August 21, 2003

"Las Vegas" High Rollers

LOS ANGELES (New York Post)– NBC's "Las Vegas" may have the best high-stakes gambling stories on TV - but the real action takes place in the production office.

Not only can you find a blackjack table and game room in the office, but a writer who played professional blackjack and another whose brother was a pro poker player.

NBC's "Las Vegas" stars (from left): James Lesure, Vanessa Marcil, Molly Simms, James Caan, Josh Duhamel, Marsha Thomason and Nikki Cox.

Plot points are hashed out over pool and darts, while any excuse goes for a card game. Cast members have been known to fall asleep on couches, waiting for an opening.

"We've got some serious sharks in there," says creator Gary Scott Thompson.
"The blackjack table came right after we assembled the writers and it took on a life of its own. Now people wander around, saying, 'Who wants to play blackjack?' "

Premiering Sept. 22, "Las Vegas" stars James Caan as Big Ed Deline, the Montecito Resort & Casino's beleaguered surveillance chief who keeps everyone in line but his spirited daughter (Molly Sims). Deline protegee Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel) is in the doghouse for shtupping the boss' kid.

Meanwhile, Caan's character's hands are full trying to match wits with a toothsome trio (Nikki Cox, Marsha Thomason and Vanessa Marcil), whose high heels and plunging necklines belie an uncanny knowledge of Sin City's underbelly.

Between takes, the cast, crew and writers make extracurricular use of the cavernous casino set, complete with gambling tables, bars, lounges, retail shops, high-tech surveillance room - even a mock ATM machine and professional dealers who man the tables on-camera.
There are a few minor adjustments to prevent a RICO raid, like jackpot-free slot machines that only take money.

"We had to have special clearance to get the slot machines in here, since they're not legal in California," says Thompson, who also wrote the film "The Fast and the Furious."

Thompson said the original idea was to shoot everything in Vegas, but it's too hard to control the environment: like guiding Bacchanalian revelers clear of camera shots, to braving throngs of crazed soap fans recognizing Duhamel from "All My Children," to the woman who ripped off her top and lay on the floor until the producers promised a close-up.
"We started clapping as if we'd wrapped the shot, 'OK, that was great. Thank you!' "laughs Thompson.

"She was so drunk, I'm sure she doesn't even remember she did it."
All of this pales to the high drama in the writers' den. While no money actually changes hands - just prop chips bearing the Montecito insignia - far more is at stake: egos and dignity. Rookie writer Kyle Harimoto, the former blackjack pro, had the biggest win amounting to basically all the chips on the table.

Meanwhile, writer's assistant Dan Lubetkin still can't live down his all-time single-hand loss of $600 in chips.

– SUSAN KARLIN