WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1198 - Stanley Tucci

Episode Date: February 4, 2021

Stanley Tucci is fortunate that he broke into the mainstream with his movie Big Night because it combined two of the things he loves the most: acting and food. Stanley talks with Marc about the comfort he gets from cooking and the satisfaction he gets from a good performance. They discuss his extensive career, including The Devil Wears Prada, Spotlight, Murder One, and his new film Supernova, in which his longtime friendship with Colin Firth paid off. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life.

When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series streaming February 27th, exclusively on Disney Plus. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing with cannabis legalization. It's a brand new challenging marketing category.

legalization. It's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. Lock the gates! and ACAS Creative. What the fuck buddies? What the fuckaholics? What is happening? How's it going? Where are we at?

Round and round we go. Groundhog Day came and went and you know what? It was no surprise. I mean, if we're thinking about the movie, fucking living it, right? I just saw that on the calendar. It's Groundhog day and you're like oh yeah no kidding so is yesterday so it was last week so it was the day before yesterday that lasted a week so is the two weeks ago that lasted a year i don't have any sense of time how's it going people you're right stanley tucci is on the show today stanley Tucci. You know Stanley Tucci from Big Night, Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones. He was in Spotlight.

He's in a new film called Supernova with Colin Firth that I watched. And it's Stanley Tucci. I was happy to talk to him. That being said, part of the weirdness, there's a few things that are going on for me. I mean, again, I'm fortunate and grateful that I'm living in a certain amount of comfort that many people cannot have or don't have. And there's a lot of anxiety, pain, fear, destitution, desperation, discomfort, sickness, just the entire spectrum of horrible humanity and things that can happen to people are happening and you know i am grateful and uh lucky to to have a certain amount of comfort in this time but the repetition of everything and the the lack of relief from the cycle is a little

tricky and i was talking about it with my friend Megan today about, you know, it's because what do you have to look forward to? I mean, before, even in your life, even if your life was going slow, at least you could think like, well, in three weeks, I'm going to go take that trip to visit my mom, or I'm going to, you know, we're going out of town for my birthday. We're going to spend the weekend here. We, you know, we've got that meeting in a week and stuff. Now everything is confined to your desktop, to your computer, to zoom, and no one's really traveling that much. Some people are, but it's not without a tremendous amount of anxiety and protocols.

And, uh, uh, there's nothing casual about anything. And there's just none of those things, those markers. You know, birthdays come and go. People come and go. Everything is happening that happens in life, but now it's in this vacuum of isolation and pandemic and plague. And it's tricky because the repetition becomes tricky. The patterns become tricky in the sense that you do and can feel like you're losing your fucking mind.

And it's uncomfortable. And look, I'm in show business and it's fucking bizarre. Because there are times when I'm like, what are we doing? What are we doing? Is anybody watching any of this? I mean, you were, I did the tonight show a while back from my backyard. And yesterday I did the Tamron Hall show from my dining room and my production values on my IG live are the same as major network television shows and everyone's adapting. Granted, there's some part of entertainment that fortifies denial that there's, it's a, it's a relief. You know, it's like, please entertain me. Get me out of this.

Get me out of what I'm feeling. Get me out of every day being the same. Get me out of this panic and fear of getting COVID. Get me out of my financial crisis, out of the possibility, my hopelessness. Please entertain me out of this fucking darkness. That's a tall order. But there is this weird consistency to things. I have conversations with management about movies and about TV ideas and about taking meetings with network executives. And there's part of me that's like, why?

What the fuck is happening? There's nothing happening. Granted, a few things are shooting. There are protocols in place. But it's like, why? It almost feels like we're lying to ourselves. Hopefully, we can come out of this and reckon with it. That we'll remember it.

That we'll shift our priorities. That we'll change our perception of how we live life and what we have to do in the future on so many levels. A great deal of what we're going through now are just vestiges of an old way of life that seem sad and empty. The Golden Globe seems sad and empty. You know, I'm nominated for Critics' Choice, which is very exciting. But the award shows, it's almost like we're just acting as if. We're going through the motions,

going through the motions of what sort of defined our sense of information and entertainment before COVID. And it's sad, a lot of it. And it's hard for me not to see a lot of what's, you know, going on, the machinations of show business of sort of getting back to work stuff that just feels kind of, you know, like out of touch and sad and desperate, but I'm in it. I'm in it. I enjoyed getting up early to do the Tamron Hall show, to do a live segment as a performer about podcasting on television.

It's what I used to do. I mean, if it had been the real life, the real world that we used to know, I would fly to New York. I would get to the studio. I get hair and makeup. The place would be buzzing. There'd be snacks. I'd have a producer come up to me and a guy with a mic come up to me and everything would be lit and on fire. Not literally on fire, but just jacked up.

An audience would be excited. It would be just all the fixtures of show business. All the bells and whistles are going. And then you set up and you get out there and you entertain. You give people a jolt in the morning. It's like morning radio or anything else in morning entertainment. But now this sort of vacuum of it, the faces on the screens, the host in an empty studio. You can hear the fucking footsteps leading of her walking to the podium and then turning on the juice and getting it going.

And then cutting to me in my living room, hoping my cat doesn't interrupt the thing, hoping that my signal stays live, hoping that I look into the right camera. I'm very bad at that, but that's the adaptation I got to make. Before I would have been there an hour and a half early getting hair and makeup, getting miked, looking at the other guests, meeting the other guests, seeing my management team, everybody, a buzz, food, donuts, swag bag.

Now, I was literally in bed 20 minutes before and I put some clothes on, I checked my hair, and I said, well, that's good enough. Not like I look good, I'll put a jacket on, this is good enough. Not like I look good. I'll put a jacket on. This is good enough. That's show business. That's entertainment followed by crying.

