the movie, just less less less less, until it’s time to expose.

More About The Luckiest Man In America

Based on a true story, The Luckiest Man in America is set in May 1984, when an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio (Paul Walter Hauser) steps onto the game show Press Your Luck harboring a big secret: the key to endless amounts of money. His winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives in the control room start to uncover his real motivations.

Check out our other Luckiest Man in America interview with Paul Walter Hauser!

Source: ScreenRant Plus