'Luck' Producers Capture the Real and Mythic Santa Anita Race Track

Creators of HBO's upcoming horse-racing themed drama Luck said that Arcadia's famed --the setting and location for the series--rolled out the red carpet for the production. As well they should, given how much money creator and racing enthusiast David Milch (HBO's Deadwood) has dropped at the track.

“It was an easy choice because Santa Anita is fantastic,” said executive producer and director Michael Mann at a press conference Friday in Pasadena, part of the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “Because of relations we had there, because David’s spent so much money over his lifetime at Santa Anita, the red carpet was rolled out. They were tremendously cooperative, and we had a great working relationship with them."

Mann added: "The rest of it is the same as you do on absolutely any film. What are the places, who are the people to make this all become flesh and blood and come to life?”

and this month, the new original series premieres on HBO. Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina star in the drama, set in the world of horse racing and gambling. Executive producer Milch created the series and is a race horse owner himself. Filmmaker Mann directed the pilot and also executive produces the show with Milch.

Hoffman plays Chester “Ace” Bernstein, a gambler who just got out of federal prison after a three year stint. His driver, Gus (Dennis Farina), fronts as the owner of Ace’s horse.

Real History Informs the Fiction

The story is fictional, but Milch injected Luck with the real history and culture of Santa Anita as an atmosphere.

“There’s a particular doubleness that operates there because it’s kind of a Santa Anita of the mind,” Milch said. “You’re not literally using the lived history of Santa Anita, but, as Michael points out, it’s such a beautiful atmosphere that you’re crazy not to honor it shot for shot. It isn’t meant to be worshipful or historical, but certainly I know the people who operate the track feel they’ve been well served.”

Milch is also proud of the way Mann captured the race track, as it will exemplify the location to viewers around the world. “Because I had so little to do with the visual execution of the project, I can brag on it without feeling I have a conflict of interest,” Milch said. “I think it looks great.”

Luck is also not aiming to be a race track 101 show. The viewer jumps into Ace’s deals and gambler’s bets, and viewers are expected to keep up. “It’s an act of faith,” Milch said. “I think your fundamental responsibility is to stay true to the deepest nature and intention of the materials. That’s what we did. I have to say that Michael’s work in creating an atmosphere, which generated an entire second level continuously of dialogue, took a tremendous amount of the burden off demystifying of the world.”

Mann said he strove to convey broad strokes of what technical bets meant, so the audience could appreciate the stakes of a race. “I know nothing about gambling, and David knows everything about this world,” Mann said. “One of the big complexities was how to communicate to a mass audience what, for example, a pick six is. It became somehow finding those ways to get the concept of just singling the fifth race, if they can understand that a man’s made a one out of six selection, get a concept that that the number five horse is going to be good news for them. We weren’t into simple ... comprehension. To this day I don’t know how to pick six.”

Ensemble Drama

The ensemble drama also follows Walter Smith (Nick Nolte), an optimistic horse owner with a secret past. Turo Escalante (John Ortiz) is a Peruvian immigrant who has become a successful but infamous horse trainer. Joey Rathburn (Richard Kind) is a jockey’s agent. Marcus (Kevin Dunn) leads a group of four gamblers  (Ian Hart, Ritchie Coster and Jason Gedrick) openly referred to as "degenerates" by HBO’s own publicity materials. There are jockeys (Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens and Tom Payne) and even a veterinarian (Jill Hennessy.)

The stories encompass some of what Milch loves about the track. Telling these stories, Milch hopes to be more objective about the world he knows. “It’s a privilege, and it’s an enormous responsibility,” Milch said. “To the extent that there’s an autobiographical connection, that becomes secondary pretty quick. You hope you’re there as an artist.”

Mann produced Miami Vice and Crime Story on television in the 1980s. Luck gave him a new challenge to the crime shows of his past.

“First of all, I was attracted to it because of the writing,” Mann said. “That was it. There’s a tremendous responsibility in taking this narrative, which is very complex--which had multiple story tracks filled with wonderful characters whose lives we immersed into--and that challenge was very exciting and was a major reason we did it. Then moving that forward into flesh and blood people and places and having it come alive with the music and everything else when you’re making a film.”

Entertainment industry publications reported some tension on the set of Luck, speculating that Mann had Milch barred from the set of the pilot episode. Mann clarified what he considered a misunderstanding.

“It’s ridiculous,” Mann said. “It was like any other film I made. There are times the director wants the set for himself and his actors to discuss the scene. In one of those times he’ll ask the first [assistant director], the dolly grip, cameraman and everyone else to excuse themselves for 15 minutes. Somehow that got contorted into something else.”

Milch continued to praise Mann’s execution of his script. “To know that what one had tried to convey on the page was honored so rigorously in its execution, I felt that the material was in good hands,” Milch said.

Luck premieres Jan. 29 on HBO.