Owning Mahowny

Owning Mahowny
Owning Mahowny film poster
Directed by	Richard Kwietniowski
Produced by	Andras Hamori, Seaton McLean
Written by	Gary Stephen Ross (book), Maurice Chauvet
Starring	Philip Seymour Hoffman John Hurt Minnie Driver Maury Chaykin
Music by	The Insects Richard Grassby-Lewis
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s)	23 January 2003
Running time	104 minutes
Country	Canada United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	~ $10,000,000

Owning Mahowny is a 2003 movie about gambling addiction with a cast that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Maury Chaykin and John Hurt.

Plot

In 1982, a Toronto bank employee Dan Mahowny (Hoffman) is given access to bigger and bigger accounts with his promotion to assistant branch manager. His boss trusts him, but what he doesn't know is Mahowny is a compulsive gambler. And soon he's skimming larger and larger amounts for his own use and making weekly trips to Atlantic City, where he's treated more like a king by a greedy casino manager (Hurt) with every additional thousand he lays down on the table. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, fellow bank employee Belinda (Driver), can't understand what's happening, and the wheels go into motion at the bank when the first missing amount is uncovered.

The movie's focus is on Mahowny as a character—how his compulsion drives him and all the domino effects it has on the rest of his life. The love story between Mahowny and Belinda and the inclusion of other finely drawn characters such as hapless casino employee Bernie (Chris Collins) put the emphasis squarely on the gambling addiction, not on the flash and sizzle of big casinos or multi-million-dollar frauds.

Film critic Roger Ebert named Owning Mahowny one of the top ten films of 2003.

The real-life story

Owning Mahowny is based on a real-life incident: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce clerk Brian Molony embezzled over $10 million from his employers in just 18 months to support his gambling habit. Molony's story was told in the best-selling 1987 book Stung by journalist Gary Ross, which formed the basis for the screenplay.

In an interview on the web site of Stung publishers McClelland and Stewart, Ross says he has kept in touch with Molony and updated what happened to him after the events portrayed in the movie. Molony served six years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud. He has not gambled since his arrest, has married his girlfriend (Belinda in the movie), has three sons and works as a financial consultant.

Cast

• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dan Mahowny
• Minnie Driver as Belinda
• Maury Chaykin as Frank Perlin
• John Hurt as Victor Foss
• Sonja Smits as Dana Selkirk
• Ian Tracey as Detective Ben Lock
• Roger Dunn as Bill Gooden
• Jason Blicker as Dave Quinson
• Chris Collins as Bernie
• Matthew Ferguson as Martin
• Janine Theriault as Maggie
• Conrad Dunn as Edgar
• Eric Fink as Psychologist
• Mike "Nug" Nahrgang as Parking Attendant
• Tanya Henley as Teller
• Brona Brown as Teller
• Philip Craig as Briggs
• Michael Caruana as Alex Retsnor
• Gary Brennan as Man in Ice Rink
• Tannis Burnett as Mary the Teller
• Steve Cumyn as Observer #1
• Tony Munch as Observer #2
• Lorn Eisen as Blackjack Dealer
• M.J. Kang as Secretary

External links

• Official website
• Owning Mahowny at the Internet Movie Database
• Owning Mahowny at AllRovi
• Owning Mahowny at Rotten Tomatoes
• interview with Stung author Gary Ross at the McClelland & Stewart web site
• Reel Toronto: Owning Mahowny; filming locations detailed in The Torontoist, December 8, 2009