John Turturro on what he took from old movie stars, why he still starts every job as a beginner, and why Spike Lee and the Coen brothers keep hiring him.
11 Things Actors Should Know About Craft and Collaboration from John Turturro
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Turturro says his early goal was simple: save money so he could choose his work. When someone mistreated him on his first movies, he could tell them not to treat him that way and go home if they did not like it. He has seen actors badly abused on sets, and he says the answer is to stand up for yourself in a gentlemanly, constructive way.
As a kid he watched Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck, James Cagney, Bette Davis and Burt Lancaster on television. Those actors came from the stage, vaudeville and dance, and were shot wide, so you saw their whole bodies. Movement and emotional transparency are what he took from them.
He did impressions of his heroes when he was young, and seeing Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy made him think someone who looked like his family could act. But he says you cannot ape the greats. What you take from them is their individuality and specificity, and then life gives you your own experiences to draw on.
Even now he treats each play, film or TV job as starting from the beginning, with his training from the Uta Hagen and Sanford Meisner approaches in the toolbox. The difference experience makes, he says, is that he now knows how to economize and still be expressive, where a younger actor tends to work harder at it.
Film has an editor. On stage, once the director leaves, the actors decide where the audience looks. You are telling the whole story with your body and voice, steering attention to yourself or to someone else, and no scene is guaranteed to land the way the last one did.
He avoids plays he knows he can handle. A text that makes him think he might not be able to pull it off is, in his words, a good place to be. He also notes that eight weeks into a run you finally understand the piece, which is why on film you have to do that exploration on your own before you arrive.
Big films can do thirty takes, but Turturro prefers to come prepared with three, four or five different choices and let the director pick the right one for the story. He compares a fast independent shoot to a Picasso sketch and a big studio film to filling in every detail of a painting.
On Do the Right Thing he chose to play the racist character because he felt that was what the film was about, then humanized him without softening him, adding details Spike Lee had not asked for. He has worked with Lee nine times and the Coen brothers four times, and he credits it to directors seeing that you are there to serve the story.
He does not need to change your lines, he says, but how he says them is where his joy is. If a director wants something exactly as it exists in their head, that takes the joy out of it, and if they want him to throw out everything he built, they have the wrong person. Trust is not a given. Each side has to earn it.
When you are relaxed you have access to all kinds of choices. When you are tense, he says, your range shrinks to one thing. On The Only Living Pickpocket in New York he told the producers not to come on set sweating because he did not want to see their anxiety, and the 26 day shoot never felt rushed.
He turned down Mystery Men to play Waiting for Godot with Tony Shalhoub for $300 a week, after his daughter read both and told him the movie script was garbage. He also once passed on a huge film to stay in Troilus and Cressida at Yale. He admits he could have bought a house earlier, but says he does not regret it because that work improved him.
I'm at this stage of my life. Once I learned a few things early on, I said my goal was save my money and I can choose what I want to choose. And if someone mistreats me, which which I happened when I first started making movies, I can say to them, don't no, no, no, you don't treat me this way. And if they don't like that, I can go home. - Mr. Tur, how are you doing today? It's so great to see you. I'm doing I'm doing well. Yeah. I mean, it's been a lot, you know, of uh you know, with the movie talking about it and getting out there, but it's something that I really care about. So, uh and it was, you know, I I think Noah Sean uh made a beautiful film. So, I'm I'm really appreciative to be a part of it.
I am. - Absolutely. Well, it's congratulations on the film just straight up in in the beginning here. It's it's it's such a wonderful performance and also just sort of like this sort of movie that I'm so glad I was getting attention because it's you know it's very small scale quiet soulful you know as a New York as a New Yorker myself I also love that aspect of it so I'm very happy to be here talking to you about it um - thank you - back backstage you know it's very actor forward so I do want to start off here you know this is this is a film this is a film about pickpocket a thief someone who who who's you know good at taking things from people I'm I'm curious whether there's something that you've uh in your career, in your time as a as an actor, as a student. Is there something you've taken from another actor that you've used yourself? You know, something that you sort of you can pinpoint like, "Oh, I took that." - I certainly taken a lot from people when I've interviewed them, you know, uh and you know, watch them or observe them. But you certainly were, you know, were influenced by actors. Uh, even when you're a little kid and you're watching movies on television, I used to watch the million-dollar movie and watching Edward G. Robinson or Barbara Stanick or James Kagny, you know, Betty Davis, Bert Lancast, you know, so all these people are part of your subconscious expressions, their movements, especially actors in the past, you they were shot more widescreen. They came from the stage of vaudeville or dance. They were dancers and you really got to see them move. So I think movement was something that I was always uh attracted to and certainly emotional transparency or accessibility.
