The real 'Dan Mahowny' stands up, gives director his blessing

"Let's just call him Dan," said director Richard Kwietniowski, chuckling softly. In town last month to talk about his film "Owning Mahowny" (opening today at the Metro), Kwietniowski's referring to his meeting with the man who inspired the movie — "Dan Mahowny" (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), a nondescript Toronto assistant bank manager who in the early '80s embezzled millions of dollars to feed his Atlantic City gambling habit. When finally caught, he made headlines as the largest one-man bank heist in Canadian history.

"Dan," who dressed shabbily and lived modestly during his gambling years, used his bank access to create loans for nonexistent customers, or to withdraw funds from wealthy clients' lines of credit. He saved none of the money he embezzled, always pumping it back into the baccarat and blackjack tables. By the time of his arrest, he had stolen — and gambled away — more than $10 million.

After serving a six-year sentence, the former banker married the longtime girlfriend who stood by him (named Belinda in the movie, and played by Minnie Driver) and now lives quietly with his family in Ontario. The Toronto Star reported this month that he now runs a small loan company, and while he willingly told his story to educate people about gambling addiction, he was firm that his real name not be used. He did, however, meet with Kwietniowski to give "a private blessing" for the project, said the director, and sent "a pleasing e-mail" after attending an early screening of the film.

Kwietniowski first became attached to the project several years ago, approached by the producers who owned the rights to the story. They had enjoyed the director's 1997 first film, "Love and Death on Long Island" — a lovely, quiet character study, in which John Hurt plays a reclusive writer obsessed with a young American movie actor. Hurt also appears in "Owning Mahowny," as a blackjack dealer. (Asked if Hurt will appear in all of his future films, Kwietniowski replied, "I hope so!")

Drawn to the real-life drama of the material, Kwietniowski wrote a second draft of Maurice Chauvet's screenplay, taking plenty of time to research the milieu of the film's two worlds. "I took down a lot of casino stuff," he recalled of his visits to Atlantic City. "And I wanted to bring up the dramatic potential of the bank."

A native of London, Kwietniowski began his career making short films, and has worked extensively in British television. But both of his films have been made stateside — "There's a reluctance in my country to like the same stories I do." He's at work on a new script, about a missing painting. "It's like 'Owning Mahowny,' " he said — "very self-contained."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com