But maybe I'm being too dark. Maybe I'm being too negative. Maybe we need it because that repetition of patterns, the landing back where you started every day, the strange drift of time, the pace of how we get information is that we don't hold on to things long enough and that we're willing to let things disappear quickly. Things just get churned under just into this, you know, the undertow of a tidal wave of garbage information. There's no way to prioritize things and it gets sucked into the past so far, gets dragged out so far. Something important, something you should hang on to all of a sudden gets sucked into the undertow and it's miles out, miles out, unable to wade, unable to paddle, unable to stay afloat. And it just disappears. It disappears behind a wall of information garbage.

We got to figure out what to hold on to and how to hold on to it again. What's important? What is vital? What is connected now? And I think we all miss just being around people casually without, you know, just seeing eyes. Above a mask.

In different. Sort of frequencies of. Panic and anger. And fear and discomfort. And sadness. Desperation. Just eyes. Above masks.

Peering out out for connection. It's rough, man. Hang on. You know, hang on. So Stanley Tucci, everybody loves him. Great actor, great character actor. He's great at being Stanley Tucci as well. He's in the new movie

Supernova, which is in select theaters right now and will be on digital platforms starting February 16th. And we talked. This is me talking to Stanley. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly,

host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising.

Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. Be honest. When was the last time you thought about your current business insurance policy? If your existing business insurance policy is renewing on autopilot each year without checking out Zensurance, you're probably spending more than you need. That's why you need to switch to low-cost coverage from Zensurance before your policy renews this year. Zensurance does all the heavy lifting to find a policy, covering only what you need, and policies start at only $19 per month. So if your policy is renewing soon, go to Zensurance and fill out a quote.

Zensurance. fill out a quote. Zensurance, mind your business. Where are you? I'm in London in my studio. So that's where you live all the time? Yeah, basically, yeah. That's because your wife is British? Yes. And that was the way it landed. You're like, I'm leaving, I'll live there. Yeah, kind of. I mean, you know, she came and lived with me for two years. And then we came. We decided to move here when the kids were, well, they're twins. They're 21 now, so they were 13, and the other one was 11.

But you were living where, upstate? Where were you, in New York? Yeah, yeah. No, we were in Westchester, yeah. Now, you own a restaurant there, right? Yeah, kind of. I mean, I I owned it, but I didn't really have I was a small owner in it. But unfortunately, it had my name on it ish. But weren't you advised that that was not a great thing to do? But weren't you advised that that was not a great thing to do? No, I sought no advisement.

And that was dumb. It's like, I don't know why we all have dreams of owning restaurants. Was your dream that you would stop in and be like, hey, there's Stanley. Yes, yes. And that I would be able to throw a sandwich together there, have parties. It was a friend of mine who was a chef who set it up, and then another fellow who was a dear friend who, you know, it was his money, really. Right.

And it ended up being... it didn't work. No, I wasn't around a lot either because I had to go. I was away working, and it was just a disaster. Did the mob get involved? Certainly not. Good. I wish they had. Might have been successful.

You grew up in that area, though, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, I did some research on you. You did? Well, that's nice of you. In Westchester, right? Yeah, I grew up in Katona. It was a great place to grow up.

You don't know that when you're a kid, but now you know it. And your folks, they were just, what did they do for a living? My dad was an art teacher. Where? At a high school in a couple towns just south of Chappaqua High School. It was a very wealthy area. Horace Greeley? Yeah, exactly. You know who went there? My first girlfriend went to Horace Greeley.

What? And you know who else went there? Pete Berg, the director. You know the director, Pete Berg? Did he really? I didn't know that. They grew up in Chappaqua. My girlfriend grew up in Chappaqua, and she went to Horace Greeley.

So, like, that's part of my past by her, through her. So what year are we talking about? She probably graduated high school in 82, 83? 82, 83. 82, 83. Would your dad have been there? Yeah, actually, he would have, yes, have been close to retiring. And if you, what's her name? My father remembers, at the age of 90, he remembers everyone.

Her name at that time was Sarah Rubin. Oh, yeah, he never liked her. Yeah, it came up, didn't knew that was tough yeah he's got a short list of students that were terrible and i don't know if pete berg was in his class but he taught yeah he hated him yeah he taught art he was the head of the art department brilliant brilliant guy my dad yeah was he ater, sculptor, calligrapher, jewelry maker, pottery, everything. Really? Everything. Taught mechanical drawing, everything.

And your mom was what? My mom worked in the office as an assistant to the principal. Oh, at the school as well? Yeah, yeah. But could have easily been a professional chef i mean art art not arguably i mean one of the greatest cooks i've ever ever ever and not because she's my mother right but the more you travel and then you come back and you taste her food you go i don't know how she did that. Really?

Now, where did she learn? Are they like first generation, the two of them? Yeah, she learned from her mother. So they were born, my parents were born in America. But her parents were born in Italy and my dad's parents. And she learned from her mom. So that's where you got your love of it. Yeah. And she really became then an autodidact.

I mean, she really just, all she read was, you got your love of it. Yeah. And she really became then an autodidact. I mean, she really just, all she read was, you know, were cookbooks and she taught herself. I love it. I fucking love cooking when I'm, especially lately. My mother was a terrible cook. Just awful. So I'm sorry. Was not, was incapable really. And had, and still does a manageable eating disorder.

