LOS ANGELES – An HBO Original Series brought us to this City recently. Among them is “Luck,” topbilled by Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman alongside Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina. “Luck” premieres Monday, Feb. 20, in Asia.

Most of the roundtable interviews and the screening of episodes of “Luck,” “Veep,” and “Girls” were done at The Langham in Pasadena (which was brimming with activities, including press conferences for other popular American TV shows that week), but our interviews with “Luck” creator David Milch, director Michael Maan and stars Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte were held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

With his stature as an actor, and his “hard to work with” reputation, we felt intimidated just waiting for Dustin Hoffman’s appearance. But he quickly quenched whatever unease we felt with his easy-going and warm personality. Before the interview, he looked us in the eye as he listened to our names and the countries we represented.

In the first episode of the nine-episode “Luck” of which he is also producer, Hoffman plays Chester “Ace” Bernstein, who was just released from a three-year incarceration in a federal prison and was picked up by his trusted aide/chauffeur Gus Demitriou (Dennis Farina). He is now out to exact revenge from the colleagues who’ve betrayed him.

Hoffman has played a wide range of characters in his career, some difficult and truly challenging (like a crippled street hustler in “Midnight Cowboy,” one of three Best Pictures he starred in, the other two being “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Rain Man,” and a guy pretending to be a woman in “Tootsie”). He lost the Oscar to Ben Kingsley in 1982 for the latter’s role as “Gandhi,” a movie that was ironically first offered to Hoffman. But in “Luck,” it is the first time that the multi-awarded actor is playing such a role as a horse-racing aficionado.

Hoffman recalled that it was only in 2003 that he was given the opportunity to work with former Pasadena Playhouse classmate Gene Hackman via the film “Runaway Jury.” They’ve known each other since 1956 when they both enrolled for theater training at the Pasadena Playhouse. After only three months, Hackman was out of the theater school (it was said he was kicked out for showing no talent?) and he headed for New York.

In New York, he became roommates with Hackman. Another former roommate was Robert Duvall.

Did Hoffman regret passing up the “Gandhi” role after it earned for Kingsley the Oscar Best Actor trophy? He answered in the negative, saying he accepted “Tootsie” instead, a film for which he ranked No. 33 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of all Time in 2006.

Interestingly, Hoffman was said to have gone into acting because he failed school (Santa Monica City College) and after someone told him “nobody flunks acting.” His first big break came via “The Graduate” in 1967. In that same year, Hackman got his with “Bonnie and Clyde.”

Nolte As A Horse Trainer

Even more intimidating to our mind was Nick Nolte, but in contrast to his tough exterior, he was all gentleness in person. And he could be the ideal interviewee because of his kilometric answer to a question.

He said he is not a gambling man, but he gave it a try once in a casino, won $3,000, and the next time $12,000 but that was the last of it. He said he never thought of horse-racing as gambling.

For his role as Walter Smith, a veteran trainer-turned-horse owner, he said it was fun working with horses. There’s an ensemble of actors in “Luck,” he stressed and “so it’s tremendous fun to do…” Part of that ensemble of actors he referred to were Kevin Dunn as Marcus; Ritchie Coster as Renzo, Jason Gedrick as Jerry, and Ian Hart as Lonnie, degenerate gamblers all.

Nolte also said he has stopped doing studio films since they’ve eliminated the cinemas in favor of digital theaters showing indie movies. He is against 3-D films: “It does bad for the brain, I don’t know what we gain from 3-D presentations. I don’t know what creative value 3-D has to offer to viewers.”

Nolte’s life philosophy: “It’s lucky to just live, it’s a short life.”

David Milch, A Degenerate Gambler

David Milch, the creator of “Luck,” described himself as a degenerate gambler and admitted to be a former heroin addict. But he is the brilliant mind behind such successful crime dramas as “Hill Street Blues,” “NYPD Blue” and HBO’s “Deadwood.” But unlike these previous projects for which he did extensive research, “Luck” was based on true accounts. He lived through the experience of being a degenerate horse player and owner of thoroughbred horses which requires no less than $40,000 a year to maintain.

Milch said he got absorbed in horseracing since he was five or six old when his father started bringing him to horse race venue Saratoga.

Asked what should make “Luck” a compelling series, he said “because I lived it!” And he recalled what William Faulkner said that “the stories of the human heart in conflict with itself are stories worth telling.”

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Evanescence At Big Dome Tonight

Evanescence performs tonight (Feb. 19) at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

A featured attraction during the one-night gig from Ovation Productions dubbed as “Evanescence Live In Manila!” is British alternative rocker Bush.

Evanescence’s hits include “Bring Me To Life,” “Going Under,” “My Immortal,” “Everybody’s Fool.”

“Evanescence Live In Manila!” is presented by Ovation Productions in cooperation with ETC, 2nd Avenue, Universal Channel and Jack TV.

It is also supported by Manila Bulletin, The Philippine Star, BusinessWorld, Talk TV, Diva Universal, Basketball TV, Solar Sports, 97.9 Home Radio, ABS-CBN, Mellow 94.7, Monster Radio RX 93.1, MYX, Edsa Shangri-La Manila and OptimaSignsolutions.

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Tidbits: Happy b-day greetings Sunday, Feb. 19, go to US-based singer Carina Afable, Lulu Ng de Leon, Lettie Fuentes, Louie San Juan, Ronald Campos, Darwin Chiang, Elvie Regala, Viktor Santillan, Eng. Santiago Pascual, Dr. Nena Veloso Mewshew, Alice Coronel, Suzette Uy, Jun Escarez, and Empress Schuck…