Gambit opening revisits Caine classic comedy

Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman star in a remake of a 1960s Michael Caine classic. The new “Gambit” is still a comedy but with a 21st century script by Joel and Ethan Coen. The movie contains a fair amount of bare flesh, but it’s not intended to be sexy – the stars said that it’s less Fanny Hill and more Benny Hill. “We think of it as comedy,” said Cameron Diaz. “We didn’t really think, ‘Oh, all of us are getting into various states of undress for the sake of something sexual’.” “Well certainly not in my case,” added Colin Firth. “I mean, you get treated to my knees for about 20 minutes.” Alan Rickman appears totally naked except for a few well positioned props. His nude scene was filmed in a real office, which meant there wasn’t much privacy. “(There was) a lot of glass around,” he explained. “It was very transparent. I’m sure in this mad world of iPhones it’ll be a miracle if it’s not out there somewhere.” Joining the trio at the London premiere in Leicester Square, the director Michael Hoffman said: “It’s about the clash of cultures and this over the top Texan rodeo girl and this very repressed English art connoisseur, so, I mean a perfect casting really.” Colin Firth’s character is a private art curator who plans to con Britain’s richest man, played by Alan Rickman, into buying a fake Monet painting. Cameron Diaz plays a Texas rodeo queen to add some extra detail to the plot. “Gambit” is on release in the UK and Ireland.