Martin Scorsese has opened up about making one of his most iconic films, confessing that it actually has ‘no plot’.
The acclaimed director helmed 1995 crime drama Casino, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone, Don Rickles and Frank Vincent, following mobster Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein as he oversees the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas.
It was adapted from a book written by Nick Pileggi, and commands an exhausting run time of nearly three hours.
Unpacking the hit movie, Martin previously said that there was ‘no plot at all’ to be found within the two hours and 58 minutes, conceding that there’s ‘a lot of action, a lot of story, but no plot’.
During a Q&A session with Robert ahead of a screening of the flick at Tribeca Film Festival, held at the Beacon Theater on Thursday, moderator W Kamau Bell questioned his remarks, and he stood his ground.
‘Yeah, it’s a substantial length film,’ he said to laughs from the audience. ‘We wanted to sustain one note, so to speak, pushing all the way through the length of the picture. Make it feel as if it’s like a breathless experience.
‘I don’t know if the plot was necessary… I often think films that you think about, or things you’ve read often, if you really examine them, I find that a lot of the films that I [like], let’s say Hitchcock’s Vertigo, for example, who cares about the plot at this point?
‘Also, if you really, really analyze that plot, it’s highly improbable!’
‘What are we watching it for? You’re watching it for other reasons,’ Martin continued. ‘You’re watching it for cinema, color, the actors, the dialog, the mood, the tone and experience…
‘What I’m getting at is that I think if you find that you’re watching a film for a plot, or you read a book for a plot, unless the characterization is so unique in psychological depth and emotional depth, there’s no reason to read it again or see it again, because you know the plot.
‘So what’s the point?’
In Casino, Robert led the star-studded cast as mobster Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein, who was tasked with running a Las Vegas casino.
He was forced to take action when best friend Nicky Santoro’s (Joe Pesci) criminal activities – as well as his own romance with con artist Ginger (Sharon Stone) – drew too much attention to their antics.
The movie served as a reunion for Martin, Robert and Joe, who worked together on 1990 film Goodfellas, also adapted from a nonfiction book by Nick.
Discussing the note that Casino was ‘adapted from a true story’, the director conceded: ‘We did have to do a great deal of changing names. It’s in the movie, we can’t even say Chicago.
‘When it cuts back to Chicago, we put “back home”.’
When asked about whether there was ‘pushback’ from the mob community, he added: ‘No… There were meetings in Vegas with a number of people who told [us] to be careful and remember that these [characters were] based on real people, etc.
‘The point is that the material … is public knowledge and it is apparently factual. We changed the names, we changed so many things. But naturally, those who know the characters it’s based upon, they know the truth. These are elements of truth.
‘Naturally, there are people, there are families and that sort of thing, and there was some pushback.
‘People push back forward, so to speak.’
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