Sera is a sex worker working for abusive Latvian pimp Yuri Butsov. One early morning, he drives drunkenly from his Los Angeles home down to the Las Vegas Strip he nearly hits a woman, Sera, on the crosswalk. With nothing left to live for, and a sizable severance check from his boss, he heads to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. The film also received nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.īen Sanderson is an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who has lost his job, family, and friends.

Cage received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama and the Academy Award for Best Actor, while Shue was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama and the Academy Award for Best Actress. After limited release in the United States on October 27, 1995, Leaving Las Vegas was released nationwide on February 9, 1996, receiving strong praise from critics and audiences with many lauding the performances from Cage and Shue, the tone, the themes and Figgis' direction and screenplay. Leaving Las Vegas was filmed in super 16 mm instead of 35 mm film while 16 mm was common for art house films at the time, 35 mm is most commonly used for mainstream film.

O'Brien died from suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel. Once there, he develops a romantic relationship with a sex worker played by Elisabeth Shue and the film shifts to include her narrative perspective. He loads a supply of liquor and beer into his BMW and gets drunk as he drives from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having lost his family and been recently fired, has decided to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien.

Casino 1995 explained