Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1277777
6 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 Missouri eason two closed with arty acuiring a riverboat and a groundbreaking ceremony announcing his plans to open a casino a new laundering opportunity. I was faced with the task of turning the boat into a gaming operation and to create a believable land-based support facility to anchor the enterprise. Oshore gambling is something I am familiar with, having been raised in ew Orleans, but as with every new job, I wanted to research and gather visual references specific to this project and the scripts at hand. o, I drove from ashville up to incinnati, meeting Ozark's location manager and my good friend es agan, to begin the hunting for and gathering of ideas. I scouted the ack asino in downtown incy when I arrived and got a good night's sleep for the long day ahead. fter picking es up at the airport, we drove to nearby awrenceburg, Indiana, to scout the Rising Star Casino and Resort on the Ohio iver. he gaming was all situated in a paddle- wheel boat with ark wainictorian detailing that coincidentally had been located in ew Orleans. he restaurants, bars, shops, theaters and oces were all constructed on land in addition to two hotels, a campground and parking structures. he complex was much larger in scale than what the Missouri Belle facility wanted to be, but it sparked some great ideas. e then headed down to aruthersville, issouri, to the ady uck asino. he was not as attractive to me as the ising tar or ack asinos with her contemporary styling, but the scale of the gaming pits and the layout of the casino oor were a better fit for the boat the production would be using as our template back in eorgia. e completed the long day driving to emphis for an overnight at the raceland otel. fter dropping es o at the airport the next morning, I continued further south to unica, ississippi, and visited two more casinos that I had scouted for hotel rooms and performance venues on Walk the Line, collecting more ideas. ive oshore casinos. even states. leven hundred miles. hree days. ots of good stu. ack in tlanta where the series is filmed, I began designing the casino compound and the adaptive reuse of the Missouri Belle riverboat with rt irector ean yan ennings. Plans, sketches, swatches, samples and photos were assembled for a presentation with ason, who would be directing the first two episodes which would establish the interior and exterior of the casino. ean had worked with me years prior in tlanta as a et esigner on a feature and then again as an ssistant rt irector on Last Vegas, gang all the segments shot in as egas. I was so fortunate to A A. MISSOURI BELLE CASINO MAIN FLOOR. SET PHOTO. B. MISSOURI BELLE CASINO IMAGE BOARD. C. MISSOURI BELLE CASINO MAIN FLOOR PLAN AND ELEVATIONS. DRAWN IN AUTOCAD BY MAGGIE DITRÉ. D. MISSOURI BELLE CASINO HIGH ROLLER'S SECOND FLOOR. SET PHOTO. E. MISSOURI BELLE CASINO STAIRWELL. SET PHOTO.