Leonardo DiCaprio, De Niro, Scorsese Unveil $70 Million Short Film At Chinese Casino Launch
Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese were on hand for the red carpet grand opening of Melco Crown Entertainment’s $3.2 billion Hollywood-themed casino resort called Studio City in Macau, which is a small peninsula in mainland China. The trio also unveiled their 15-minute short film at the event, titled The Audition, which was financed by the Chinese casino for a reported $70 million. While the entire production was filmed in NYC and relies heavily on CGI, the short is set partly in the Studio City resort, as well as in the Philippines and Japan, Vanity Fair reports.
“A short film is even tougher in a way” than a full-length feature, said Oscar-winning Scorsese. “It has to be something that’s not a prologue to a bigger work. It has to be contained in and of itself.” He called it “not biographical but a kind of reality-based, with humor about ourselves.”
Why Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese met up in a Macau casino https://t.co/qdIJWQQkWr
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 27, 2015
The Los Angeles Times reports the plot centers on De Niro and DiCaprio – playing themselves and unexpectedly meeting at a casino, vying for the same role in a Scorsese film. Brad Pitt makes an appearance in the film, but he didn’t attend the casino’s grand opening.
“The premise of this competition was very humorous for both of us,” DiCaprio explained, “because we’ve both done a lot of films with Mr. Scorsese so what would it be like if we both showed up at this casino competing for the same role but we didn’t know it yet. But for me, the great joy was finally getting to be on set with both of these guys.” Leo went on to call De Niro and Scorsese’s past collaborations “the greatest relationship in cinema history.”
The Audition was shown in the resort’s 5,000-seat theater, and footage from the movie has been cut into advertising-like clips. According to The Independent, the resort also features “a Batman flight simulator ride, a figure-8 Ferris wheel and Art Deco architecture evoking Hollywood’s early days.” DiCaprio, De Niro and Scorsese held a press conference before hitting the red carpet where they discussed their reunion.
“The great honor for me is these two men are really like my two fathers in the world of cinema,” DiCaprio said. “My first film was with Bob De Niro. I was 15 years old. We did a film together called This Boy’s Life. I’ve had the fortune of working with Marty quite a few times.”
Global show business networking allowed for these three powerhouses to come together for this $70 million, 15-minute Chinese film. Melco Crown Entertainment is a venture of Chinese gaming mogul Lawrence Ho and Australian magnate James Packer. Packer is also the co-partner of producer/director Brett Ratner for RatPac Entertainment. In 2013, RatPac inked a deal with Pitt’s Plan B production company. Additionally, Packer and De Niro partnered earlier this year when they opened a Nobu Hotel in a casino resort in the Philippines. Packer is also dating Mariah Carey, who accompanied him to the resort’s grand opening.
When all is lost, you fight. Watch the new trailer for #TheRevenant, in theaters this December. https://t.co/2ccYY8cC4X
— #TheRevenant (@RevenantMovie) September 29, 2015
Cinema Blend notes that while The Audition is getting some attention at film festivals, the primary reason for its creation is to promote the new casino. The creators are pushing it as a short film “mostly because the Chinese Communist Party isn’t a big fan of casino advertising.”
Meanwhile, it’s being reported that DiCaprio’s Appian Way production company will finance a film about Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal, which is based on a book written by New York Times reporter Jack Ewing, and details VW’s notorious use of “defeat devices” its automobiles.
You can next catch Leonardo DiCaprio on the big screen when his upcoming feature, The Revenant, hits theaters in December. Check out the new trailer for the film in the Twitter embed above.
[Image Courtesy Getty/Scott Gries/ImageDirect/Twitter]
