Casino celebrates its 30th anniversary: 10 things to know about Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece
Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone set Las Vegas on fire, in the heart of the 1990s. We tell you everything.
The mafia film monument celebrates its anniversary.
Casino has just turned 30 (the film was released on November 22, 1995 in the USA, but only on March 13, 1996 in France). Inspired by the life of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, the man who ran the Las Vegas Stardust for the Chicago Mafia, the film has become an essential classic. And quite simply the best film directed by Martin Scorsese, according to Première. A look back at an iconic project in 10 anecdotes.
1. This credits by Saul Bass
The credits of Casino is one of the most memorable: designed by the legendary Saul Bass (and his wife Elaine), it is his latest creation. Former collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock and Otto Preminger, he had already come out of retirement for the credits of The Freedmen And Nerves on edgeand returns one last time to Casino. Visually, Bass imagines a neon inferno, with Ace’s (De Niro) body rising and falling in stylized fire, set against abstract images of Las Vegas. He explains that he wanted to evoke Dante’s Inferno and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. A theme song like a visual poem about temptation, excess and fall, to the sound of Passion according to Saint Matthew by Johann Sebastian Bach.
2. Real scenery in Las Vegas
To give to Casino maximum authenticity, Martin Scorsese chose to shoot in a real casino rather than building a set. Filming took place at night (mainly between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.) at the Riviera in Las Vegas, which plays the role of Tangiers. The entrance to the Landmark Hotel, now gone, serves as a facade for Tangiers. The choice of this real setting imposed a demanding pace of filming: as the casino was not closing, the team had to adapt to the comings and goings of real customers. A banner displayed on the facade even proclaimed: “Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci Filming the New Movie ‘Casino’ Inside!”
3. On the verge of mutiny
Comedian Don Rickles, who plays Billy Sherbert, head of security for Sam “Ace” Rothstein, almost caused a “mutiny” on set. Tired from the long nights, Rickles shouted to the technicians one evening: “You don’t have to put up with this!” Scorsese, 82, recalled in the New York Post: “We had a very difficult schedule and we were all exhausted. But at that point, Don couldn’t take it anymore… He was still waiting, angry: ‘Get me out of here!’” Originally from Queens and who died in 2017, Rickles became an iconic figure in Las Vegas thanks to Frank Sinatra. De Niro points out: “Don was a really nice guy. His humor could be acerbic, but deep down he was a lovely guy.”
4. A very involved Bob
Casino is the 9th collaboration between Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese (there will still be The Irishman And Killers of the Flower Moon). And the director tells Première how “Bob helped us develop certain sequences, to give greater coherence to his role.” He details: “We even incorporated the results of our sessions with him into the script. Same with Joe Pesci, to a certain extent, but it was Bob who was the main character and the main thread. Bob spent some time with Rosenthal in Florida. He had to do a lot of preparation work. It wasn’t easy for him to master all the games offered in a casino. When he took over the management of the Stardust, Rosenthal himself did not know them all. It was above all a handicapper. Knowing how to bet, and how much, is one thing, but running a casino is a whole other matter.”
5. Sharon Stone says thank you to Joe Pesci
To play Ginger McKenna, several actresses were considered: Nicole Kidman, Kim Basinger, Melanie Griffith, Madonna, Traci Lords… before Scorsese chose Sharon Stone. And it’s partly thanks to Joe Pesci: “Joey really fought for me to be noticed and get this job, so I’m very grateful to him because he’s always supported me.” Stone had to wear very heavy dresses, including one encrusted with metallic sequins weighing almost 16 kg. But it was worth it: she gets for Casino her first and only Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
6. “Fuck” Casino
The word “fuck” is uttered 422 times in the film, or about two expletives per minute, reinforcing its raw, unfiltered style. However, this is not a record for Marty: The Wolf of Wall Street surpasses it with approximately 506 “f-bombs. Note that the world record is held by a documentary, Fuck (2005), which has… 857. Not that vulgar Casino Ultimately !
7. De Niro knocked Sharon Stone off her hinges
Stone had already auditioned several times with De Niro before being cast: “It was my dream to work with him and to be able to go the distance…” But one day, during an argument scene at the table, De Niro said to him off-camera: “You’re a good actress, you know?” A condescending remark which had the gift of annoying the star. Sharon Stone did not let this destabilize her: “Oh no, not today, old man!” She adds: “He knew exactly how to piss me off, because he’s the greatest observant actor: he can get under your skin and get completely in there…”
8. Real dealers to deal
For authenticity, Scorsese used real dealers and pit bosses (those responsible for a space of several tables). They were integrated in front of the camera, allowing the actors to concentrate on their game and offering rare realism, where gestures, attitudes and interactions exactly reflect the atmosphere of a real casino.
9. Broken rib
During filming, Joe Pesci refractured a rib during the scene where Nicky Santoro is beaten with a baseball bat, exactly the one he had already broken fifteen years earlier on Raging Bull. The scene was shot despite the pain, adding a striking intensity.
10. Casino didn’t break the bank
Just profitable, Casino brought in barely enough to repay its estimated budget of between $40 and $50 million, with around $116 million in worldwide revenue. This makes it Martin Scorsese’s 9th biggest commercial success, far behind his absolute box office record, The Wolf of Wall Street (392 million in 2013). In France, Casino is in the top 5 of Scorsese’s greatest hits, with 1.6 million entries, quite far behind number 1: Shutter Island (3.2 million admissions in 2010).
