Movie Music Monday – Casino

Happy 67th Birthday to Sharon Stone! She has been in some fantastic films including Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Above The Law, The Quick and the Dead, Action Jackson and, of course, Casino.

In the Blu-ray commentary, Sharon relates the story of how she came to be in the film. She says her first two auditions for Martin Scorsese ended up being cancelled for various mundane reasons (such as that Scorsese was held up by another meeting) and Stone’s paranoia convinced her that he was blowing her off. When the director’s people contacted her to try it a third time, she turned them down and went out to dinner with a friend instead. Scorsese tracked her down and showed up at the restaurant where she was dining to make a personal appeal.

The soundtrack to the film contains some classic songs, and I could have chosen any of them, but since it is Sharon’s birthday, I decided on the song that plays when her character, Ginger, meets the eyes of Robert Deniro’s character, Ace. From across the casino floor, as they eye each other, Mickey and Sylvia’s Love Is Strange plays.

For many, the song will forever be connected with Dirty Dancing, but for me, it is Casino.

Happy Birthday, Sharon Stone!