SHOOTING STARS: ‘Rough’ hustles to Mesquite, Las Vegas

  When it comes to Southern Nevada locations, Las Vegas hogs the spotlight.
  But another Clark County gambling mecca — Mesquite — finally gets its close-up when the independent feature “Rough Hustle” takes its act on the road for location work in both Mesquite and Glitter Gulch.
  Mesquite’s Casablanca, Oasis and Virgin River casinos serve as locations — playing casinos in downtown Las Vegas. In the movie, the protagonist, Dean (played by Matt Bushell, at right), “goes to Vegas to get his life back together,” while heading up a gambling team, explains producer Brendan Davis.
  “It’s one of those things where, when we pick the film up, everyone is trying to make a major change,” Davis explains during a telephone interview.
  And while there’s a circle of friends, as in “Ocean’s Eleven” (especially the 1960 Rat Pack version), the focus in “Rough Hustle” is on the people, not the hustle, he notes. Writer-director Delaney Dragon makes his feature debut after helming several shorts.
  With an ultra-low budget (“everyone is working for cheap — or free,” Davis says), the “Rough Hustle” production team considered shooting in Laughlin, Reno or Primm. But they chose Mesquite “in large part, because of the look,” the producer explains. “Mesquite’s casinos really work because they look old school” — and, therefore, more like Glitter Gulch.
  Bushell, whose TV credits range from “CSI: Miami” to “NCIS,” has a supporting role in the new movie “Twilight,” based on the teen-vampire best seller, which opens in theaters Friday. “Rough Hustle” castmate Michael Welch has an even bigger “Twilight” role — one that continues through the sequels.
  Comedy central: The Strip is alive with the sound of laughter as cameras roll on four TBS specials spotlighting the fourth annual Comedy Festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday at Caesars Palace. (The specials are scheduled to air Nov. 29 and 30.)
  Leading the lineup: “Ellen’s Even Bigger Really Big Show,” at 7 p.m. in the Colosseum showroom, in which Ellen DeGeneres, at right, channels Ed Sullivan as host of a variety special featuring singers, dancers and specialty acts. Comic impressionist Frank Caliendo, meanwhile, hosts “Funniest Movies of the Year: 2008,” which tapes at Caesars and the Rio, honoring big-screen comedies in themed segments from “Painfully Funny” to “Love Hurts.”
  Comic compatriots roast the still-smokin’ Cheech & Chong at 8 p.m. Friday in the Palace Ballroom, while “30 Rock’s” Tracy Morgan steps in to host the stand-up comedy special “Jamie Foxx’s Laffapalooza” (also in the Palace Ballroom, at 7 p.m. Saturday). Tickets for the DeGeneres, Cheech & Chong and Laffapalooza shows are available at www.TheComedyFestival.com.
  Local (super)hero: After a preliminary September shoot, the superhero spoof “Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel” resumes production from the Strip to Red Rock Canyon.
  A follow-up to 2004’s “Surge of Power,” which introduced the wacky title superhero and his Big City milieu, “Revenge of the Sequel” brings Surge and Co. to Las Vegas, explains Vincent J. Roth, who plays Surge — and scripted the original and its sequel. Jason Kartalian directs.
  Fans of the original, which played the sci-fi film festival circuit before theatrical and DVD releases, “have been asking” for a second adventure, so Roth reasoned, “OK, we’ve got to do something.”
  Because Las Vegas is the main location, the sequel will be “showcasing a lot of nice terrain,” Roth reports, including the Fremont Street Experience and Hoover Dam (as seen in aerial footage).
  To that end, various Vegas locals will turn up in cameo roles, from Mayor Oscar Goodman to Riviera headliner Frank Marino.
  Out and a bout: On Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden, Ricky Hatton meets Paulie Malignaggi for Malignaggi’s IBF junior welterweight title. But Britain’s ITV will track Hatton, pictured at right, long before he steps into the ring.
  “Granada Reports” will shoot along the Strip, at the MGM Grand and in Hatton’s gym during the build-up to the fight, along with press conferences, weigh-in and training sessions, reports ITV’s Chris Hall.
  In addition, they’ll be “speaking to fight fans along the Strip and bringing an overall sense of the color that only Las Vegas can provide,” Hall e-mails from Britain. “I’ll be scripting, presenting and editing all my reports and then I’ll send them via the Internet from my hotel room — the magic of modern TV!”