8. Screenplay Came Before the Book
Yes, Casino is an adaptation of the book of the same name written by Nick Pileggi — the guy who penned the book Wiseguys which later became the Scorsese classic, GoodFellas. But, the screenplay for Casino actually came before the book was even finished.
Before Casino found its way into Scorsese’s conscience, the acclaimed director was in the process of developing Clockers. After a while, Scorsese figured that maybe the project wasn’t something that he should direct. After the break down of Clockers, Scorsese met up with Nick Pileggi and found out he writer was working on a crime novel named Casino. However, Pileggi hadn’t finished writing the book before Universal Pictures acquired the rights to make the motion picture. With this turn of events, it led to Pileggi and Scorsese working together on screenplay and leading the duo down a much different development path. With no source material to call upon, only a pile of notes, this allowed Scorsese to construct the movie his way.
