7 facts you didn't know about Martin Scorsese's 'Casino'

Scorsese insisted on shooting inside a real casino, so the production took over a section of the Riviera during the less-trafficked graveyard hours, according to Mental Floss. The film even employed real dealers from the casino to make everything look legit.

The director actually intended one of “Casino’s” more violent scenes, when Joe Pesci puts Carl Ciarfalio’s head in a vise, to be cut by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), according to Shortlist. Scorsese thought it would draw censure and attention from slightly less violent scenes, and so act as a sacrifice, but the MPAA gave no objection to the scene.

According to ScreenRant, Scorsese told Pesci and De Niro to improv many of their conversations in the film, giving them only a starting and ending point for each bit of dialogue.

It’s hard to get excited about an opening credits sequence, but Saul Bass was a master of the underappreciated art form. He lent his talents to several Alfred Hitchcock movies like “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest,” as well as “West Side Story,” “Spartacus,” and “Casino,” which would be Bass’s last project before his death.

Pesci probably should have known he would be injured if he played opposite De Niro in another film. About 15 years after De Niro broke one of Pesci’s ribs while filming “Raging Bull,” Mental Floss reports, Pesci broke the same rib again in “Casino,” during his character’s final scene in which he’s beaten with a baseball bat.

The role of Ginger McKenna was almost filled by a number of leading women, including Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz, Uma Thurman, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Madonna, according to ScreenRant. It’s lucky Sharon Stone won out, because she earned an Oscar for best actress in the role.

“Casino” is a flashy movie full of flashy people with plenty of expensive-looking clothing, but it’s still hard to see how all those costumes could add up to a million bucks. De Niro alone had 70 different outfits, while Sharon Stone got 30. The actors were both allowed to keep their wardrobes after wrap, according to Shortlist.