So she was well, she was it. Don't get too concerned. She's OK. She's healthy. But she resented food. But as I got older, you know, I had a professor who taught me who not it wasn't the class, but we became friendly that you could just learn how to cook. Like you can do that. And, uh, and I love to do it. And it's weird what I'm cooking now. Like I've got this smoker, like a suburban smoker. Oh, wow. And I, I smoked a, like I'm doing Jew food cause I'm a Jew and I smoked my, I've been smoking my

own fish. Really? Yeah. What do you, what kind of fish? I smoked some sturgeon yesterday. I brined it, I dry brined it in salt, garlic powder, and sugar. Shit. Then I let it sit overnight, and then I smoked it for like four or five hours, basted it with honey, put some paprika on it, chilled it, and ate it this morning for breakfast

with some beets and horseradish like a Jew. Man, that's pretty Jewish. Yeah, I mean, and I pickled some onions. I made kasha varnish giz the other night. What? I mean, what the fuck? Where do you live in? Kiev?

Or some... What? Maybe my heart does. Yes. Wow. I love that. I made it with schmaltz. You did?

Yeah. That's so good. I rendered the schmaltz from a bone broth I was making, and I made the fucking kasha with schmaltz. And now I gain nine pounds in four days. Good. Good. Good.

What do you go to? You're a cook. You write cookbooks so like if you're feeling bad and you want to eat your feelings yeah what do you what do you do i cook comfort food you know i cook which ones a lot of pasta i love pasta in varying varying forms i'll make I like pasta with really simple pasta marinara, pasta with tuna and tomato. Right. Right. Delicious.

With lots of onions. Super sweet. Delicious. Pasta with peas and tomato. Carbonara. I love which I learned how to make properly when I was doing this television show this year and last year. And pasta. Today I made pasta with cannellini beans, kale, and a little bit of tomato, and some chicken broth.

Beautiful. And it's like a pasta fagiola, sort of. But I eat it literally practically every day. Do you make the homemade pasta? No, we occasionally make homemade pasta. It's a bit of a chore, right?

Yeah, with two little kids. No, you can't. Yeah, they want to make shapes and animals. Do you ever do La Matriciana? Yes. Yeah, I love it. Do you use the guanciale? Good for you. It's different, right?

You could use the other one. Pancetta. No good. It's good. It's fine. But once you have guanciale, it's like it's completely elevated. It's like, what is that? How is that so different tasting? I don't know. Well, I do know it's the jowl, and it's also the way it's cured

and that extra sort of thickness of the skin and the pepper that's put on top, which is the way you should make carbonara with that. With the guanciale. Yeah. But it seems like it's not as easy to find as pancetta. No, no, it's not easy to find. put on top, which is the way you should make carbonara with that. With the guanciale. Yeah. But it seems like it's not as easy to find as pancetta. No, no, it's not easy to find.

I mean, now on the internet, it's actually easier than it used to be. Although, you got, like, before the internet, you had to have a guanciale guy. Yeah, the guanciale guy, or you had to, you know, make your own guanciale. That's the time consuming. It's better to have the guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's the thing about cooking, especially in L.A. You never lived here, though, did you? No.

Like when I decided, when I get obsessed with a dish, I was dating a woman who, years ago, who liked bucatini llama trichana. So I got to figure out how to do it correctly, right? Yeah. And I don't even know if she ever had it with guanciale, but I had to go find Guanciale in Los Angeles, which turned out was not easy. It was not easy.

No. Because it's not, there's not, I found this every time I've spent time in Los Angeles. There's not a huge number of Italian. No. I mean, up north, there are more. That's true. Because of the climate and the, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Quite different in all the wine country. Yeah, you know, it's very different. But LA, it was like, when I first started going there 400 years ago, I was like, you know, where are the Italian delis? Nothing. There's not. No. There's not. And the ones that are here aren't even that good. You know what's amazing for Italian food and Italian delis? New Jersey. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. See, I haven't spent a lot of time in New Jersey, but yes, it's a huge, huge Italian-American population.

Back in the day, you used to be just driving down the highway. It's like, you think that Italian place is any good? Of course it is. It's New Jersey. But wait, where are you from? I'm genetically New Jersey. But wait, where are you from? I'm genetically New Jersey. I grew up in New Mexico mostly, but my parents are both from Jersey. My family, they're all Jersey Jews.

Jersey Jews, but you grew up in New Mexico. Yeah, for like third grade through high school. Wow. Albuquerque. You ever shoot in Albuquerque? I have. Yeah? Which one?

I almost shot myself in Albuquerque too. Oh, yeah? No, I'm kidding. Yes. Well, it was tough. Yeah. What show? I spent a week there one night. You know, it's that show. No,

it was, but there were some nice places, but yeah. It was a movie I did with Kevin Costner and Nathan Lane. Swing Vote. You were all stuck in Albuquerque? You and Nathan and Kevin? Yes, yes.

But then we ended up moving outside to this nice little hotel in the kind of desert. And you had a beautiful view of the mountains. And it was quite pretty. It's pretty. It's pretty. It gets a bad reputation. Got a little beat up over time. The big movie, the first time I remember hearing about you

in a big way was the Big Night movie, which is food-based. And you did that with Campbell Scott, right? And you guys, you talked to him? I haven't talked to Campbell for a long time, no, but we went to high school together in Katona? No, so we went to high school together. In Katona? No, so we went to John Jay in South Salem.

So you guys, you hang out at his house, he hangs out at your house? Yeah. Was George C. Scott there? No, he was not there. Colleen Dewhurst was around. Colleen, yes. Did you act in high school? Yes, Campbell and I acted in high school together.

And I loved it. I mean, I really loved it. We had this really cool guy who was... Right from the get-go? Yeah, this wonderful teacher who was... He was the music teacher. He was, you know, he ran the chorus. He did the plays.

He was this really wonderful guy who lived in Manhattan and commuted to to westchester every day he did the opposite of what everybody else did and he was a very sophisticated really really lovely guy you know we did rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead at in our high school yeah i mean wow yeah, wow. Yeah, he was cool. He was the inspiration. He was just really cool. And at that time, you know, it's the 1970s. You could go.

