Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 25 Director consults with the people sitting behind the bank of monitors and is satisfied with the results, they send us off to another part of the casino, the extras green room, a large conference area with floor-to-ceiling windows and plenty of tables and chairs. It's the first time in several hours, since being ushered into the casino, that I've seen natural light. The extras director comes over and both Marcus and I are eventually singled out for additional roles. We both get excited at doing some- thing else besides sitting at a keno machine. He explains to us that it's the main casino scene. As soon as the cam- eras start rolling, I would count to five, cash out my keno ticket, and walk naturally across the busy casino floor past the blackjack tables, until I reached a giant pillar, at which point the camera would pan past me. At the same time, as I'm doing this, a security detail will enter from the lobby, passing directly in front of the pillar as I disappear behind it. Marcus follows a similar route. Without spoiling too much of the episode or naming names, here's what happens during the casino scene: a security detail of mean-looking men cross the casino floor and make a beeline toward the blackjack pit. One security guard—the biggest one, of course— approaches an intoxicat- ed and surly blackjack player and the two argue at length over something, after which the guard proceeds to slam the jerkish blackjack player's head into the table. Chips fly everywhere as he's dragged off the casino floor by the guards. And I remember thinking after about the tenth take: All this, the cowboys, bikers, businessmen, keno players, cocktail waitresses, dealers, fake cigarettes, fake drinks, changing the casino's name on the neon sig- nage, the mobile home court of white trailers outside, the millions of dollars' worth of equipment everywhere, the cooks, parking lot attendants, costume designers, makeup artist, hair stylists, best boys, cameramen, and so on—all this just so a guy can get his head slammed into a blackjack

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