FILM · 1995 · FRANCE
Casino
- Directed by
- Martin Scorsese
- Runtime
- 179 min
- Studio
- Universal Pictures, Syalis DA, Légende Films
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
In Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (23)
- #001
The film's costume budget was $1 million. Robert De Niro had seventy different costumes over the course of the film, and Sharon Stone had forty. Both were later allowed to keep their costumes.
- #002
The producers said that one of the hardest parts of making this film was finding people who would tell them how to cheat at a casino.
- #003
When James Woods heard that Martin Scorsese wanted to work with him, he called Scorsese's office and left the message: "Any time, any place, any part, any fee."
- #004
Joe Pesci bore a natural resemblance to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the basis for his character. In makeup he looked even more like Spilotro, so much so that, according to Pileggi, when Pesci entered the casino where the film was shot, there were some bosses who had personal ties to Spilotro who "almost fainted."
- #005
Joe Pesci's wife at the time of shooting, Claudia Haro, played Trudy, the assistant hostess and band leader at "Ace's High." Haro and Pesci divorced and she remarried. In 2000, she was convicted twice of attempted murder for hiring a hit man to try to kill her other ex-husband, a stuntman.
- #006
Sharon Stone encouraged Erika von Tagen, the child actress who played her daughter Amy, to constantly annoy James Woods.
- #007
Examining the film for accuracy, Michael Franzese, a former Colombo family capo and motivational speaker, said that Joe Pesci's portrayal of a mob member in this film, as well as in other gangster films Pesci appeared in, was the most realistic portrayal he had ever seen.
- #008
In the original screenplay, Lester Diamond was to be shot in the desert by Nicky as a favor to Sam.
- #009
Although the film opens by stating that it is based on a true story, it never names the real-life casino. The "Tangiers" casino is fictional. The story is based on the history of the Stardust casino, a fact well documented in Las Vegas history books. Martin Scorsese covertly documents this fact through the soundtrack, in which the song "Stardust" is heard three different times: an instrumental version plays during Ace and Ginger's wedding, and the vocal version is heard in the scene where Remo asks Marino whether Nicky and Ginger had sex, and again at the end of the closing credits.
- #010
To avoid the continuity problems that accompany a chain-smoking film character, Robert De Niro always held his cigarettes the same distance from the burning end, so that their length never appeared to change.
- #011
The character based on Anthony Spilotro (Nicky Santoro) was placed in the Black Book. In real life, however, it was Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (the inspiration for Sam "Ace" Rothstein) who was placed in the Black Book and driven out of Las Vegas.
- #012
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal hated the scene in which Sam "Ace" Rothstein juggles on the television show. Rosenthal maintained that he never juggled on his program and felt the scene made him look like a fool.
- #013
The word "fuck" is said 435 times, including in the narration, an average of 2.4 times per minute. The film held the record for the most uses of the word until the premiere of Summer of Sam (1999), which was also reported to use it 435 times. The record was later broken by Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), which uses it nearly 600 times.
- #014
Much of James Woods's dialogue was improvised, including his phone call with Ginger after the wedding. Originally Woods was not supposed to speak in that scene. Woods came up with the idea that Lester would be with a prostitute and using cocaine while talking to Ginger on the phone.
- #015
Robert De Niro decided that Ace should go after every dollar Ginger spent.
- #016
When Nicholas Pileggi decided to write a book about Las Vegas, he researched Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal's story and became very interested in it. At first, however, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal was not interested in the idea of Pileggi writing a book about him. Rosenthal only became interested after reading that Robert De Niro would star in a film adapted from the book, because he had liked GoodFellas (1990) and De Niro's performance in it.
- #017
Martin Scorsese, an admirer of comedians, cast many people with stand-up comedy backgrounds in non-comic roles in "Casino," including Don Rickles, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, Dick Smothers, Steve Allen and Anthony Russell.
- #018
Sharon Stone endured long working days in pain while shooting scenes for this film. She had back problems from an old injury, and the gold and white beaded dress she wore in a casino scene weighed forty-five kilos.
- #019
To set the mood, Martin Scorsese told Sharon Stone to watch three films before shooting began: Valley of the Dolls (1967), A Woman's Vengeance (1948) and The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928).
- #020
Reportedly costing 3 million dollars, Casino has one of the most expensive soundtracks in cinema history, with more than 30 different songs and compositions used across the film's 3-hour running time.
- #021
Oscar Goodman (Sam "Ace" Rothstein's lawyer) is an attorney who has defended many well-known gangsters with Las Vegas connections. In June 1999 he was elected Mayor of Las Vegas.
- #022
While shooting the scenes set in 1970s Las Vegas, an elderly woman's husband, an extra, was given comfortable clothing to wear by the wardrobe department. But instead of giving the woman period costumes, they told her, to her distress, that her outdated clothes were perfectly fine.
- #023
This was the first Martin Scorsese film to be digitally edited.
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