Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/84122
Long before it became an icon of over-the-top glitz and glamour, megawatt superstar productions, five-star restaurants, and glimmering casinos promising revelry and escapism on the Strip, Las Vegas had humble beginnings as primarily ranch territory. Vegas, the new CBS primetime show premiering September 25, takes viewers back to the early '60s, when the gambling mecca was in transition from the shoot-'em-up Wild West to the emerging Sin City, and real-life Sheriff Ralph Lamb—as portrayed by Dennis Quaid in his television series debut— fought the mob and instilled his version of law and order to the land. In the role of mobster Vincent Savino, iconic tough guy Michael Chiklis (The Shield) returns to TV to square off against Quaid and Carrie- Anne Moss's Assistant District Attorney Katherine O'Connell. We sat down with Chiklis and the actress known to The Matrix fans as the righteous Trinity—she's still on the quest for truth and humanity, only this time it's not in a battle of men versus machines, but a turf war between gangsters and cowboys. What about 1960s Las Vegas appeals to you? MICHAEL CHIKLIS: It really was a frontier town, and there was this cul- ture clash between sophisticated organized-crime families and the local population. Both were equally tough and uncompromising, but they had to become compromising—otherwise Vegas wouldn't be what it is today. That's what fascinates me the most about the period—the unlikely alliances and the great ideas that had to come into play in order for Vegas to become success- ful. Right at that time is when the casinos started to bring in the Hollywood elements, singers, comedians, and all of the entertainment icons of the day, obviously to draw crowds. But they were also flying in oysters from the East Coast. They really thought outside the box. CARRIE-ANNE MOSS: I grew up in Canada, and I remember my mom and aunt went to Las Vegas a couple of times to see Elvis when I was a kid. They would come home with bags of coins for us they'd won from the slot machines, and I had this kind of romantic idea of Las Vegas, never having been there at that point. The thing that appealed to me about this script was the fact that Ralph Lamb grew up in Las Vegas, and his family had been liv- ing there for years and years. Now it just feels like a play place, where you go and have an "experience." I always feel when I go to Las Vegas that there's not a lot of nature—and I know that's not true—but you're usually in hotel rooms, and you don't even have to go outside if you don't want. At one time it was much simpler. I was kind of taken with the natural world being Ralph Lamb versus the material world of the mob, Michael's character, Vincent Savino. I'm interested in that struggle. 88 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM