Major movie stars Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt have worked together with director Martin Scorsese for the first time to deliver a corporate short film to promote a new US$2.5bn resort in Macau.
It will premiere next year at the opening of Studio City, a large-scale integrated entertainment, retail and gaming resort, being built by Melco Crown Entertainment on the Cotai Strip.
Melco co-owner James Packer also runs RatPac Entertainment, an independent film company, which has partnered with Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and is producing the big-budget short. Pitt broke off his honeymoon with new wife Angelina Jolie to film scenes for the film in New York alongside De Niro, with both spotted on set wearing sharp suits.
The film has been scripted by Terrence Winter, writer of The Wolf of Wall Street and creator of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and will be used to promote Melco-Crown’s expansion in Asia and globally.
Packer, executive producer of the untitled short, who counts De Niro and Tom Cruise among his friends, says his aim is “to bring together western and eastern culture” through the creation of a global entertainment brand.
Macau has received largely negative portrayals on screen. In Skyfall, James Bond escapes an assassination attempt at a Triad-run casino in scenes actually shot at Pinewood. The territory is seeking to emulate Las Vegas’ reputation for entertainment and glamour by staging boxing title fights and theatrical spectaculars. David Beckham was flown in to promote the Venetian Macau.
De Niro and DiCaprio first worked together on the coming of age tale This Boy’s Life in 1993. DiCaprio has made five films with Scorsese and De Niro eight, including the gambling themed thriller Casino in 1995, but none together until now.
There is speculation that the short could be a “warm-up” for a long-gestating Frank Sinatra biopic which Scorsese plans to direct. Pitt has been linked to the lead role with Scorsese lining up De Niro as Dean Martin.
Hollywood has long been unable to resist the lure of the casino. Sinatra’s Rat Pack packed the Sands Hotel in the 50s, helping to turn Las Vegas into a respectable tourism destination. The original Ocean’s Eleven in 1960, starring the Rat Pack, was filmed at the Sahara, Sands and Flamingo casinos. Vegas’ chequered history has provided the backdrop for mob films including Bugsy and Casino.