It was an open plan school like most of them were in Westchester. A lot of them were in Westchester. And so, you know, you walked outside all the time from class to class, building to building. And you had this beautiful theater in the school, but then there was an annex, which was his domain, and the annex was just this separate, cool building where just one room where you did choir practice

or you auditioned for plays or you practiced plays. He did acting classes, and he'd bring people in for the community who had been in uh show business and have talks and yeah this guy was like you know amazing isn't great isn't it amazing like when you think back on that that that guy just one teacher in your life in your high school to probably change the entire course of your life. He did, completely. And I'll tell you the thing that makes me sort of sad now is that if we just look at the architecture of the school, there was an openness to it. But there was also an openness to the curriculum and to teaching.

And my father will attest to this, having been an art teacher, that so much of that has disappeared. And it's really unfortunate. I visited the school a number of times. And it was heartbreaking because they basically enclosed the school. So there was a physical manifestation of what was happening educationally. And I found that depressing. Well, it's sad. You know, it's sad what's happened to education in general. But I imagine, you know, in the 70s, you know, everything that was coming in, not only was it more a liberal culture, but I mean, there was a lot of things changing in approaches to education, to theater, to film, to everything.

So if that guy's down in New York and he's coming up and he's bringing all these new ideas, it must have been exciting. And to be in high school at that time where your brain is just opening up in the early 70s, it must have been just mind-blowing it was it was fantastic i mean like where my dad taught it was just really uh great school and you know they had a they had a kiln where they would you know make potter the fire thing they had a jewelry station this and that but they had a smoking area this is the weird part they had a smoking area for students right outside the art room right it had a smoking area for students right outside the art room. Right. It's a little dubious.

That was questionable. Dubious. I know. Since the research had come out in the 1950s, 60s. Yeah. I think what it was is they, I think that schools, because you could smoke at my high school outside.

And I think they were just like, we're not going to stop them. You how are we going to stop well everybody everybody fucking smoked i mean everybody i loved it i'm so happy i don't i i don't miss cigarettes but i i was on nicotine until just a year or so ago i was i was i would stay on though i do the gum and the lozenges i just loved it did you do the? No, because I wanted to feel the high. I've been on and off the patch, but I like the lozenges. They're like nicotine candies. Oh, really?

Did you smoke? I smoked, but I was never a devoted smoker. I mean, it was something I could take or leave. It wasn't... Is there anything that you can't take or leave that was like a problem? Exercise. I'm not kidding. That sounds funny.

Exercise and... Martinis. Oh, you like the martinis. I like martinis. Yeah. And pasta. So, did you move to New York City to start the career?

I mean, did you went to school? You went to college and did the acting? Yeah, I went to... Well, I mean, I didn't really go far. I went to SUN the career? I mean, did you went to school? You went to college and did the acting? Yeah, I went to, well, I mean I didn't really go far. I went to SUNY at Purchase, which is excuse me, the State University of New York because, you know, it was affordable and it was a

conservatory and one of the best programs in the country because like I said, it was a conservatory. You had to audition to get in they took 30 students per per year and you were in what was called a company yeah you stayed in that company for four years with the same teacher which i'm not so sure it was a great idea but luckily i had a brilliant teacher so that was that fine a guy named George Morrison, he used to, he was one of the original

second city people. And he ended up having a school with Paul Sills and Mike Nichols in New York after he left Purchase. Really? Mike Nichols? Did you ever work with Mike Nichols? No, I didn't. And but I knew Mike Nich, and he had asked me to do a few things, and I couldn't do them. And I was heartbroken because if there was one director I wanted to work with, it was Mike Nichols. It was that timing of things or that it wasn't quite right. But I got to know him, and I was even more enamored of him once I met him.

What was your first real gig? Well, I guess I was cast in a, I don't remember. I did like some commercial things or a little thing off Broadway or something. But then I did like a Miami Vice, I think was the first thing I ever did on television. Like just playing, it was just like two scenes. was the first thing I ever did on television. Like, just playing, it was just like two scenes. I hadn't really experienced America. So I went to Florida, and I shot there for a few days.

It was really weird. And then I ended up going back and played another role as a mafioso. And then I started to do a lot of tv stuff and little roles and movies and you know you know how it goes all that yeah sure it says here that you were like you did a a little bit in pritzy's honor yeah well that's not actually true um because i was supposed to have one line but it ended up going to um uh a friend of jack nicholson's. So I was a glorified extra. But you were on the set. I was on the set. With John Huston.

With John Huston, who I think at that point was so old that, you know. Yeah. It's sort of amazing the career you've had and how recognizable you are and how much, like, I feel like I've known you since I was a kid.

I feel like we grew up together somehow. Like, there he is again you know haunting me but it's but it's interesting the kind of career that you have is the career of a guy that works yeah you know what I mean yeah and like when you got into the racket I mean what was your plan what did you think you were going to be doing primarily theater or what were you thinking as an actor or that you just wanted to do stuff? I just wanted to work. And I really just wanted to work doing it all. You know, at the time when I started, so 1982, I got out of college. You know, there was that very clear division between you're a theater actor, you're a television actor, you're a film actor. And it was an unfortunate division. It was a snobbiness to it, right?

Yeah, it was weird. It was weird and wrong. Now, that has all disappeared, thank God. But, you know, the British never did that. The British always went back and forth. You did TV. You know, you know, the British never did that. The British always went back and forth. You did TV. You know, you did a play. You did a movie.

