Don Rickles Nearly Rebelled on Casino Set: Inside the Scorsese Showdown
No drama padding needed—here’s the lowdown on one of Hollywood’s most unexpected on-set skirmishes. A towering figure in stand-up comedy, Don Rickles almost staged a full-blown mutiny against Martin Scorsese during the 1995 shoot of Casino. Drawing on exclusive recollections from crew members and archived interviews, this deep dive reveals how one offhand quip escalated into a showdown that nearly derailed principal photography.
Industry insiders tell People Magazine that tensions flared on day seventeen, when Scorsese’s trademark intensity collided with Rickles’s razor-sharp wit. According to an Entertainment Weekly retrospective, Scorsese called for another take on a pivotal confrontation scene between Robert De Niro’s Ace Rothstein and Joe Pesci’s Nicky Santoro. Rickles, playing the irascible casino boss Billy Sherbert, snapped, “You don’t have to take this from him!”—a line that doubled as a personal retort to what he perceived as directorial nitpicking.
Eyewitnesses describe Rickles pacing the soundstage, arms akimbo, demanding more respect from the director, who had already wrapped acclaimed films like Goodfellas and Casino. Scorsese, renowned for his patience, reportedly met Rickles’s outburst with a calm but firm directive: “We’ll get this right,” effectively diffusing the moment without inflaming it. Sources confirm that Robert De Niro quietly intervened, urging Rickles to trust the process—a gesture Rickles later credited with preventing a full revolt (The Hollywood Reporter archive).
Beyond the clash itself, this saga highlights the creative friction that fuels cinematic masterpieces. Scorsese’s collaborators—from cinematographer Robert Richardson to producers Barbara De Fina and Irwin Winkler—describe a set charged with energy but smoothed by mutual respect. As documented in a 2005 Film Comment interview, Richardson recalls moments of “high-wire tension” that ultimately contributed to Casino’s electrifying final cut.
In retrospect, Rickles’s mutiny attempt has become legend, emblematic of the give-and-take that defines elite filmmaking. The card shark interplay, underwritten by this real-life confrontation, lent Sherbert’s role an authenticity that critics praised upon the film’s release. Rolling Stone’s October 1995 review even suggested that the on-set friction translated into “one of Scorsese’s most dynamically charged comedies,” cementing Casino’s place in the director’s pantheon.
Whether you’re a cinephile dissecting auteur conflicts or simply curious about behind-the-scenes drama, this episode underscores how genius often germinates in the heat of disagreement. And there you have it. Make of that what you will.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter archives, Film Comment, Rolling Stone
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