also people who were chameleonlike, you know, there's people like Charles L, you know, uh there were so many people that influenced me and then I remember seeing like Marlon Brando and that kind of like threw me into a loop even though he had already done that for a lot of generation of actors. And that continued on until I I never thought, you know, should could I be an actor or this until I started going to the theater and I saw Bob FY's Pippen and I saw Ben Varin perform on stage. I was really so taken by him and and the whole production, the the movement in that production. Uh, and then I did see before that I remember watching a clip on the Academy Awards of Dustin Hoffman, The Midnight Cowboy, and that really like the light bulb went off in my head thinking like, "Oh, wow. This guy, he he looks like uh, you know, someone in in my family, you know, so you know, maybe there's something." I wasn't consciously thinking that but Dustin and Pacino and Diero and Jenner Roland's and you know the old Kazeti's group you know uh those were things that really were inspirational and a lot of these actors Duval uh you know were from the stage you know who came from the stage and did all these plays and uh you know I used to go to Lincoln uh center library and take out the records of plays when I was going to audition for a play when I was at Sunni News like View from the Bridge and so all those people are part of you know what I mean I can't say you can't really you know ape them or imitate them maybe at certain times of your your life that you wanted to when you were really young but you had to I mean I used to do like impressions of some of these people uh but I I the individuality, the specificity, the movement, uh uh the the presence of certain people, you know, you you were inspired by that and then as you live life, you you have more experiences to draw on, you know, and uh I still see myself when I do a play or a movie or TV thing, you know, as to begin. I'm a beginner. I have to start from the beginning. I bring my experience to that and I know I've I've had good acting training. I I've had a lot of good teachers whether it's the Udah Hogagan approach or the Sandy Meisner approach and uh and you learn from working with different teachers, different directors, how you like to work. I like to work with other people but I also like to do my own research and then apply it to you and see what you do to me. And then I you that's my behavior is dependent on that or at least a big part of it. So, I still see myself, you know, working at my my craft.
And I think in this kind of movie that I just did, I was able to bring my toolbox of life experience, even if it's parallel and not exactly we're in the same lane. uh and you know to it which was I I actually feel as an actor I know how to distill things more than when I was younger maybe I'd work harder at it because I didn't have as much experience or not even though I did some things I you know I'm proud of and things you know that I did but you you do you do learn certain how you can economize nice things - and still be expressed. - It's it's interesting you mentioned, you know, how many of these actors that inspired you come from the stage. You know, we just had um uh we just talked to Tatiana Mazani as well who adore her. I adore - I she she got she genuinely got emotional talking about being on stage with you. It was it was really really wonderful. Um so I do kind of want to ask you I've also seen you sort of describe going back and doing the stage is like it's good to go back and do your humble rituals, you know, like get get your time on the stage. That's right. I'm curious about, you know, having all the things I just mentioned. You know, what what is the the refresher for you when you go back and you do a theater? Like, you know, when you do something, - you're doing the whole thing. You don't have an editor.
You you you know, I've directed movies. You're editing. I'm editing. If it's your performance, I'm editing it, you know, with the other performance. Hopefully, not jumping around too much, letting you discover things on camera and not just jumping to the result. Uh but as an actor on stage, you are also once the director leaves, you are one of the editors. You're you're you're bringing people's attention to something or to someone else. You you you know what where the focus is. You're using you're telling the whole story. You're using your body, your voice, and uh it's hard to get everything right, you know, or or you feel like, "Wow, this I I nailed it." You know the sometimes you feel like that scene was great and the next scene ah you know whatever. So you are working together and working with someone like Tatiana in this movie you know she was incredible in the one scene and we worked again in the statement which will be coming out next year Tom McCarthy's film climate change and she's a chameleon she can really morph and then we worked on stage and Diane Palace and I kept saying we we have to give her more to do and she's incredible if you do something you throw a curveball she just throws something she throws a a you know a fast ball back or you know a knuckle ball back. He's so alive to that and those are the that's the joy of working with someone you know sometimes you can work with someone you go wow that's amazing you know and then you just you have to stay in it you know so it it's it's like being out there on a tight rope so it reminds you of that and I've tried to do plays that are difficult I don't really want to do like a a play that I know I can it's like not going to be that challenging for me you know it's I rather do a text that you go I'm not sure I could do this you know could I maybe and that is a good place to be uh and you and I think you I don't like to do a really long run I never really done repatory except when I was at the Yale drama school I would do like two different plays or three different plays in a day but uh - I see myself you know I do like to keep working and maybe the elevator keeps going to the sub subb you know and get there uh and there are things that you go after you know eight weeks you go oh god you know I now I know how to now I understand this and in a movie you have to do a lot of that stuff beforehand you know and and then bring that to you and sometimes it's with the director sometimes you have some rehearsal And it's a little it's a little different, but sometimes you do come up with ideas and the scene has been shot, you know.
