Leaving Las Vegas is decidedly not that kind of movie. It’s a bleak drama about a man who heads to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. Somehow, it’s even darker than that sounds.

In 1995’s “Leaving Las Vegas,” Sands played an abusive Latvian pimp alongside Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. The film was nominated for four Oscars, with Cage winning best actor. Enjoying ...

Nicolas Cage Confirms He Was Likely Never Paid ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ Fee. The actor agreed with what the film's writer-director Mike Figgis told The Hollywood Reporter's 'It Happened In ...

Nicolas Cage may have won a priceless Oscar for his turn as a suicidal screenwriter with an alcohol addiction in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas — but that’s all he got. The actor was never paid ...

Nicolas Cage lifts the award for best actor in motion picture, drama, for his role in “Leaving Las Vegas” at the Golden Globe Awards, Sunday, Jan. 21, 1996, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Leaving Las Vegas also won Cage an Oscar. “Three and a half million dollar budget, some 16mm film stock thrown in, and I’m holding one of these,” he said at the 68th Academy Awards.