Then you went back and did the thing, blah, blah, blah. And you did a radio play. You just did it. It's a smaller business there. It's a smaller business, but it's a healthier business. Sure. And now I think America is finally, and it was it was it was hbo that really changed everything hbo to me once they started doing their original films uh there became this

this crossover you know it's not tv it's hbo but it actually is tv but it's really cool. And they were putting money into projects and casting people who weren't huge movie stars in movies of significance. And they were taking scripts that studios wouldn't buy and they would make them into movies. And they were really fucking good. And I think that changed the landscape. And that's why we have what we have now which I think

is a much much healthier landscape but it seems like you were always sort of like moving back and forth between all of them yeah because I had to work you know I had to make money and also you know I wasn't a leading man I was an. Were you ever disappointed about that? Yeah. I mean, I'd give anything to look like Marcello Mostriani, but, you know, that's never going to happen. I'd love to look like Ryan Reynolds. That's not happening.

Yeah. You just had to accept. You had to accept. You have to make do with what you have. Murder One was sort of a big deal, right? Yeah, that was a big deal, yeah. That put you on the map? In some ways, yes, I guess.

Yeah, it did. I did it because I thought it was really cool. But, of course, you never knew what was going to happen. It was a very unusual structure. It's a structure that we know now very well. But what Stephen did at the time, people were people were like we love the show but nobody watched it but it it it coincided with uh me doing um big night and um and the two of them sort of sort of came out at the same time and and it was you know it was it did shift things significantly for me but then

like show business is it it goes like this yeah yeah well i mean it's good that you take that in you know you've worked with a lot of the a lot of great directors i have i've been very lucky. I mean, you know, when you look at, like, even working with Alan Pakula on The Pelican Brief. I was so excited to work with him because he made some of these iconic films that I grew up with. I think particularly. All the President's Men? Well, it's still arguably one of the greatest American movies ever made. Oh, yeah, it's great. And Parallax View I think he did too, right?

Yeah, he did. Extraordinary. And I talked to, I got to know Redford through Sundance. And I used to go and advise at the lab and everything. And I told him, like, that is

it's just one and he produced the movie too and it's one of the greatest movies ever made and it still holds up and I watch it I watch it all the time I watched it recently too, it's great it's extraordinary, those shots

I mean he has that shot with Redford where he's talking on the phone and the camera pushes in it's i timed it once it's a five and a half to six minute shot and really yeah and you don't even the brilliance of alan picoula was you had no idea that the camera was even moving and it was gordon willis i think who shot it. So the camera's just pushing in. Before you know it,

all the guy's doing is talking on the fucking telephone. Right. And it is so compelling. And then it's over and you realize that's a solid six minutes

that you've watched. Right. And you end up here from, you know, way back here. So cool. Yeah.

I thought that the movie that you were in and you were great in that Spotlight movie, which I watched. Oh, I love that movie. Well, that's a similar type of movie. Yeah. You know, because it's one of these things where you're unfolding, you know, an insidious conspiracy. And the action is really about the characters, the learning of, you know, the unfolding, the unfolding, right? Like it's not an action movie, but your character was so great. That was such a great role for you. I was so honored to be asked to do it. I love Tom McCarthy.

Yeah. I think he's so talented and I knew him a little bit. And when he asked me and I read it, I thought, oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's one of asked me and I read it, I thought, oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's one of those movies where you're like, you know, you'll do whatever you can to do it. They don't even have to pay you. It doesn't matter. Just do it.

Whatever. Just do it. Yeah. And that part was so great. The kind of aggravation and the sort of acceptance of the plodding work of a guy who is up against all odds but continues on. And he's still at it. He's still doing it. What's his name, the real guy? Mitchell Garabedian.

And I did not meet him before because it was suggested that I not meet him. Why? Because he's quite contentious. Okay. And at one point, they were like, we think he might sue us. We don't know what's happening. Oh.

And I was like, well, why would he do that? He's basically like the hero of the film in a way. And then he saw the movie and he loved it. And I met him briefly at the premiere and he was so nice and then we talked on the phone a couple times and he's really, but that's an extraordinary person

who does stuff like that. That's so interesting that he was, he didn't trust the, yeah. No. Why would he? But That's so interesting that he was, he didn't trust. No. Yeah. No. And that's. Why would he? But that's, why would he?

Why would you, why would you trust Hollywood? Right. I don't. Yeah. You know. Yeah. So you weren't concerned in that part, like your version of him was your version. Yeah.

I did what i could to yeah i what i did was i was able to find some stuff on um youtube of him talking and you know you know news reports and things like that so i was able to use that and then but not you know it's always hard too if you're doing an accent any kind of accent but a b not, you know, it's always hard, too, if you're doing an accent, any kind of accent, but a Boston accent, you know, there's. It's tricky. Yeah, it's tricky and you don't want to go too far. So I tried to just pull it back a little bit because sometimes if you do it, even people who have Boston accents, you go, come on, pull it back. Yeah.

Take it easy. Don't do that. You know, Matt Damon, stop it. Yeah. Stop it. Yeah. yeah yeah take it easy don't do that you know matt damon stop it yeah yeah stop it yeah yeah when you do you work with a dialect coach generally yeah if i if i feel that it's that i need it yes i tried to do uh one thing i did a thing here when i like a year after i moved here called fortitude which was this series for Sky Atlantic. And it was really interesting.

And I did it because it was a wonderful role, but also there was Sophie Grabel, who's that great Danish actress, and Michael Gambon, arguably one of my favorite actors ever. So I was like, yes, yes, yes. And the character was written as Scottish. So I said, okay, yeah, I'll give it a shot.

So I asked this dialect coach to come in, whom I think I had met briefly, but she's brilliant. And we had friends in common, and my sister-in-law had worked with her. So she comes over to my house. We start to read through it. We work for 20 minutes, and I go, this is a terrible idea, isn't it?

