Leaving Las Vegas is a American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien.
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. Once there, he develops a romantic relationship with a sex worker played by Elisabeth Shue and the film shifts to include her narrative perspective. O'Brien died from suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.
Leaving Las Vegas was filmed in super 16 mm [5] 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. After limited release in the United States on October 27, , Leaving Las Vegas was released nationwide on February 9, , 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.
Ben Sanderson is an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who has lost his job, family, and friends. With nothing left to live for, and a sizable severance check from his boss, he heads to Las Vegas to drink himself to death.
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. She chastises him and walks away. Sera is a sex worker working for abusive Latvian pimp Yuri Butsov. Polish mobsters are after Yuri, so he ends his relationship with Sera in fear that the Poles may hurt her. Sera agrees, but Ben does not want sex.
