Also, the hub of the operation was Chicago, which is never referenced in the film. It was Universal lawyers who suggested changing the names to avoid catching heat from the mob.

The book was released only six weeks before the film, but unlike the film, the book contains real names of all involved. It’s also based on Nicholas Pileggi’s book, but this time, the book was written simultaneously with the screenplay. The Casino screenplay was a co-write between Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi, together again after their work on Goodfellas. Scorsese retained a producer credit on Clockers.Ģ. He was originally slated to direct Clockers (1995), but went cold on the idea and handed the directing reins over to Spike Lee. The film only came about because Scorsese had a window in his schedule. Scorsese was at a loose end when Casino came up We’ve got the full behind the scenes story of Scorsese’s gangster classic, by way of 20 incredible facts about Casino.ġ.

Based on true events, Scorsese’s three hour epic is a dazzling combination of bright lights, big characters and relationships gone bad. After the runaway success of Goodfellas, Scorsese returned to his favourite genre 5 years later to tell the story of Ace Rothstein, Nicky Santoro and the mob in Vegas.