She goes, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. isn't it she goes oh yeah okay so then i have to call the producers and go um i think look i tried this i'm sorry i don't want to compromise um the show or my career so i think maybe let's just do British and then I couldn't figure out what kind of British to do so I was like you know what I think he's American and they went yes I think that's fine thank god thank god celebrate celebrating actually why did we come to this guy in the first place you know yeah dialects are scary, man. Yeah, scary. And some of them, it's fine. Some of them, it's easy. And others, you know, I remember Matt Damon saying that when he did Invictus,

that it was one of the hardest dialects. He said he worked for six months or more. Was that with South African? Yes, which is incredibly, I find stuff like that incredibly difficult. Australian. Someone suggested in a movie that they were like, could you be Australian? I was like, no. Why? No. I mean, if I were born Australian, yeah, but yeah, no. What's the most challenging one you think you pulled off? You know, oddly enough, a lot of times an italian accent is hard because italian there's a lot of variations within it

because italian has so many different dialects and yeah pronunciations of words and things like that. So there are times even when I hear my own Italian accent, I go, I go, no, it's a bad. How do you feel about doing stage work? Do you? It doesn't seem like you do a ton of it, but you enjoy it. Yeah, I haven't done it since i directed a play uh about 10 years ago nine years ago on broadway that i i love loved that experience prior to that i had done a lot of theater um but the last play i did was frankie and johnny and the claire de de Lune. And it just about killed me in every way. Really? Yeah, and after that, I didn't have a great, I was, you know, there were too many reasons

why it almost killed me. But I no longer longed to go on stage like I once did after that. And it's strange because I've been very lucky enough to be offered a lot of, you know, great roles here in England and in America. But I don't have that yearning as much as I used to. What makes it challenging? Well, I think if I can do a short run that's fine but i feel like after you've done a play you've rehearsed a play you open up you do like five weeks

after five weeks i i think you want to leave a play on an inhale yeah and i always see actors leave plays on an exhausted exhale and and and i can see that in performances often sure and well yeah i mean i can't imagine doing it every day matinee on sunday you're talking about eight shows a week and it's brutal it's it's brutal and people think oh you only work three hours a night or whatever, two hours a night. You start by three o'clock in the afternoon. Your mind is going to your performance. Right. Right.

And you go by the time you go to sleep, it's one o'clock in the morning. You have to sleep until 10. Otherwise, you got to work out or whatever. And then do your business and see your kids and do whatever. But the thing is, you never see your kids. You don't have dinner with them. You can't pick them up at school. You can't, you know, put them to bed.

And you cannot wake up with them in the morning. So it just eats your entire life. Yeah, and people think, oh, it's the most sort of regular lifestyle. It's like it's the opposite of a normal lifestyle. Almost more than film. Oh, no. Much more than film. But with film, most of the time you're sitting around waiting for lighting.

Please. And then you don't have – once you get get the hang of it i don't know what your process is but you know you kind of memorize you know scene for scene or day by day i mean with with a play you got to cram all that shit in your head right right and then it's there and it's there once it's there it's there then but i always believe that after five weeks, people start inventing things simply to invent things. Either to entertain themselves, the people they're playing opposite,

or they just start going, you know what? I think I can get a laugh on this if I do this. Which then throws off the whole balance of the thing. I think if you don't like the thrill of it every night, do you know what I mean?

If you can't, like who did I talk to? David Harbour. David Harbour, I talked to him. He said one of the funniest things about like, you know, that panic, you know, right before you go on stage where you don't think you know your lines. He says five seconds before he goes on stage. He's like, someone give me a fucking script.

I still have dreams. I have dreams. I had one the other night about going on stage and not knowing my lines and not, you know, or like I'm not dressed properly or, you know, it's just pathetic. Still, still. Oh my God, it's haunting.

It is, but I know I'll do it again. I want to do it again. It just has to be the right circumstance, you know. Now this, I watched the, I watched the new movie Supernova. Oh, oh. And I enjoyed it. It was very, it was heavy to me.

Yeah. How well do you know Colin? Well, I know him really well. We've known each other for 20 years. Oh, really? So you guys were friends going into this a long time. Yeah, yeah. I asked him to do it.

The director sent me the script. I loved it. I thought, well, the only person I can think of, of the appropriate age, who's a brilliant actor and one of my closest is Colin. So I asked him, I slipped it to him and he read it. He goes, my God, it's beautiful. I said, I know. And then we did it. And then we switched roles because I was supposed to play the other role.

He was supposed to play my role. Oh, really? Yeah. Then at one point, Colin said, Stan, I think we should switch. And I said, you know, I have been thinking the same thing. Because every time I read it, I was like, it doesn't, something doesn't feel right. The rhythm, I don't know. I feel like I'm more comfortable saying,

and Colin's the one who brought it up. Anyway, we told Harry, this poor director, who looked at us like, oh God god have i made a huge mistake um you know these two old these two alta cacas coming going we want to switch roles and yeah you know by the way uh but he had both yeah what did he say yeah no he said he said right, well, let's read it both ways. So we did. Just a few scenes. And it was very evident.

We basically auditioned for Harry for the opposite roles. So you play a couple, and you are in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. Yes. Well, yeah, a little even, yeah. More, even more so. Early onset Alzheimer's, yeah. Early of Alzheimer's. Yes. Well, yeah, yeah. A little, even, yeah. More, even more so. Yeah. Early onset Alzheimer's, yeah. Early onset Alzheimer's.

So what did you do to prepare for that as an actor? How did you define, because like, I think what was most interesting about your characterization of, of that was the fight against it. That, you know, the pride, you know, that you know the pride you know that that occurs you know when somebody is you know because you are much further along than even you you led on to the audience of me watching it you know you don't really know how far along you are until he you know looks at your writing right yeah and that's the beauty of harry. I mean, it was all there in the writing, really.

