"Casino" (1995), like "The Age of Innocence" before it, focused on a tightly wound male whose well-ordered life is disrupted by the arrival of unpredictable forces. The fact that it was a violent gangster film made it more palatable to the director's fans who perhaps were baffled by the apparent departure of the earlier film. "Casino" was a box office success, and it received generally positive notices from critics. Comparisons were drawn to his earlier film "Goodfellas", and Scorsese admitted "Casino" bore a superficial resemblance to it, but he maintained that the story was significantly larger in scope. Sharon Stone was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance. During the filming, Scorsese played a background part as a gambler at one of the tables.