‘Anora’ Only 5th Best-Picture Oscar Winner Filmed in Vegas

Posted on: March 5, 2025, 07:30h. 

Last updated on: March 5, 2025, 10:30h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.
  • Since the first Academy Awards were handed out in 1929, 606 films have been nominated for Best Picture, and 97 have won
  • ‘Anora,’ which won the honor at the 97th Oscar ceremonies, was only the fifth winner to be at least partially shot in Las Vegas
  • Only seven Best Picture nominees in total contained Vegas-shot scenes

When “Anora” won Best Picture at the Oscars on Sunday night, it joined a short list of only four other winners of the film world’s top honor that were at least partially shot in Las Vegas.

Actors Mark Eydelshteyn and Mikey Madison play lovers drinking, dancing, and gambling under the Fremont Street Experience in “Anora.” That’s the Golden Nugget behind them. (Image: FilmNation Entertainment)

The indie film tells the story of a sex worker, Anora (Mikey Madison, winner of the Best Actress Oscar for her role) who gets into a whirlwind relationship with Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch, that takes them on a fateful trip to Sin City.

Their wedding was filmed at a Little White Wedding Chapel at 1301 S. Las Vegas Blvd., where Frank Sinatra wed Mia Farrow in 1966, Bruce Willis married Demi Moore in 1987, and Britney Spears married a childhood friend for 55 hours in 2004.

Harry Reid International Airport gets screen time when Vanya’s parents arrive to force an annulment, and later when Anora and Vanya are dragged back to Vegas to finalize it. Upon the couple’s return, scenes were shot at an unknown smoky, loud, and garish casino (possibly Circus Circus or Slots-A-Fun) to represent Anora’s descent from glamour into disillusionment.

Why So Few?

There have been 97 Best Picture winners since the first Academy Awards were handed out in 1929, out of a field of 606 nominees in the category. Why have so few featured scenes shot in Las Vegas?

Other than it not being much of a global tourism destination until the Sands and Sahara arrived in 1952 — five years before the region’s population even surpassed 100K people — Las Vegas has traditionally been synonymous with glitz, excess, and vice.

This has made it more suitable to the action (“Ocean’s Eleven”), crime (“Casino”), and comedy (“The Hangover”) film genres.

These are the genres that please audiences more than voting Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members. They tend to prefer dramas, historical epics, and films about social issues.

The Other Best-Picture Winners Shot in Vegas

“The Godfather,” 45th Academy Awards

In the following establishing shot for his 1972 opus, director Francis Ford Coppola shot Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his brother Fredo (John Cazale) entering the Tropicana’s porte-cochère to meet Moe Greene (Alex Rocco). The interior scenes were shot at the Riviera.




“The Godfather Part II,” 47th Academy Awards

The sequel — often celebrated for outshining its predecessor — collected another Best Picture Oscar two years later. The Tropicana also starred in some of its casino scenes, but its name was changed to the “Tropigala” to avoid copyright issues.

“Rain Man,” 64th Academy Awards

Barry Levinson’s 1988 film stars Tom Cruise as Charlie, the younger brother of Raymond, an autistic savant (Dustin Hoffman) who has less to learn about coping with life than his brother. A good chunk of the movie takes place — and was shot at — Caesars Palace, where Charlie exploits Raymond’s card-counting skills at the blackjack tables to pay off his debts.

Remember its iconic blackjack scene?




“Million Dollar Baby,” 77th Academy Awards

This one makes the list on a technicality. A short segment of this 2004 Clint Eastwood blockbuster shows Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) taking Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) to a Las Vegas boxing match at a rundown casino showroom to assess her potential. Only the exterior of the casino was filmed in Las Vegas — at the now-demolished Bourbon Square Casino on Fremont Street.

Close, but No Oscar

Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue give moviegoers their last peek at Fremont Street before the Experience canopy. (Image: United Artists)

Only two other films nominated for Best Picture Oscars were at least partially shot in Las Vegas…

“Leaving Las Vegas”
Nominated at 68th Academy Awards
(Lost to “Braveheart”)

Like “Anora,” Mike Figgis’ 1995 indie film stood in stark contrast to the popcorn movies usually filmed around town, using Las Vegas’ bleaker side to enhance its despair. Nicolas Cage, who won the Best Actor Oscar for the role, stars as an alcoholic who moves to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. And Elisabeth Shue stars as the sex worker (another “Anora” parallel) forced to watch him do it.

Its Vegas scenes include the Mirage’s exterior, into which Cage pulls his car to begin his self-destructive spiral, and the last cinematic look at a pre-Experience Fremont Street.

The motel-like room that Cage and Shue’s characters share in the later part of the film took place at the Excalibur, whose medieval castle exterior isn’t prominently featured.

“Bugsy”
Nominated at the 64th Academy Awards
(Lost to “The Silence of the Lambs”)

Most of Barry Levinson’s 1991 Best Picture nominee about the birth of Las Vegas was shot elsewhere. But the Flamingo’s 1991 exterior stars in the scene where Bugsy Siegel (Warren Beatty) pitches his dream to Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley). Some construction scenes were staged on still-undeveloped portions of the Flamingo’s grounds. And, some of the Flamingo’s grand opening scenes were shot on the actual casino floor, capturing its vintage (though not 1946) chandeliers and gaming tables.