Sign up for our Casino Insider newsletter and get the week’s best bets for food, entertainment and fun at Southern California’s casinos. Filming locations include downtown Coachella and Thermal. The film stars actors Gillian White, Michael Jai White, James Russo and Mickey Rourke and it’s as much a work grounded in the Coachella Valley as “Pay Dirt” was. “Fantasy Springs has become integral in, not only just providing locations for us, but also just providing hospitality for cast and crew in this COVID environment, which is key.” Sesma said that Fantasy Springs’ list of COVID-related safety protocols was a big factor in using the resort. Fantasy Springs housed the cast and crew and hosted production meetings, rehearsals and script revisions as Sesma and Hatton took on the tough job of completing principal photography amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The director and producer doubled down on the Indio area resort with their new film “Take Back,” but this time the casino went from a starring role to a big location behind-the-scenes. When director Christian Sesma and producer Mike Hatton started working on their Coachella Valley-centric film “Pay Dirt, ” Fantasy Springs Resort Casino turned out to be the perfect to play the film’s casino - so good that Sesma said he and Hatton would be back.

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