Poker-faced film stars: our top five

The cinema’s always had a love affair with casinos and gambling. Maybe it’s because, in the now famous words of screenwriter William Goldman: “In Hollywood no-one knows anything about what’s going to be a hit film.”

So every time a studio commits millions of dollars to a project, it’s a huge gamble as to whether they’ll get their money back, let alone make a profit.

Admittedly, there are some exceptions. For example, Disney are surely already counting the billions of profits that Star Wars: The Last Jedi is certain to generate, but such sure-fire successes are hard to come by.

But whatever the reasons, there are countless movies where casinos are almost another character in the action from classic Bond films to knockabout comedies like The Hangover and even ones where they really are at the heart of the action like Casino.

And, of all the games we see being played in them, poker is probably the one that offers the most dramatic possibilities. For example, it can represent conflict between two or more characters on not just a physical but on a mental level too, as well as allowing for sudden changes of fortune by wining it all, or even losing everything.

Another very fitting connection is that many of the skills that great poker players need are ones that they share with actors. Namely they need to have total control over their facial expressions, remaining completely neutral whether they’re holding a royal flush or a hand that’s going to need a whole load of bluffing to turn into a winner. This supreme level of self-assurance also has to hold firm when opponents suddenly surprise them with an unexpected move.

But controlling the face is only part of it. It extends to exuding the same level of calm nonchalance through body language in general, from resisting the urge to cross the arms to avoiding shifting uneasily in the seat.

Obviously, some actors would find this easier to carry off than others. It would be hard to imagine someone like Jack Black or Amy Poehler being able to keep a lid on it long enough to amass a tidy pot, but others have certainly demonstrated they have the icy cool to succeed and here’s our top five.

Daniel Craig

When Craig first hit the screen as Bond back in 2006 it ushered in a new, more ruthless character for the spy. It was hard to know what exactly was going on behind those icy blue eyes and a determined chin suggested a character who was more than sure about his own abilities. In fact, it could almost be the blueprint for a poker player built to succeed. So it was only fitting that in his debut as Bond he was involved in a life or death poker game with arch enemy Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. Although luck certainly played a part in his success in that game something tells us he’s also the sort of player who might suddenly surprise with an explosively unpredictable move.

Nicole Kidman

Throughout many of her roles, both in films an on TV, Nicole Kidman’s shown the sort of cool and controlled demeanour in the face of extreme provocation that surely makes her a natural for the poker table too. For example in last year’s surprise TV hit Big Little Lies she effectively managed to hide the abusive relationship she was in to almost all of the other characters in the series, until its final, explosive conclusion. Similarly, in Sophia Coppola’s remake of the Clint Eastwood movie, The Beguiled, she had to conceal her growing feelings for the wounded soldier played by Colin Farrell who was hiding in the girls’ school she ran. So, when it comes to poker, we think that she would remain unmoved, at least on the surface, whatever action was taking place on the table.

Jude Law

He may have played the young pope in Paolo Sorrentino’s series on Sky Atlantic but we’ve more than an inkling that he wouldn’t be out of place around the poker table either. The secret of this actor’s success would probably lie in the fact that he has an easy, charming manner that’s relaxed and unthreatening, no matter what’s really going on in his mind. With a calm and reassuring voice that’s beautifully modulated, it’s easy to imagine Law being able to deliver any kind of news, good or bad, in the same measured way that’s sure to keep moods level and calm. This could form the basis of the sort of poker strategy that most of us could master, namely to quietly get on with our game being polite and totally unthreatening to the players around us while still following our own agenda and taking the pot in dramatic circumstances.

Elisabeth Moss

Although she’s recently started getting more recognition for her film work, for example in the Palme D’Or-winning The Square, it’s in her TV roles that Elisabeth Moss has really shown just how good a poker player she could turn out to be. Moss first really reached public recognition in her role as the ambitious copywriter Peggy Olsen in Mad Men. In the face of the sexist environment and hard-to-please boss Don Draper, she succeeded against all the odds. Then, this year, in her appearance as Offred in the TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale she again had to remain resilient and hopeful in the dreadful circumstances that she found herself in and where one slip to show her true thoughts and feelings could certainly have proved fatal. So cautious, but dogged, resilience would definitely be her playing style.

Leonardo di Caprio

We’ve chosen the last actor on our list not for any one particular facet but for his sheer adaptability to play any number of different characters and roles depending on what the circumstances demand, but always with at least a hint of wildness behind them. You only have to look at his filmography to see this. From Jack in Titanic to millionaire aviation freak Howard Hughes in Scorsese’s The Aviator and from Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street to the title role in J. Edgar Hoover you really do never know what you’re going to get from di Caprio – and that can be a fantastic quality for any poker player to have if they really do want to keep their opponents guessing.

These are just five examples of actors who, we think, have the makings of poker stars but you may well have your own ideas. But whoever did make it to our fantasy Hollywood poker tournament one thing would be for certain - and that’s that none of the multi-millionaire players would be frightened by the size of the buy-in or even really need to win for the money!