THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA Special Screenings

US Premiere

In May 1984, a contestant on the popular gameshow PRESS YOUR LUCK – an unemployed ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson (Paul Walter Hauser) – pulled off the longest win streak in the show’s history. Was he just lucky, or had he hacked the game? Hauser is riveting as Michael, ostensibly a humble, TV-loving American everyman, but shaded with something darker and more eccentric. The show’s producer, game show maven Bill Carruthers (David Strathairn), falls for Michael during the interview screening, despite misgivings from his casting director Chuck (Shamier Anderson). Their difference of opinion escalates into high-stakes, behind-the-scenes maneuvering once Michael begins his uncanny win streak, unnerving the higher-ups at CBS Television City that he will break the show’s bank account, just as he’s seemingly broken the code for the game’s button-controlled board. Directed and co-written by Samir Oliveros, and executive produced by Pablo Larraín, the film is both a strange-but-true tale from the annals of ‘80s entertainment, and a pointed commentary on America, with everyone looking for an edge in what may be a rigged game anyway. The cast includes Walton Goggins, Maisie Williams and Johnny Knoxville. –Todd Hitchcock