Martin Scorsese teams up with ‘Billions’ creators for Netflix’s Las Vegas Casino drama — here’s what we know so far
The 30th anniversary of Martin Scorsese's 'Casino' comes with some good news. The Oscar-winning filmmaker returns to the world of Las Vegas with a gambling drama, greenlit by Netflix. Also serving as creators are 'Billions' co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien. The duo also serves as showrunners on the project yet to be titled.
Per Deadline, the synopsis reads, "The drama is set in the high-stakes, sharp-elbowed present-day Las Vegas casino business, which is a modernized but still dangerous version of the legendary city. At the center of it stands Robert “Bobby Red” Redman, president of the hottest hotel casino in town, who has to make some long odds moves to try and secure his position and take more ground."
Koppelman and Levien serve as executive producers with Paul Schiff alongside Scorsese. Julie Yorn and Rick Yorn, Beth Schacter, with Kerry Orent serving as co-executive producer, round up the rest of the EPs. The outlet reported that Julie and Rick pitched the idea to the streamer along with collaborator Scorsese. Reports said Netflix was in talks with the acclaimed filmmaker about a TV series after the success of 'The Irishman' in 2019.
While the initial project was period-based, Netflix eventually tapped Koppelman and Levien, who looked at a present-day casino drama, which was eventually greenlit. The report also added that the new project is not related to the 1995 film 'Casino'. The 'Billions' co-creators, who also briefly worked with Scorsese on the HBO series 'Vinyl'.
Koppelmans and Levien have quite an experience in the gambling genre. They wrote 'Ocean's 13' set in Vegas. They also write films on poker — 'Rounders' and the online gambling feature, 'Runner Runner'. They also had their successful run with Showtime's epic finance drama 'Billions.' At the time of writing, there is no official release date or production start date.
Watch this space for more updates on the high-stakes gambling drama.
