In terms of poker, my Dad was briefly a high level poker player when very young. Took Mickey Cohen for $50 bucks in a poker game. (This was the Depression, so think $500 or may $1,000 today.) Fortunately for my late Dad, Cohen took well, just laughed at his nerve. But the point is that he played damn well and made money at it.

And he said that if you did not do the math you were a sucker, But if you relied only on the math you were a loser. You had to calculate the numbers, read people, and avoid being read yourself. You had to know how to bluff without being detected (and not bluff too damn often.) He never said you had to know when to hold em and know when to fold em, but that was implied. So hiding or getting rid of your tells is something a good poker player needs to do, even if it is not the only skill you need.

Actually my late Father was a gambler in general. He won not only at poker, but roulette. He lost at horse racing, so confied his horse racing betting to recreational amounts. (His system for winning at roulette was one that worked in his time, but would not work today. Bet odd or even or some other method that minimizes losses until you spot a pattern, then bet on the pattern. Roulette wheels are constructed better, and the people who spin them are trained in not falling into patterns and work shorter shifts so they don't have time to get fatigued in the particular way way that would result in spinning the same way every time. While I'm sure some cheating does, on most efforts by casino owners are the opposite of cheating. Make sure your wheels are truly random, and the odds make sure the house wins. My Dad took advantage of the fact that in his time, if you waited long enough a combination of imperfections in the wheel and fatigue by the dealer would result in non-random results, and then you could win by spotting this before the house did.)

All this is just family stories of course, because my Dad gave up gambling before I was born for whatever reason. Once in a while he would let himself get dragged in a poker game. He win during the first half, then tell me that it would be impolite of him to keep that much and deliberately lose until he was a buck or two ahead or behind. That part I witnessed, so while I don't know if all his stories are true, he was good enough to win the first half of every poker game I ever saw him take part in and then start losing the second half after whispering to me that it was time for him to give back the winnings.

I don't think there are a lot of actor who can do this. It's a tiny handful at most. But I'd put Tom Cruise in there

There are enough actors with their own production companies that I don't think of it as tiny--it's just WAY easier for Cruise to get a bankroll with his production company than for Natalie Portman and hers. But a production company represents a way your project can be pimped without you having to do all the legwork.

After listening to quite a few filmmakers discuss how difficult it is to get movies made even after they've made hugely successful stuff, I suspect that they often can't get funding unless there's a big name actor cast as a box office draw, even if that actor isn't really right for the part.

it's just WAY easier for Cruise to get a bankroll with his production company

Which is why it's easier for me to believe that he's got this role because he wants it. Not because he necessarily went to a casting call and was chosen as the best actor to portray this character. But I haven't read the series so maybe he's a good choice for the role.

UPS finally showed! The waiting game might seem less ridiculous if I didn't live next door to a UPS store.

Now I need to go strike a show and get groceries.

I think Chris Helmsworth would be a better choice, although he's too young.

I read a pretty good opinion piece proposing The Rock as Reacher!

Was it by me?? It's so easy to make the mother Samoan from French!

I havent read the series, AND I tend to hate physical descriptions, but I REALLY hate Tom Cruise, so would probably suspect the worst.

However, I thought I would hate him as Lestat, and I didn't.

I am weirdly obsessed with something my uncle said to me this Thanksgiving. We were talking about genetic testing, because he is thinking of getting it for genetic markers for diseases-- I said I would be more interested in the ethnicity/race one, and made a joke about how everyone thinks I am Jewish. He said "Well, you SOUND Jewish!". I am not even sure what that means? How does someone sound Jewish? I suspect iy may be because I worked to get rid of my Rochester accent?

it's easier for me to believe that he's got this role because he wants it

The potential ease of Tom getting his own ideas made doesn't mean that all of his roles are his idea, though. Or even most of them. A producing credit doesn't imply it, an acting credit doesn't imply it. And the press contradicts it.

I think the press will usually tell you when it's an actor's baby, because they love that shit. I check anyway, just because, and it rarely takes much checking.