The Year I Met
the Famous Rounders

Does anybody remember the film Rounders? It was a cool 1998 crime drama starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, and Gretchen Mol, among others. Damon plays a poker addict who wants to quit, but has to get back into it when his friend, played by Norton, needs money to pay back some very shady people.

I can't tell you how frustrated I am that not a lot of my friends, themselves older millennials, know or remember the movie. I couldn't have been the only one who watched it, let alone remembered it. But for some reason, my friends and colleagues barely know about it.

Granted, most of us were kids when it came out, but we've watched countless 90s movies since then. The late 90s were also known for some of the most incredible movies of all time. I can't believe many of my buddies—who call themselves cinephiles, by the way—didn't and still don’t know about it.

The movie may not have been a hit, but the cast itself had a lot of big names, and I'm sure people would still remember it. But no, they don’t. So, to get more people aware of it, I figured I'd get my Rounders movie poster signed by this elite cast.

Despite my determination, I never would've thought I'd do most of it within the same year. Well, to be fair, I only got the lead stars' autographs that year. I met the rest of the cast later on, and it was a pleasure meeting them over the years.

But in 2014, I met Gretchen Mol, Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Turturro, almost consecutively. Actually, the first cast member I met was John Malkovich, but it was during the Red 2 premiere in LA in 2013. Meeting the rest of them the very next year overwhelmed me so much that I often forget that encounter.

John Malkovich was nice when I saw him on the red carpet, and he easily signed my movie poster when I asked him. It was one of the most pleasant celebrity interactions I've ever had, and I've had a lot!

That very next year, 2014, was wild. I first encountered Gretchen Mol when she appeared at the SAG Awards that January, as part of the cast of Boardwalk Empire. Not only did she look beautiful, but she was so lovely in person, too. Like Malkovich, she signed my movie poster when I asked her.

The same happened when I met both Matt Damon and Edward Norton, the film's lead twosome, that February. I saw Damon first at The Monuments Men premiere and then Norton at The Grand Budapest Hotel premiere, both in New York City.

It was a good thing I stayed in the Big Apple that year, because that December, I finally met John Turturro at the Exodus: Gods and Kings premiere. It was the quickest encounter of them all, but I still got him to sign the same movie poster.

That poster hangs on my wall now, and I love that it still starts conversations. If you know Rounders, I hope you love it as much as I do. And if you don't, consider this my attempt to hand you the task of spreading the word about this awesome, highly underrated 1998 film to the rest of the world.