Joe Carnahan : (2) " I love the ambiguous kind of endings. I think, oftentimes, that’s what life really is – there’s no concrete path for you to take. It’s always kind of a jumble of variables. Behind this door could be a beautiful woman, and behind the same door could be a tiger, you know? You don’t know. " - Joe Carnahan " To me, the bones of ‘Smokin’ Aces’ is in the Coen brothers. ‘Barton Fink’ and ‘Raising Arizona.’ Those two movies, if you look at them, that’s where a lot of that comes from. " - Joe Carnahan