Martin Scorsese Tricked the MPAA Out of Giving ‘Casino’ an NC-17 Rating

There are few things that filmmakers fear more than receiving a dreaded NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. The label, introduced in 1990 as a replacement for the “X” rating, bars a majority of audiences from seeing a film and puts significant restrictions upon the amount of marketing material that a studio can produce. Films rated NC-17 are rarely released, as they signify potential final ruin for any studio that finances them. More often than not, filmmakers are forced to appeal their film to the MPAA and “edit it down” to receive a lower rating. It’s unfortunate that filmmakers are forced to stick to these content parameters, and there’s more than a few classics that narrowly avoided the NC-17 label. While he had no shortage of controversies within his career, Martin Scorsese nearly earned an NC-17 rating for the extreme violence within his 1995 crime drama Casino.

Why ‘Casino’ Was Originally Rated NC-17

Casino was based on the true story of Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a Jewish American gambling expert who became a prominent figure within the lively nightlife of Las Vegas. As the overseer of the Tangier Casino, Rothstein was responsible for overseeing daily operations, protecting clients, and avoiding detection from the authorities. Rothstein becomes involved with the Chicago mafia, and is forced to balance his loyalties to the mob with his responsibilities within the casino business. Casino was released only a few years after Scorsese’s Goodfellas, and the film evoked strong comparisons with the 1990 crime epic. Similar to Goodfellas, Casino is a violent, propulsive crime thriller that examines the rise-and-fall of one of America’s most significant industries.

While the wild and temperamental world of Las Vegas gambling comes with its own set of problems for Sam, the film gets more intense once his childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) is brought in to help protect the mob’s assets. Nicky isn’t a smooth, charismatic businessman like Sam; he’s ruthless, quick-tempered, and willing to torment anyone that stands in his way. Casino includes many disturbing torture scenes of Nicky “shaking down” clients who crossed the mafia. Nicky works alongside his brother Dominick (Philip Suriano) and their associate Frank Marino (Frank Vincent) to brutalize and intimidate thieves, rival gangsters, and suspected double agents. While Pesci’s great performance is terrifying in its own right, it’s the graphic nature of the torture scenes that initially earned Casino an NC-17 rating.

While there are many NC-17 films that incorporated graphic scenes purely to generate controversy, the violence in Casino was necessary to tell the story. Although Pesci adds a dark sense of humor to the film, it was important for Casino to ensure that the audience understood that he was the villain. By showing the violence that Nicky was capable of, Scorsese was able to detail the ruthless practices of the mob. Additionally, the torture scenes add tension to the story, as they spark a conflict between Nicky and Sam. Sam finds it increasingly difficult to retain his public persona as a hotel manager when Nicky is dismembering his customers behind closed doors.

Related

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Gives Us the Most Evil Martin Scorsese Villain

Both the film’s character and its real-life subject are the definition of pure evil.

How Scorsese Avoided the NC-17 Rating

While Casino would’ve been severely handicapped without its torture scenes, Scorsese was obligated under his contract with Universal Pictures to deliver an R-rated film. Universal Pictures understood that an NC-17 rating could impede Casino’s box office potential and make it more challenging during the end-of-year awards competition. Considering Goodfellas has been both a commercial and critical hit that earned several Academy Award nominations, Universal Pictures wanted to replicate its success. This forced Scorsese to use an unusual deceit in order to incorporate the necessary content in Casino whilst avoiding an NC-17 rating.

Scorsese shot additional torture scenes for Casino that he never intended to put in the final cut, including a shocking moment where Nicky explodes a man’s head using a vise. While he knew that this scene would raise concerns from the MPAA, Scorsese included it in order to turn the board’s attention away from other violent moments he thought were more important to the story. While the MPAA forced him to cut the gory sequence, Casino won its appeal for an R rating once Scorsese removed the “fake” torture scene. He wasn’t the only acclaimed filmmaker who used this approach to avoid an unappealing rating, as Quentin Tarantino shot similar “fake” violent scenes for Pulp Fiction that were removed after the first round of the negotiation process.

While going out of the way to include “fake” torture scenes may have made for a challenging production process, Casino was a major critical and commercial success for Scorsese that has been distinguished as one of his best films. While a violent, R-rated gangster epic would seemingly turn off audiences, Casino drew acclaim for its methodical storytelling and commentary on the end of the “Golden Age” of America’s casino industry. While it ranks among the best collaborations between De Niro and Scorsese, it was Sharon Stone’s performance as Sam’s wife, Ginger McKenna, that earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Scorsese Is No Stranger to Controversy

Although Casino was able to avoid the stigma that comes with the NC-17 rating, it was hardly the first instance of a Scorsese film generating controversy. Despite making some of the best and most influential films in history, Scorsese often provoked outrage due to the thought-provoking content that he tackled. Scorsese’s 1988 religious drama The Last Temptation of Christ was boycotted by the Catholic Church, and his 2006 Best Picture winner The Departed was banned overseas.

While his films have inspired some bad faith objections from critics and audiences alike, Scorsese has managed to generate enthusiasm for even his most controversial projects. Despite being lambasted for its shocking sexual and drug content, The Wolf of Wall Street became Scorsese’s highest grossing film and earned five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Like Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street was a three hour long biopic about an unlikeable antihero that only narrowly avoided an NC-17 rating.

Casino is streaming on Starz or can be rented via Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Amazon Prime