So, I try not to do that. And I try to do my real homework and explore things, even if it's on my own. Say, well, what if I did this or did that? And and then, of course, once you get there, it's all different because there's all these people there. - Yeah. I hearing you say that I'm I'm curious because you you're someone who over the course of your career you've done both the the massive budget projects like stuff like the Batman and Transformers movies which is like you know this whole big thing and you and then you have something like only Pikpocket New York where you get 26 days to film it you know have a small budget and stuff like that. So I'm curious for people who have not been on a set who are not actors, what is the actual sort of like tangible difference between those two kinds of sets and then how does it affect you as the actor? I I made whenever my you know my early career doing uh independent movies, plays off more off Broadway than Broadway uh doing and then it was medium-sized films at that stage. I mean quiz show was a mediumsiz film. It wasn't huge. It it maybe had 50 days or 50 I don't know maybe more 55 or do the right thing I think had close to 50 days my first film had 43 days Mac uh so I never I turned down every big film during that time I did a film in Italy called Lua actually in the Ukraine based on Primo Levy's return home from Avitz and I worked on that for years and I and I got paid a decent an amount for that. But I spent so much time shooting it and I turned down I would never I never did a big budget film really big until I did uh the Transformers and then my kids were like just just do it dad just you know do it and and you know I I did it like in the spirit of playing with them because they played with those toys and things but that's not where I live.
I mean the difference is in Transformers we didn't do that many takes. In Batman, they did a lot of tapes, but in a movie like this, it's not different. It's just that you have to do so much prep. It's a beautiful movie. And we I didn't feel rushed on this movie. I told the producers, don't come on the set sweating. I don't want to see your anxiety. I'm going to try to do my thing. - That's really good. Really good advice. - I don't want to see your anxiety. And they overall they did.
They kept it way. And Noah Segan was very happy and joyful. and Sam Levy, the the DP and the operator, he had a big uh input into the atmosphere of that film. And it was it was a that's where I live. I mean, I that's what I want to do. You know what I mean? If we had another, you know, five days, it would have been great. But we also jumped on a train one day and did all these pickup shots and I loved it. And that reminds me of when I began and where I would do these off off Broadway plays for no money and oh I wouldn't do other things. I I've been in, you know, I was in a uh Troy and Crestor at Yale and I got offered a huge film which I maybe would have done but I was like I would have had to quit to play and maybe I was stupid. I mean, maybe I could have bought a house, you know, earlier, but I don't really regret it because I feel like these things helped me improve. You know, when I did GDAU with Tony Shaloo, I was offered this big movie, Mystery Men, and my daughter read it, and she said she loved, she's an editor at DC Comics now, and she said, "It's not good.
It's it's garbage." And she read GDO with me brilliantly. By the way, I don't think I was ever as good as she was. Go. Because we read the beginning. And she said, 'You should do this. I said I said, yeah, it's it's $300 a week. You know what I mean? And and I did. So I I I'm not patting myself on the back for doing that. But that's just I live for that stuff. That's what I live for. The other stuff, people are entertained and I want to do a good job with that.
