Written by Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan, the film centers around a movie publicist (Crystal) dealing with the messy public split of his movie’s co-stars Eddie (Cusack) and Gwen (Zeta-Jones) while keeping reporters at bay. At the same time, the reclusive director (Walken) is holding the film’s print hostage from an upcoming press screening.
As the careers of Eddie and Gwen suffer from America’s backlash over the split right before the release of their latest film, the movie publicist attempts to reunite the couple by hosting the press screening far away from the distraction of the Hollywood scene in a remote location.
That remote area in the film was the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas. It is now The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa in Henderson, NV, about 20 miles away from the Las Vegas Strip. The majority of the film takes place here actually, making full use of the property and featuring a few of the restaurants as well as the golf club and one of the Casbah Villas.
Production designer Garreth Stover, who also directed second unit on America’s Sweethearts, enjoyed the search for the perfect remote location.
“What we ultimately felt was a great choice was an actual working Hyatt hotel with Moroccan décor. It was a perfect environment for the story and gave me, from a design perspective, good bones to expound upon. From the very beginning, Joe’s direction was comedy-bright and uplifting. We took what existed and heightened it to a more romantic and happy look.”
Reportedly, the production team was so pleased with the service at Lake Las Vegas, they reserved one of the restaurants for a big cast welcoming party.
FUN FACT: At the time, the location of the Hyatt Regency was an area under development. It was so remote that cell phone reception was terribly weak and it was just one of the ways that the film could imitate life imitating art.
Watch the trailer below which includes several clips of the Lake Las Vegas resort:
“America’s Sweethearts (2001) Official Trailer 1 – Julia Roberts Movie” by Movieclips Trailer Vault
For a more in-depth tour of the resort and photos of specific locations used in America’s Sweethearts, check out this blog post on iamnotastalker.com
If you are interested in filming your next production at Lake Las Vegas, you can check out their filming location listing here. You can also visit the Lake Las Vegas website for more information about the many offerings and amenities.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Sweethearts
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265029/
http://cinema.com/articles/614/americas-sweethearts-production-notes.phtml
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2016/05/11/the-westin-lake-las-vegas-resort-spa-from-americas-sweethearts/
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2001/feb/09/columnist-kate-maddox-lake-enjoys-sweetheart-deal/