As a physical location, as well as a metaphor for where the past and present — and good and evil — collide, the image of a hotel that straddles the California-Nevada border was on Drew Goddard’s mind as he wrote his new mystery thriller, “Bad Times at the El Royale” (opening Oct. 12).

Goddard is a writer-director who loves the challenge of switching genres, from science fiction and horror to superheroes and comedy. He was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for “The Martian” (adapted from Andy Weir’s novel). He also wrote for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Alias” on television, the features “World War Z” and “Cloverfield,” and wrote and directed the horror cult hit “Cabin in the Woods,” starring Chris Hemsworth (who also appears as a charismatic cult leader in “Bad Times” and set fans buzzing on social media in June after appearing shirtless in the movie’s first trailer).

While mulling over the idea of basing his next movie on his “lifelong love affair with crime fiction” and wanting to do “an ensemble film where I get a fantastic group of actors thrown together under one roof,” Goddard found himself thinking about the bizarre conspiracy theories swirling around the Cal Neva Lodge & Casino.

More Information “Bad Times at the El Royal” (not yet rated) opens on Oct. 12 in Bay Area theaters.

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Did President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe secretly meet up in the hotel’s underground tunnels? Did Monroe actually die there, not in Los Angeles?

The storied Crystal Bay property on Tahoe’s north shore was built in the 1920s, and in its 1960s heyday was owned by Frank Sinatra and frequented by the Rat Pack, Monroe, Mafia bosses and the Kennedy family. (The Cal Neva was purchased last year by an investment firm headed by Oracle’s Larry Ellison.)

“Who knows how true any of the mob stuff and Kennedy rumors are, but it’s titillating to a writer’s imagination,” said Goddard during an interview this summer in Lake Tahoe. He was visiting with four of the movie’s stars — Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Cynthia Erivo — to give reporters an early glimpse of his new movie in the locale where its drama unfolds. “Bad Times” is set at the fictional El Royale Hotel, a once-glamorous resort with a sinister past and a painted red state line running though the premises.

“I love a good conspiracy theory. And borders make great drama,” said Goddard. He grew up in New Mexico, enchanted with Four Corners, where you can stand in four contiguous states.

“I’ve always loved the idea of California, signaling looking west to prosperity and new opportunities. Then there’s Nevada pulling people in the other direction, to gambling and the chance to maybe strike it rich, change your life. Every good film noir has this kind of duality.”

“Bad Times at the El Royale” takes place over the course of one night in 1969 — a pivotal year Goddard chose because “things in the country had turned so much darker and more tumultuous after the assassinations (of JFK, Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.) than when the decade began in optimism and promise.”

One after another, the cast of “equally lost souls” checks in at the front desk (with Lewis Pullman of “Catch-22”): a rifle-toting Johnson (“Fifty Shades” trilogy); Hamm, undercover as a clean-cut traveling vacuum salesman (and looking comfortably Don Draper-esque again in a plaid blazer); Tony Award-winning singer Erivo (“The Color Purple” on Broadway”) as soul singer Darlene Sweet; and Bridges in priest’s garb.

If the movie’s ragtag criminals, mashup of genres and its plot, which Goddard describes as “all about humans doing terrible things to each other,” sound reminiscent of the Coen brothers, both Goddard and Bridges, 68 — who was in the Coens’ “The Big Lebowski” and “True Grit” — are more than fine with the comparison.

“I certainly try to make my own stories, but there’s no question that time and time again when I’m looking for inspiration, I look to Joel and Ethan (Coen). No filmmakers have inspired me more,” said Goddard.

“I think one reason the movie reminds people (of the Coens) is that Drew is such a phenomenal talent, an exceptional writer. He’s one of the greats,” said Bridges, taking in a view of the lake he said he’d last visited “almost 50 years ago.”

Goddard said casting Bridges first was crucial to securing such a star-studded ensemble. “One thing I learned: All actors love Jeff Bridges. All actors want to work with Jeff Bridges. And so it definitely gave our production a real shot in the arm when he came aboard.”

As for the main question hinted at in the title: How bad do things get over the fateful night at the El Royale?

Bridges, who is seen in one pivotal scene destroying the floorboards of his hotel room with an ax, smiled and cocked his head, his eyes crinkling.

“Bad. Quite bad. It’s not called ‘Good Times at the El Royale.’ ”

Jessica Zack is a Bay Area freelance writer.