On today’s episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, we hear from Variety’s Owen Gleiberman about rediscovering Martin Scorsese’s underrated classic 1995’s “Casino.” And Joe Otterson unravels reports about the chaos that erupted behind the scenes on Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Tulsa King’ series as the Taylor Sheridan drama filmed Season 4 in Atlanta.
Gleiberman, Variety magazine’s chief film critic, rewatched “Casino” during the pandemic and was struck by its strength. He recalled giving the film mostly lukewarm reviews upon its initial release. As the 30th anniversary of its release approaches, he admits that he didn’t understand “Casino” back in 1995, and that his view of the film was colored by another Scorsese classic, 1990’s “Goodfellas.”
“When I finally watched ‘Casino’ again, I just saw what this movie was about. I mean, it’s not just a movie about the mob, it’s not just a movie about how Las Vegas casinos were run in the 1960s and ’70s. This whole movie is really about money in this obsessive way. That’s what connects all the characters, and I saw a richness in that,” Gleiberman says.
The cast, led by Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, and Frank Vincent, all give career highlight performances.
“Joe Pesci, for example, plays a character who’s a short-tempered variation of Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas, but in many ways a wilder, more complex character who’s fascinating to watch. And Sharon Stone is out. I think she does a great job,” Gleiberman observes. “Her character, Ginger, who marries a controlling freak, a casino owner played by De Niro, is portrayed as an unabashed gold digger. She’s very flawed, even frivolous at times. Yet she’s portrayed in this incredibly human way, which makes her sympathetic. And again, it’s very complicated. Even in Scorsese’s film, we don’t see the female side of the crowd equation. It’s not given that kind of weight. And in this movie, what starts out as a psychological crime drama descends into this kind of fractured underworld. It’s very dark, but very powerful. ”
Otterson, Variety’s television news editor, has been following the changes in the “Tulsa King” for several weeks. Some of the fired crew members were so upset that they went on record about what happened.
“Right before cameras rolled for Season 4, 26 staff members were fired from the show in a rather unceremonious manner, some with just 10 days’ notice,” Otterson says. “I didn’t speak to everyone, but everyone I talked to said they were basically promised verbally, ‘Hey, sign up for season 3 and we’ll take care of you for season 4.’ And that wasn’t the case. We were just treated in a way that everyone I talked to said was incredibly unprofessional and incredibly lame.”
(Photo: Sharon Stone from “Casino”)
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