Trivia / Atlantic City

• California Doubling: The interiors were all shot in Montreal.
• Fake Nationality: Susan Sarandon plays an expat from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, alongside actual Canadians Robert Joy and Hollis McLaren. Noticeably, she doesn't have a prominent accent unlike her husband or sister, though that can be chalked up to her character having lived in the United States for a long time.
  • Conversely, the majority of the supporting cast is Canadian. Louis Del Grande (Mr. Shapiro) was born in New Jersey, but emigrated to Canada in the 1960s.
• One-Book Author: This is the only major acting credit for Moses Znaimer (Felix), aside from a voiceover role in Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe; he's much better known as the creative genius behind the original Citytv and MuchMusic (before his creations were taken away from him and underwent significant Network Decay). Naturally, this meant the film was ran on Citytv's Great Movies with Mark Dailey calling him "everyone's favorite heavy".
• Romance on the Set: Susan Sarandon and director Louis Malle had a personal relationship prior to and around the time that this movie was developed, made, and released. The film was the second of two pictures the two made together, the other film being Pretty Baby.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: Filmed in late 1979, the film was not released in the USA until 1981. The picture was released in Canada, Germany, and France in 1980. Some territories did not get the film until 1982 and 1983.
• Star-Making Role: For Susan Sarandon.
• Stock Footage Failure: The opening montage uses stock footage to depict the demolition of the Traymore Hotel, which was actually demolished in 1972, seven years before the film takes place.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Henry Fonda, James Mason, Robert Mitchum, Laurence Olivier and James Stewart were all considered to play Lou. Fonda was rejected due to ill health and its associated insurance risk. Reportedly, when the producers saw that Mitchum had had a face-lift recently, they lost interest. Mitchum had said to them: "I just had my face lifted, and I only play under 45 now."
  • Ginger Rogers, who had been retired for over a decade at that point, was offered the role of Grace but turned it down. She replied with a note saying: "How dare you! At this stage in my career, that I'm going to end up in this filth!"
  • Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci of Da Vinci's Inquest fame) was considered for the role of Dave.
• Working Title: Atlantic City U.S.A., the title that was ultimately used for the French release.

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