Everything You Didn't Know About CASINO by Martin Scorsese

Per usual the director's schedule was, packed tight having barely finished editing his previous film Martin began. writing the screenplay for the novel. clockers. he quickly found some old acquaintances. to fill the leading roles John tutaro. from The Color of Money and Harvey, Keitel who had featured in most of. scorsese's films. Universal put their faith in Martin once again approving a budget of 25 million dollars, same time Nicholas polecki co-writer of, the Goodfellas screenplay came to the. director with the idea of writing a book and subsequently a script about the life. of Frank Rosenthal Frank was a famous Las Vegas casino manager and sports betting genius whose ties to the Chicago mob were a mystery to No One except the. police, Scorsese was fascinated with the idea and Nicholas like a true master of diplomacy convinced Rosenthal to agree. to the book because he would be played by Robert De Niro in the subsequent film , one month before shooting began on the. clockers Martin lost interest in the, film instead becoming a producer and. handing the director's Reigns over to a, friend in Protege from New York Spike Lee Martin suddenly saw an opening in his, schedule and he decided to fill it with casino but palegi hadn't even begun a, rough draft of the book yet Scorsese not wanting to wait convinced the writer to, work on the novel in the screenplay at the same time Universal was the first to, see the film's potential and bought the. rights with a 50 million dollar budget it was an incredible leap of faith for a. project with no script and no primary source although Universal was most likely motivated by the fact that of all, the big Hollywood Studios they were the only one that had never worked with Scorsese before their only obstacle was potential legal. troubles the sensitive topic of Las Vegas gambling institutions was enough to make the production company's lawyers. sweat one wrong move and the project would be thrown into lawsuit hell, Consultants convinced the director to change the names of the main characters for example Frank Rosenthal became Sam, Rothstein the surname was borrowed from a gangster from the 1930s named Arnold Rothstein who was also known for, gambling and sports betting anywhere. else in the country I was a bookie a. gambler always looking over my shoulder hassled by cops day and night but here I, miss the raw speed this didn't satisfy lawyers so the inscription based on a. true story was changed to based on real. events and just in case any reference to, Chicago or the Chicago Mafia were cut. from The Script even back home years ago, when we were first hanging out together, he'd know if the quarterback was on Coke, but the most significant change was the name of the casino itself the story of, the Stardust Casino was now that of the, fictional Tangiers Casino I was given one of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas. to run the Tangiers however there were a few Clues scattered throughout the film, for the observant viewer the song. Stardust can be heard on the film soundtrack three times the instrumental version at Ace and Ginger's wedding. the vocal version. and at the end of the closing credits their problem arose when Crooks refused, to consult the film's crew regarding how. to Swindle a casino and that's just what. these Hustlers look for they cruise from. casino to casino looking for weak. dealers the way lions look for weekends but Martin's ex-wife Barbara dafina, found a way around this by suggesting, they hire ex-convicts and retired FBI. agents who had caught the best Crooks in the U.S in Vegas everybody's gotta watch, everybody else Martin began casting. leading roles went to De Niro and Pesci. a classic combination for Scorsese this, time was no exception the dialogue between these characters is totally,

improvised what is it with you all of a. sudden you try to tell me what to do I'm trying to tell you what to do but you're. way out of line Nick what are you doing. where's your head where's my head, where's your balls paradoxally. the movie about a casino involved paying off a lot of debts Scorsese had saved, the role of Ginger for Sharon Stone who had left an impression on him 15 years, prior the actress had almost landed the role of Vicki lamada in Raging Bull he got the wrong girl the director's, instincts turned out to be correct. because Stone received the only Oscar. nomination of her career and also won a, Golden Globe but more on that later . after Sharon Martin called Robert Richardson whom he had promised to work. with back in 1991. together they created. the visual concept for the film taking examples from the best films Noir of John Alton such as T-man Raw Deal and slightly Scarlet another allusion to the Noir was the. title sequence by Saul Bass the most famous graphic designer in cinematic. history who had worked on films by. Hitchcock Kubrick and now for the fourth, time Martin Scorsese, please, , unfortunately the artist passed away three months after the premiere. on September 14 1994 Martin said action for the first time in Las Vegas where he, would spend the following four months but guys like me Las Vegas washes away, his sins it's like a morality car wash, it does for us what Lourdes does for. humpbacks and cripples shooting was done, inside a real Casino actual guests can be seen in the backgrounds of wide shots and real employees of the establishment. played the croupiers the hell did you learn how to do it the Riviera management allowed filming from 10 pm to. 4 am so as to not disturb the mainstream, of visitors during peak hours but we, were not important I mean it was important that everybody was a gambling the first day of shooting I see that, they have electric sign-offs that says, come and see the shooting of Casino. Robert De Niro Sharon Stone Don Rickles, the bosses also refused to allow any. cameras into the accounting Wing So a. separate set had to be built for that, long sequence the only artificial, setting in the film the holy of holies the count rule, now this place was off limits Stephen I. couldn't get inside a large portion of. the budget went towards wardrobe the cost of which exceeded a million dollars De Niro had 70 wardrobe changes in the film Stone 40. after filming it wrapped. the main characters were allowed to keep what they wanted. Robert personally selected each element of his appearance based on his, experience of speaking with the real. person behind his character, serious approach started with his, glasses and watches down to the way he spoke smiled and held a cigarette, by the way cigarettes are a nightmare for an editing director they can change, length from frame to frame or Worse. switch hands Robert kept fell a. Schumacher in mind while shooting Sam. doesn't light up a cigarette for half the film to make it easier on editing and De Niro made sure to note the cigarette's distance from the filter and. verified it every take and scene in the, movie, , foreign 's ability to transform into his, character backfired Las Vegas bigwig's. mistook the actor for the real Tony the. ant spilotra you beat Nikki with fists he comes back with a bat you beat him, with a knife he comes back for the gun he wasn't allowed into certain establishments on a couple of occasions but when Joe nevertheless entered the Gambling Hall some people crossed. themselves and others nearly fainted they were confused maybe if I stick your face you just went over here.

like you know he'll get unconfused give, me the money has she frightened. people but it worked in his favor the actor broke another rib on set just as. he had done in Raging Bull. Scorsese was elated to be working with such a skilled cast but even Robert and. Joe's Talent couldn't build the, relationship between the main characters. which turned out to be the film's most, challenging aspect what am I doing out. here I'm trying to make a living that's, all I'm just telling you don't say it anymore all right but Sharon simply shined the director's favorite scene is when Ginger throws the chips in the air, oh, but this was the more lighthearted and, easy going side of her character Stone. showed her true Talent later or method acting and intense dedication to the role took its emotional toll on. the actress while shooting the phone booth scene Martin would hold Sharon's hand in between takes to calm the, actress as she seemed to be teetering on the verge of Hysteria Marty sat on the dirt by my feet outside the phone booth. so that I could go to, crazyville but so that I could see him and touch him hi it's me just do you wanted to talk to right filming wrapped in January and Martin immediately began the editing process. . foreign. . er's career to be edited on a computer. experience suggested that an abundance, of violent scenes would lead to a battle, with the American Film Association so. the director got clever he added a scene. with someone's head and a vice for the sole purpose of getting the sensors to. demand its removal, made the rest of the violence in the, film seem less brutal compared to the. scenes of outright torture, . surprisingly they let the scene remain, but demanded that a couple of shots be cut from the bloodiest takes after which casino received its coveted R rating. the book in the film came out at the, same time and supported each other's, financial success the movie grossed more. than 115 million dollars at the box office but critics ignored it Casino was, considered a less impressive version of, Goodfellas and use of the same two lead, actors confused audiences, moviegoers debated whether it was a. sequel or a standalone movie in other, words I'm in so many words yes the film also disappointed when it came, to Awards only Sharon Stone was, nominated for an Oscar Scorsese himself described the film as a three-hour Story full of action and events but absolutely, devoid of plot thank you thanks for that compliment so. we didn't blame any of his colleagues. for their lackluster reviews he continued to work the four-hour, documentary a personal Journey with, Martin Scorsese through American films, is perhaps the best exploration of films. from the 40s and 50s of the 20th century, I mean over the years I've discovered, many an obscured film and sometimes they were more inspirational than the. prestigious films that were receiving. all the attention at the time the, narrative even seems like a spontaneous, interview but it brings to life the. legend of his incredible cinematic knowledge may have gone unnoticed at, first but a strange Darkness crept into American films a feeling of insecurity. disorientation and foreboding as though. the ground could suddenly give way under. your feet hey do you like our work let, us know with your like and comment push. that subscribe button and share with, your friends if you want to support the, project financially become our sponsor. on patreon or YouTube sponsorship thank. you