For legal reasons, the names were changed.

Sharon Stone’s character, Ginger McKenna, is based on Geri McGee, while Nicky Santoro – played by Joe Pesci – is based on Anthony Spilotro. Sam Rothstein – known as ‘Ace’ and played by De Niro – is based on Lefty Rosenthal. That’s why most people’s first question about the movie is: Are the main characters real? Yes, they are.Įvery main character presented in the movie is based on a real-life person. When it comes to cinematography, separating fact from fiction is sometimes more entertaining than the film itself, especially when we’re talking about real-life characters. Are the Main Characters from the Movie Real? Rosenthal did this job in Las Vegas for the Chicago mob back in the 1970s and 1980s.Īfter the movie came out, a lot of people wondered ‘is Casino a true story?’, and ‘how much of the movie actually depicts real-life events?’ As is the case with any movie based on true events, the storyline of Casino isn’t 100% faithful to real life in every detail, but there are plenty of true events that were too good to be left out of the movie script. The story is about the real-life character Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal, who managed the Fremont, Hacienda, and Stardust Casino (later renamed the “Tangiers” in the film for legal reasons). It starred Robert De Niro – Casino’s main character – alongside Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci. The Martin Scorsese classic Casino was released in 1995. But you already knew that let’s dig deeper to discover the true story behind the famous movie. The gritty mob saga took place in the oasis of sin, Las Vegas, in the late ‘70s. This article is a deep dive into the Casino movie and the true story behind it.

Combine these three elements and you get Casino, the 1995 hit film. The most engaging are those true stories that keep us on the edge of our seats: mob wars, cunning heists, and larger-than-life characters. Of course, we don’t find all of them interesting in the same way. Movies based on true stories are often popular, intriguing, and fun to watch.

Casino 1995 explained