Synopsis

When Las Vegas performer Buddy Israel decides to testify against a powerful mob boss, a million-dollar bounty is placed on his head. Federal agents rush to protect him inside a Lake Tahoe hotel while an assortment of assassins, criminals, and opportunists converge on the same location. As alliances shift and violence escalates, the crowded manhunt becomes a chaotic battle of survival.

Factoids & Trivia

• Principal photography took place from October 24 through December 15, 2005, mainly at Caesars Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada. The casino was renamed the Nomad Casino for the film.

• The film marked the feature-film debuts of musicians Alicia Keys and Common.

• Chris Pine replaced Michael Shannon as Darwin Tremor during pre-production. Carnahan reportedly decided on Pine almost immediately after seeing his audition.

• The conversations between the two FBI agents in the surveillance van were improvised.

• The main-on-end title sequence was created by VooDooDog from thousands of still photographs taken during production. It drew visual inspiration from 1970s crime films and westerns.

• The film was followed by the direct-to-DVD prequel "Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball" in 2010.