Then there’s Nevada pulling people in the other direction, to gambling and the chance to maybe strike it rich, change your life. Goddard said the border was a central component of his story: ““I’ve always loved the idea of California, signaling looking west to prosperity and new opportunities. The movie, which stars Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Cynthia Erivo, takes place on one night in 1969. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Chicago mobster Sam Giancana bought the hotel in 1960.

The real hotel on which screenwriter Drew Goddard based his script is the Cal Neva Lodge & Casino, which was built in 1926. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey casts a neon glow on each of these characters that suggests hidden depths that never materialize.2018’s mystery thriller Bad Times at the El Royale is based on a fading casino hotel on the California-Nevada border.įilming for the movie took place in January and February of 2018 in Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, with production crews in Canada replicating the hotel of Crystal Bay. When the manager Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman), who looks mild mannered but maybe isn’t, finally does show up, he’s ready to assign rooms to his guests. Add Dakota Johnson as the rifle-toting Emily Summerspring, whose name is enough to make you suspicious, and it won’t be long till you realize that no one is telling the truth. Jeff Bridges is Daniel Flynn, a priest with a taste for the hard stuff, and Cynthia Erivo as Darlene Sweet, a backup singer hoping for a solo gig in Reno. Jon Hamm is all kinds of slick as Laramie Seymour Sullivan, a hospitality salesman with his eye on a certain room if only he could find someone at the desk. Goddard, who wrote the script, had the good sense to hire a cast you’d follow anywhere. It’s as if the Overlook in The Shining had a casino that lost its license. The place has seen better days, but its vibe of illicit sex and gangster violence is still strong. The El Royale, art directed to the nth degree of Rat Pack glitz by Martin Whist, is a hotel set between two states: California on the shallow side of the pool and Nevada on the deep end. Set in 1969, the film has an ace in the hole in its title character. Drew Goddard, whose 2012 directing debut with The Cabin in the Woods made fanboys of horror enthusiasts, is up to his old tricks: trap some shady types in a confined space. Punishingly long at 2 hours and 21 minutes, the movie is still crammed with enough depraved delights to make you consider checking in. Here’s the thing about Bad Times at the El Royale: When it’s good, it’s very, very good - and when it’s bad, this retro whatsit is a whole lot of awful.

El casino royale cynthia erivo