And then Harry gave me his research and I watched documentaries and read stuff about it. We met with the doctor who worked with people. And that was all I needed. So what did you focus on to sort of drive the way your brain would work in the role? I mean, how did you do that for yourself? It was really about, yeah, it's about absence, really. As we all get older, you walk into the pantry or you walk into the whatever room and you go, why did I walk into this room? Now, just take that and expound it what a terrible feeling yeah but then you lost yeah suddenly you're looking at someone

or you're looking at this is a particular kind of early onset where it affects uh the way you see so if you look at a piece of paper with writing on it you cannot discern what that writing is so you have to figure it out yeah so it's so sad and brutal and like i don't know yeah they give away the the sort of turn in the film but i guess so you know for you guys to play uh a couple i mean with all those years of friendship i mean uh it must have been interesting in terms of uh getting closer yeah yes it was it wasn't it wasn't what we expected in what sense i, you guys are both straight guys. Yeah. And, you know, it's sort of like, hey, pal, we're going to kiss a little bit.

But, you know, you feel safe with that person, right? Because you know them. Because they're like your best friend, one of your best friends. And you're willing. Yeah. I mean, he was more here suit than i expected but yeah yeah yeah yeah and and uh did it bring you closer or were you definitely need a break break did you need a break from each other no no no it definitely brought us closer we were close already

and then it just brought us closer what's it is sort of a beautiful movie i've seen a couple of films lately that kind of move at a pace that doesn't over-explain everything. I thought that the way the script revealed the elements of the relationship and of the disease was very

moving. It's heavy. You wonder, I like the movie, but when you make a film like that, as beautiful as it is, it's so painfully sad. And you wonder, like, what is an audience supposed to do with that? And it's really just to appreciate the poetry of love, I guess, you know? Yeah, I think so. That what, you know, I think part of the reason film or theater or any art form exists is, you know, to hold the mirror up to life.

Right. But also, which means if you do that, you know, an audience feels like they're not alone. Yeah, that's right. feels like they're not alone. And that there is an understanding, a universal understanding of love and loss. And I think particularly in this film, because it's not just a guy and a girl, you know, a handsome guy and a pretty girl. It's like two older guys. The whole thing isn't what we would expect

and yet and yet what the the what those people are experiencing is what everyone experiences no matter what your gender no matter what your uh sexual preference or orientation. It doesn't matter. Political orientation. It doesn't matter. Love is love and loss is loss. And one of those is guaranteed in life. There you go. Yeah, I mean, I understand that. And also, it does not, culturally, we don't acknowledge it as probably as much as we should

that they're they're there's it's so common you know losing people losing your mind I mean it's like and it's like when it happens to you as as it happened to you uh with your with your wife and like I I lost somebody recently yes I know i'm sorry yes but that was the first time i i you know like somebody that i i loved and and like was died tragically like i but every but almost everyone experiences that yes and you don't really know what to do with it and people don't necessarily know what to do with it either no No. And I think, listen, depending upon your situation, your socioeconomic situation, the country you're living in,

you can experience that profound loss again and again and again, or rarely. I mean, if we look at Syria, if you look at, you know, I mean, that's happening every minute of every day. And the extreme loss. I can't imagine.

Yeah, we can't imagine. We lose our climate of yeah of a climate of loss and but like it's interesting though that you bring up absence because that's what like that's what becomes really hard to understand is that you know somebody was here and now you live with their absence for the rest of your life and it's it's almost active and it's always there you know that you know that that absence like you grieve you move through things your heart heals you know your mind heals maybe you move on but like that absence is so is so profound because all possibilities are gone you know it's yeah which means that your heart doesn't heal, your mind doesn't heal, and that you don't move on.

You never do. Well, then what happens? You mean you just compartmentalize it. Yeah. Yeah. And you have to in order to heal and move on. Right. But.

Yeah, you integrate it. You accept it. That that old Jewish thing, you know, the the idea of may her memory be a blessing is really a great thing. Yeah, that's that's beautifully put. Yeah. It's like it ultimately is the only way you can look at it. You know, you you have to get past regrets or or self-pity or any of that and just sort of like what a gift it was. Yeah. How do you how do the people who went through the Holocaust, who were sent to Auschwitz, who lost children in Auschwitz and then survived themselves, then went on to live their lives, have another family. Yeah. How and function fully. How? How do you lose a child? In not just lose a child, but lose a child in that way and continue your life i don't know i guess what choice do you have you have a choice but who does that serve what right you know right yeah yeah i don't know

it's interesting that like you know in your life as an actor you know you've played some pretty real monsters you know when you do you are able, when you approach those roles, like even playing you know, Eichmann or the murderer in the, what was that? Lovely Bones. Lovely Bones. Do you have to detach your empathy entirely? I mean, how do you look at life

through the eyes of those characters? The only way you can look at it is that they were human beings. They're monsters. we think of them as monsters but they were human beings right right so there's um i talked about this recently with someone that the um playing eichmann eichmann you know, they found him in Argentina, right? Mossad got him in Argentina. The Mossad agent, you know, had him in a room for a couple of days. And though he wasn't supposed to, he started talking to him and asked him a whole bunch of questions. He said, well, how could you kill all those people? How could you facilitate that how could you and he said you know well

you know that was my job that's what i was supposed to do right he said but what about the children he said no i love children and when they found him he was playing with his children in his house you know he was able to detach because of ideology. Yeah, and what he said was, he said, but yeah, you love children. He said, but what about all the children you sent to their deaths? He said, well, they were Jewish.

Right. So what kind of mind is that? Horrendous. Right. So he cries talking about children, and then he justifies killing children by saying they're Jewish. Talk about a disconnect.