But I do it I don't do it cavalerely but it's it's a different kind of painting. It's more of you know when you see Picata Picasso I'm not comparing myself to Picasso but that's a quick sketch you know and the other thing is more like you fill in all the details of the painting and that's the difference also they can do 30 takes or it goes on but in some ways that's really challenging too you know what I mean I mean - severance we had so much time you know to shoot it but it was during co but I like to be prepared prepared and give you if you're the director three or four maybe five different choices or whatever and I pray that you choose the right one so or the what right one for the story but that's the only difference it's you know that that's it and and it it just there's way more people there's there's more people and I I actually prefer it to be a little bit less people - I I can imagine they got a lot of you got 100 people around you and you're trying to like, you know, trying to feel intimate. I can imagine. I am I am curious. You know, you mentioned - just hearing you mention do the right thing. You're someone who who has collaborated. You you're someone who you worked with Spikeley nine times, Coen Brothers, I believe, four times. Even even more recently, you just mentioned you did a couple projects with Tatiana. You know, you're someone who works with people again. So, I am I am curious, you know, as as this is a a a thing that actors watch and you know, they look for advice. I said in a basic sense, what is your advice for for for being someone that other creators want to work with again? - Well, I work, you know, with the director and I try to serve the story and I'm not trying to make myself look good.
When I was do the right thing, I chose to play the the racist guy because I thought that's what it was about and if I could flesh it out. And once I got comfortable, I added things that Spike wasn't even aware of. And I was like I said, you know, these guys say this and that. And I I was like I was not there to be okay, where's the where do you really, you know, to soften it? At the same time, I wanted to humanize it, but give give it my all. And so once someone sees that and they feel like you're serving the story and you're and you're having fun doing it, once you're relaxed enough to do that, which took a while, uh, uh, you know, because of everything I was saying, but him and Ernest Dickerson, they helped create that environment and people were laughing and encouraging you. Uh, and then I got to do the other side of that in Jungle Fever. And that was very fulfilling for me to show different sides of people who could live on the same block or whatever. But I think people know that you're there to to to serve it and also when someone's given you the opportunity to almost, you know, surprise them. They say, "Well, you thought it was here, but I can go I can make it way more human and make it way more contradictory." and you know and maybe they would have been happy with not such dimension but I want to give that to them so they have that to choose from and that's a big gift when someone believes in you there are many directors I wanted to work with again the uh Robert Redford Franchesco Rosie Peter Weir I didn't get the opportunity some people were old they didn't have the right project for me but I would have jumped at that opportunity because then trust is not a given. It is earned. You have to earn and they have to earn your trust too because sometimes people can be very you know I want what I want that's in my head and I - that that to me takes all the joy out of it.
I don't have to change your lines but the how I do it is where I get my joy and to try different things. And sometimes people get nervous and I I'm, you know, experienced enough to try to calm them down. Say just take it easy. Uh if there's something a little too much, maybe I can listen to it or watch it. I I I can watch myself and I could take it down. But I'm not going to change everything that I've worked really hard to build. And if that's the case, you have the wrong person. You know what I mean? I'm at this stage of my life. Once I learned a few things early on, I said my goal was save my money and I can choose what I want to choose. And if someone mistreats me, which which I happened when I first started making movies, I can say to them, don't no, no, no, you don't treat me this way. And if they don't like that, I can go home.
You know what I mean? I I I can go somewhere else. And uh and I as long as I'm doing it in a gentlemanly constructive, you know, fashion. And so it's good to to have you don't want to just say I'll do I've seen people be abused. I've seen actors be abused. I mean, really abused. And and I was like, wow, I don't I don't really like this, you know. And also, I'm a person I think I'm sure most actors are. If you're relaxed, you have access to all different kinds of things. If you're tense, you have access your ratio shrinks. You're like, I can only do this. You know what I mean?
And that's it. - And that's what I loved about working with Noah because we're in a movie that is a great Greek structure. uh you know it's almost 24 hours and there's tension but there's also times where there's tenderness and the person stops and says okay I'm struggling but I still have to take care of these other things and I need this right now and so there was this contradiction a beautiful contradiction also a person who takes and gives and I I love that because that's what really interests me I think maybe why I want it to be in this world. Uh because then you're shining a light on human behavior or humanity. And I think the delicacy in this movie and that comes from from Noah first is almost radical. Like you don't see the violence in our movie, you see the cost of it. And as someone who's been around enough violence, that is what you carry with you. The violence happens like that, you know. And uh so I I I thought it was really if we could thread that needle uh we could do something, you know, special. - Absolutely. Well, I think you pulled it off. This is unfortunately and I I feel like I could keep talking to you about acting for another - Yeah.
Well, this is interesting for me, too. So, uh - absolutely. - I encourage that just out there, you know, to just - especially beginning people like don't forget, you know, who you are. you know, you're coming from somewhere and you have somewhere to go, you know, and it's like don't don't throw that out the window, you know, that's each person is special. They have their own, you know, uh specificity in their humanity and and to keep mining that, you know,
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