Shooting in sequence, I think it intensifies everybody's relationship, the crew, the actors. You have to be very focused, and shooting at night is a challenge because you get tired. I think it requires a special kind of concentration, but it's also exhilarating.
— Steve Buscemi
I love working with Scorsese. He's not only a brilliant director and is great working with actors, but he's also a walking human film encyclopedia. It's fun to talk about movies with him.
To me, it doesn't really matter how big the part is as long as the part is important to the story.
I think it's important to create an atmosphere where actors feel like they can try things out. It doesn't mean that I'll take every suggestion, but I want there to be some room for actors to grow.
Casting is everything. Getting the person that you imagined is this character and then seeing what they bring to it.
I'm always looking for other interesting films to either act in or direct.
Whenever you do something that is in a continuous take, and something that we're not used to doing, because it was all in the details of if you don't make one move seem natural, it can give away all of it.
I read the script and decide if a particular character looks fun to play. I look for complexity and a sense of humor. Those are crucial, real things to life.
I've always tried to have a healthy take on the characters I play; they are only characters I play.
I had a magic kit. I never really followed through on it, but I had my phase of wanting to do it, sure.
When I get cast, I always flip to the end of the script to see if my character gets beaten up or killed.
When I was doing stand-up, I was about twenty, and I really think that that's a little too young. I didn't have a whole lot of life experience to draw on.
Every day's an adventure when I step out of my door. That's why I usually wear a hat and keep my head low.
I like character-driven stuff. It doesn't matter, the size of the part.
I could never have imagined the films I've done and the people I've worked with when I was starting out; I certainly did not have a career path.
Bob Altman had this relaxed but serious attitude. Everybody loved him. I wanted him to adopt me.
I never made a daring rescue, which is the story people want to hear. I did go to my share of fires.
By nature, I think I am a pretty private person, and that is what is hard even doing interviews for films that I really love doing, because in some ways, it diminishes the experience that I had.
All the roles I play, I don't see any of my roles in films that they're typically leading men.
To me, score is really important. I would rather not have any score if it's something that's going to detract from the film. So often when I watch films, the score is what really bothers me.
I don't think it's necessary to be an actor to get great performances out of an actor. But I do think it helps me as a director because I know what I like as an actor, and I try to get that to the actors who I'm working with.
I never had any master plan about directing, and I don't really write.
I'm not so in a rush to direct just anything because I'm lucky that I can make a living so far as an actor and not have to worry about that as a director. And so I can be a little more choosy in things I direct.
Relationships are interesting to me. Not just between men and women, but fathers and sons, brothers and sisters and friends.
I don't think about the characters I choose to play, analytically or consciously.
There's a certain type of character that you can't help but come in contact with growing up and living in Brooklyn and Long Island. A certain mixture of moxie, heart, and a wise guy sense of humor.
It's great working with Steve Carell and Jim Carrey. Those guys are really funny.
I'd say that the director I had most involvement with was Alex Rockwell in 'In the Soup'. It was one of my earliest leading roles, and he gave me a lot of responsibility as an actor.
I never know what I'm going to get. A 'Sopranos' fan is very different from a 'Big Lebowski' fan.
I always find that it's when a script is not detailed, then I have to do more work as an actor.
The thrill of performing - that's something that hasn't changed for me. That simultaneous joy of creating something and sharing it with an audience - it's the same now as it was then, when it was just my cousins' birthday party.
I don't tend to think of these characters as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.
The first movie I had a featured role in was Parting Glances.
It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.
It's not like I'm looking for things that I can direct that I can also act in, but when it's right, I feel like the actor side of me wants to have that opportunity.
I just like playing interesting, complex, complicated characters. I like films that also have an element of humor.
I've certainly worked with really great directors who haven't acted.
Character actors just pile up the credits because you work on a movie for, like, a few days. It's not like I'm the lead in everything I do - far from it. I'm not spending three or four months on a picture; I'm spending three or four weeks. Sometimes three or four days.
I've always been interested in character-driven pieces, and my approach to directing is through acting.
Growing up, yeah, I had a magic kit with learn tricks and learn card tricks, but I was never... I used to watch whatever magic special was on as a kid, but then, it's not that I lost interest, but to be a magician, you really, it's really hard work. Learning lines is hard enough; learning sleight of hand, that's real practice.
I like telling stories about people with problems. I can't really put it much simpler than that.
When I moved to the East Village in the late seventies, I wanted to be a street performer, so I practiced daily. I never did work up the skills or the courage to perform on the street, though.
I never did improv professionally, but that was certainly in my training as an actor. I like it.
I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.
I didn't really like the aloneness of doing stand-up. The comedians by nature weren't very - I mean, they were sociable, but they hung out in cliques, and it's very hard to get accepted; lots of competition.
I've never had a grand plan. I've only just tried to keep open to many different possibilities, have fun and work with people who are passionate about what they do.
My dad had a temper. I have a temper. Most people I know have a temper. And I think it comes out mostly with your family. I don't think it's unique to the Buscemis, but it's something I've been able to tap into when I play certain roles.
I was really young, just playing with puppets a lot and doing all the voices and acting it out - normal kid stuff. But then I'd hear my mother talking about it to her relatives, marveling at it as if it was something unique. And it made me realize, 'Oh, maybe I do have a talent for something.'
Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.
I usually get freaked out if I'm in a situation where a lot of people recognise me at once.