Well, that's the brain fuckery of, you know, you see it here. It turns out it's a lot easier to make people think of other people as nothing. As others. Fucking horrendous. Yeah. But I did want to say this before we go, is that I've watched, I have a guilty, The Devil Wears Prada is a strange,

guilty pleasure of mine that I've somehow watched. Mine too, yeah. So many times. Yeah. And I just love that movie. I love those women. I loved you in it. Thanks.

That must have been the greatest time. It was, you know, sometimes you do a movie and you're like, you know, you want to just, you're like, when's my last day? You know? And with that movie, I didn't want it to end. When it ended, when my work ended, I was just sort of hanging around and we were having wine and stuff on the set with david and everybody and then i just didn't want to leave

i don't know i don't know what it is uh did you so is that is that where is that how you met your wife your current wife well yeah i mean. I mean, I was married. Kate was alive. Actually, we found out just before I did that movie that she had breast cancer. So I did the movie, and she started treatments. And then we had the premiere. And then she was alive for four more years after that. and then she was alive for four more years after that. And it was, yeah.

But that's where I met Emily. Right. And we became friends. And actually, Felicity, Emily's sister, my wife, she and Kate talked at the premiere that night, um, uh, and I have a photo of them together, uh, which is so odd. And then many years later, I ended up marrying Felicity. And you have children with both?

Yes. Kate and I had three kids and, um, Felicity and I had two. Five kids? Yes. Oh, so you've got young kids now yes i have a two and a half year old and a six year old and then i have 21 year old twins uh and a 19 year old everybody get along so far so good from time to time yeah there's always, you know. But, yeah. Yeah, it's okay. And how are you holding up with the plague?

You all right? Yeah, it's fine. I mean, this is the second lockdown. I experienced symptoms last March. You did? Yeah. But they were minor. So you got it?

Yeah. And then I had the antibodies at one point and then they don't show up again uh but i lost my sense of taste and smell for five days as did all of my older children felicity never had any symptoms did she get it too though no we don't know. She always shows up negative. So I think that, you know, I hope I'm not being naive, but I feel like according to the science that there are antibodies that exist in you, even if they don't show up in the tests. So, so far, so good. And this lockdown, this time, we're just more acclimated to it. We're just more used to it.

Have you worked during the... I have been so busy, that's the weird part of it. On sets? Yeah, I worked in Italy shooting two more episodes of this documentary series for CNN. I then went to Spain and did a six-episode thing for television. So I was gone for two and a half months in the fall. During the first lockdown, I wrote the first draft of a memoir, like a My Life Through Food memoir.

With recipes? Yes, with some recipes was uh for simon and schuster and now during the second lockdown i finished the second draft uh and you know we've been working on the edit for the so and i'm gonna go do something here in in london um starting in. So what do they got? Their zone system, masks? It's masks. You'll be tested.

In Spain, I was tested once a week. Here, I'll be tested five times a week. Right. And it's all very careful. You're in these bubbles. And so production is moving ahead, is great and they're incredibly cautious and so far so good great so how now so the cookbook thing that you did a cookbook before it sold pretty well yeah yeah i did one a long time ago i put it together for my parents then we re-released

it uh years later because it went out of print. And then Felicity and I did a cookbook together about six years ago. So your dad's still alive? Both of your folks are alive? Yeah, yeah. No kidding. My mother tested positive for COVID. I said, how are you? Are you alright? She goes, I'm fine. I mean, I can't. And my father tested negative. I don't I can't. What is it? And my father tested negative. You know, I don't know. He's 90.

You can't kill them. I swear, you can't kill them. When did you live in Italy? I lived in Italy when I was 12 and 13. Was it like a sabbatical? Exactly. Changed your life? Changed my life.

Completely. It was so cool. What part? Everybody spoke Italian. Florence. Do you speak Italian? I speak Italian, but corruptly. You know, it's just, you know, I started taking lessons again when I was going to do the series. And it's been very helpful.

Florence is the best. Unbelievable. Yeah. Unbelievable. And it's so beautiful. You know, I mean, you can still, you can walk a lot of those streets have been around for just hundreds and hundreds of years. It's amazing. Stunning. And it's tiny, you know, it's tiny. And I really like that. And the cars are tiny. The roads are tiny. Everything's tiny. Everything's tiny.

Except for the cathedrals. Yes. Because the cathedrals are massive. Right. Massive. Yeah. The power of God. Yeah.

Well, I love talking to you. Likewise. This is a real pleasure. That's nice. No, I feel like I'm not even doing, like, a podcast or something. No. No. I'm just talking. You're so easy to. No. No. I'm just talking.

You're so easy to talk to. How come I haven't known you before? I don't know. I'm around when you come, you know, hang out. All right. All right. It was a pleasure. And I'm a big fan of the work.

Well, take care of yourself. Thank you. You too. Stanley Tucci. We had a nice talk. He was loose. He was good. Yeah, the movie is called Supernova.

It's in select theaters right now. We'll be on digital platforms starting February 16th. All right. I just, I'm getting sloppier with the guitar. Clearly. Clearly sloppier with the guitar. Clearly. Clearly sloppier. But that's not going to stop me. Not going to stop me. Thank you. Thank you. Boomer lives.

Monkey and Lafonda. Cat angels everywhere. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea and ice cream? Yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats.

Get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Discover the timeless elegance of Cozy, where furniture meets innovation. Designed in Canada, the sofa collections are not just elegant, they're modular, designed to adapt and evolve with your life. Reconfigure them anytime for a fresh look or a new space. Experience the Cozy difference with furniture that grows with you, delivered to your door quickly and for free. Assembly is a breeze, setting you up for years of comfort and style.

Don't break the bank. Cozy's Direct2 model ensures that quality and value go hand in hand. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit cozy.ca, that's C-O-Z-E-Y, and start customizing your furniture.