Some guys have all the luck. And then there's John Alighieri, the hapless, modestly ambitious insurance adjuster played by Steve Buscemi in this week's St. John of Las Vegas. A one-time compulsive gambler whose unparalleled of run of crap luck thrust him into self-exile from his beloved Vegas, John has since settled well enough into his job that he requests a raise from his mildly sadistic boss (Peter Dinklage). To get it, though, will require John to embark on a quirky, dangerous, Coens-esque road trip inspired by Dante's Inferno, accompanied by his adversarial anti-mentor Virgil (Romany Malco) and greeted along the way by a wheelchair-bound stripper (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a survivalist/nudist hybrid (Tim Blake Nelson), a human torch (John Cho) and other citizens in the circles around the Hell that is Las Vegas. Sarah Silverman rounds out the ensemble as John's smiley face-obsessed co-worker/girlfriend.
Buscemi spoke recently with Movieline about St. John and the glitzy yet sad allure of Las Vegas in movies, his belief in luck, his forthcoming HBO series Boardwalk Empire and the rapidly approaching 20th anniversary of Reservoir Dogs.
How did you come to this project?
I read the script, my agent sent it to me. I thought it was funny, I liked the characters, I liked what it was about. I met with [writer-director] Hue Rhodes, I liked him. I like that he came to filmmaking later in life -- that he actually had had another life before he decided to become a filmmaker. I liked how much of his own life that he used in the film -- that he actually used to work at an insurance company. I've always been attracted to character-driven films. I liked that it was a road movie. So it had a lot of the elements that I look for in scripts. And I like that Hue was a writer and a director, and it was his first time. Sometimes it's really fun to work with first-time directors.
Why?
Because they're figuring things out for the first time, and it's somewhat inspiring to remember what that's like.
What kind of responsibility -- if any -- do you feel like you have as a veteran actor and filmmaker to help that director develop or cultivate his or her voice?
I'm really there to serve, you know? As an actor. Now that I have directed, just knowing what goes into directing and those challenges, I was just there to help if Hue wanted any help or needed any. I was never there to impose my sensibilities. What I was really interested having happen was that he was able to make the film he wanted to make. I just wanted to help facilitate that.
Do you believe in luck?
Um... [Pauses] Yeah? But I don't believe you should depend on it. I think everybody has their good days and their bad days. I consider myself "lucky" in that I'm a working actor, I've got to direct a couple films. I feel lucky that I was born in New York. There are things I feel lucky about, but I guess it's what we do with them. Sometimes luck is just an opportunity, and it's what you do with those opportunities.
What were some of the luckier instances or opportunities you'd cite in your own career?
One of the first films I did was called Parting Glances, and the director, Bill Sherwood, saw me when I used to do a lot of theater stuff. And the only reason he saw me was because I was often times playing the same night as Kathy Kinney, who had an improve group. Kathy was later on The Drew Carey Show. But she told him, "Stick around and watch these guys." I was doing theater with Mark Boone Jr., and it was from those shows that he cast me in that film. Otherwise, based on my audition? He did have me audition, but he said, "If you had just come in and auditioned, you wouldn't have gotten the role." Because my audition was terrible. But he saw what I could do on stage, and that was a bit of luck that happened there -- that I was in the right place at the right time, and he was there, and that film -- which is still one of my favorite films -- is the one that got me going.
Last year at Cinevegas, your co-star Sarah Silverman mentioned the impact of your "presence" in a scene. I think I know what she meant, but I'm curious what you think she meant.
[Long pause] All it means to me is that I'm present. I'm present with anybody I'm working with. For me, that's part of the fun of making movies or being an actor: Sharing that experience with other people. Years ago I used to do stand-up, which I liked. But I stopped doing it because I didn't like the aloneness. I realized that I would rather be working with other people and having a shared experience. I really value that. Maybe that's what she's talking about.
She's good in this film, but we're not used to seeing Sarah Silverman really "act." Did she solicit counsel from you at all?
No. She's a real actress.
How hilarious was it on set with her?
She was wonderful. Of course, she's very funny in real life, as she is in her comedy. But she's also very, very sweet. And she can sometimes be shy and vulnerable. I found that really endearing. I thought she brought those qualities to the character as well. I thought she was just wonderful.
You're stuck with Romany Malco's character for much of this film, during which time he's pretty adversarial. Yet it feels like a buddy movie in a way. Where do you think it fits on that spectrum?
It's not really a buddy movie. It's a road movie, and in a way, it seems like these guys are going to become friends. But they never do. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. I think what Virgil does in the film is kind of protective of John, because he knows what John is going to do. Virgil knows where all this is going. I think it would have been more crushing to John if he and Virgil had made a real connection. They didn't have to become friends, but I think they still learned from each other. John probably learned more than Virgil.
The first Boardwalk Empire teaser debuted a few weeks ago. That looked great. What can you tell us about that, and what do we have to look forward to?
It was great to work with Scorsese, and that was a great appeal. But even if he were not part of it, it was Terence Winter, who was one of my favorite writers from The Sopranos, and Tim Van Patten also worked on The Sopranos as a writer/producer/director. But I just love that whole time period of the '20s. I didn't know much about Atlantic City in the '20s, and it's been great reading about it. All the characters are really rich, and the cast is amazing. It's just a period of time i the country when prohibition, women still didn't have the vote, and before there were a lot of media, corruption was a lot more prevalent and accepted. A lot of people knew what was going on but didn't care as long as they were being taken care of. And so I play a guy who does take care of people, cares about the town, and cares less about what he has to do to make everybody happy.
It's been almost 20 years since you made Reservoir Dogs, which is arguably the most influential American film of the intervening period. What are your thoughts about that influence -- on you, on Quentin, on the other principals or just in general?
Well, it's not 20 years yet. But do I think about it? No. I mean, I think about it as a film I loved working on, and I'm quite aware and grateful for what it did for me and led to after that. It certainly opened a lot of doors. But more than that, I just think of how much fun it was to make that film. Again, going back to working with first-timers, to be able to have that chance to work with Quentin when it was his first time? That's a nice memory to have. I'm really happy for him, and proud of him and where his career has taken him. As far as the film's place in the culture, I don't really think about that. I'm glad that people know it and see it, but beyond that? I don't give it much thought.