Character actors like John Turturro never fail to leave their mark on screen.
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actors → fail → screen
He's been commanding our attention in movies and on television for 46 years, always digging deep to deliver something memorable.
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He → command → something
Called one of the great character actors in the history of movies, Turturro responded with modesty: "Oh wow, I'll take that compliment.
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I → call → compliment
Now 69, Turturro is doing some of his best work in Apple TV's "Severance," and on the big screen in a rare leading-man part, as a thief clinging to a world passing him by, in a charming and moving crime thriller, "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York."
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Turturro → do → York
"Within this tense sort of crime thriller, there's all this humanity and, like, tenderness," he said.
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he → be → thriller
"There's like this love story, and there's this guy who basically the world has changed around him.
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world → be → him
So, how does someone like that survive in such a fast-changing world?
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someone → survive → world
I found it very evocative and moving."
To watch a trailer for "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York," click on the video player below.
We spoke to Turturro in his Brooklyn neighborhood.
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We → find → neighborhood
"I ride the train," he said.
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he → ride → train
Growing up in Hollis, Queens, his parents were a working-class couple with a penchant for drama.
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parents → grow → drama
"They had kind of a very intimate relationship, and volatile at certain times," Turturro said.
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Turturro → have → times
"When we used to watch 'The Honeymooners,' when I was really a little kid, my older brother, Ralph, used to call the show 'Mommy and Daddy.'
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brother → use → show
It was, you know, an expressive, sometimes explosive household.
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you → know → ?
So, you learn what size is, and what, also, quiet is within that."
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quiet → learn → that
They also loved movies, which made a lasting impression on their son.
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which → love → son
"I didn't go to the theater that much when I was young, but I watched the 'Million Dollar Movie,' and I watched all these great movies from the '30s, '40s, '50s.
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I → go → 50s
Those people opened up my brains, you know, whether it was Barbara Stanwyck, or Edward G., or Cagney, or Bette Davis, and they're, like, part of me."
The idea to become an actor formed watching Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy": "I think it was the scene in the diner when he said, he was like, 'Oh, Joey, I only got 64 cents in my pocket.'
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I → open → pocket
And it was cemented with a Broadway musical: "Bob Fosse's 'Pippin,' I saw the commercial.
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I → cement → commercial
I felt like someone was reaching their hand out to me, like to touch me.
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someone → feel → me
After college came a scholarship to get a master's at the Yale School of Drama, but not before getting cast in his first movie, "Raging Bull."
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scholarship → come → movie
It's described as a non-speaking part, but he got a little something in there – his first line, delivered to Robert de Niro.
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he → describe → Niro
During his career Turturro has worked opposite Paul Newman in "The Color of Money," and been directed by Robert Redford in "Quiz Show" – always searching for ways to unlock his character, like in "Miller's Crossing," the first of four films with the Coen Brothers.
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Turturro → work → Brothers
The quirky voice of his character, Bernie Bernbaum, came from his accountant; the fear from a single day in his childhood.
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voice → come → childhood
In a list of difficult scenes, Turturro's in "Miller's Crossing," where Bernbaum faces execution in the woods, is a difficult scene.
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Bernbaum → face → woods
"I had one advantage," said Turturro.
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Turturro → have → advantage
My friends and I, we were coming home from a party and we had, like, a bike with a banana seat, you know, and the handle.
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you → come → seat
We pulled into a schoolyard, and this guy was shooting baskets.
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guy → pull → baskets
So, he thought maybe we were going to try to steal something from him.
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we → think → him
It was late … he took out a gun.
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he → take → gun
He put it right to my head, on my bike, and I was like, I was frozen.
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I → put → bike
But I never forgot this feeling of having this gun pointed at my head.
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gun → forget → head
He's collaborated nine times with Spike Lee, starting with "Do the Right Thing."
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He → collaborate → Thing
Lee sent Turturro the script, then asked him which part he wanted to play.
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he → send → part
Turturro chose Pino, the racist son of the pizza shop owner.
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Turturro → choose → owner
Asked if he thought Lee wanted him to choose Pino, Turturro replied, "I think he was happy that I did. …
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I → ask → Pino
One thing about me is like, I don't need to be liked if I'm doing a movie.
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I → need → movie
What I need to do is to hold your attention, and I can, you know, surprise you.
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you → need → you
You know, I'm not looking to soften the edges with it, or even make it, you know, worse than it is.
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it → know → it
He says he has seen that guy: "Yeah, and then you see it in all different forms.
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you → say → forms
I think that's one of the unspoken things in our country, which has such diversity.
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which → think → diversity
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
