Selected by the Actors Branch.

Author Nicholas Pileggi teamed up with director Martin Scorsese to adapt his own non-fiction book about the influence of organized crime in Las Vegas gambling in the 1970s and ’80s for this thrilling true crime epic, showcasing the director’s dazzling style with the help of such key collaborators as cinematographer Robert Richardson and editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Casting director Ellen Lewis assembled an impressively eclectic ensemble including Oscar-winning Scorsese perennials Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, several comedians in rare serious roles (including Don Rickles, Alan King, and Dick Smothers), and Sharon Stone, whose uncompromising performance as the troubled wife of De Niro’s casino boss earned her a Best Actress nomination.