inbrief
SEEING RED John Turturro in a particularly heated scene from his latest film, Fading Gigolo
OU KNOW “That Guy”? stumbles onto the world’s old- What’s-his-name, who WHAT WOMEN WANT? est profession. Ywas in O Brother, Where In Fading Gigolo, quintessential character actor Thanks to a shared barber Art Thou? and Quiz Show and John Turturro finally gets the girls in real life, Woody Allen vol- Do the Right Thing? The one unteered to play the part of whose deep Italian accent is Turturro’s, shall we say, manager. so very “New Yawk”? The one Turturro says he “blabbed” his with the curly hair and crooked smile who always plays idea for the film to Anthony Silvestri, who snips both men’s memorable parts in big movies directed by big directors locks on East 57th Street in Manhattan. “I get a phone call and starring big stars? That’s John Turturro. and Silvestri says, ‘I have good news. [Allen] loves your idea The 57-year-old, whose first role, back in 1980, was “man and he wants you to call him.’ at table” in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, has now directed “What you see in our relationship [in the film] is a little and stars in Fading Gigolo, out this month—a film in which bit of the relationship that we have [in real life]. He’s more That Guy finally gets the girl (or three). of a mentor to me in some ways,” says Turturro of Allen, “I was thinking about certain guys who are my age, and who helped with the screenplay. certain people you don’t initially find attractive,” says Turturro, For Gigolo, Turturro also scored big with not one but three who also wrote the film. “Really beautiful people are not al- A-list leading ladies—Vanessa Paradis, Sofia Vergara and ways the most sensual. Because everyone comes to them, they Sharon Stone. Paradis kept it modest, portraying an orthodox don’t have to work for your attention. Then there’s someone Jewish woman struggling to find passion outside the confines who’s really strange-looking, and because they have to work of her religion, while Vergara and Stone unabashedly wrapped for your attention, you become really charmed, and all of a their long legs around Turturro in one steamy scene. sudden, you’re madly in love with them!” “I’m comfortable working with women, and I have a lot of In the case of Gigolo, Turturro created what he calls friends who are women,” says Turturro, casually, delivering
a “tender comedy” about a middle-aged man who the line like a true ladies’ man. —SARA LIEBERMAN COURTESY OF MILLENNIUM ENTERTAINMENT
— may 2014
RHAP0514_024_IB_JohnTurturro.indd 24 09/04/2014 10:32