John Turturro says the overcoat he wears The only pickpocket living in New York helped him get into the character’s skin: “It has all the pockets. It’s like a piece of armor, a bit like a samurai robe.”
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
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Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Actor John Turturro might be able to pick your pocket, but that depends on how you’re dressed.
“Very tight horizontal pockets with tight jeans are difficult; back pockets are easier,” he says. Better yet, he adds: “If your purse or backpack is on your back and your zipper isn’t completely closed.”
Lifting wallets was part of his training for the new film, The only pickpocket living in New York. In it, Turturro plays Harry, a skilled pickpocket who is also the primary caretaker of his wife, who is in a catatonic state. Harry’s life takes a turn when he steals the backpack of a college-aged kid who turns out to be the grandson of a crime boss.
To prepare for the role, Turturro trained with Apollo Robbins, a famous sleight of hand artist, who trained him in the art of misdirection. “He really helped me, gave me exercises and worked with me,” Turturro says. “I (practically picked my pockets) in the production office and on set the whole time.”
Harry isn’t the first morally questionable character Turturro has played during his long Hollywood career. His film credits include Five corners, The Big Lebowski, O brother, where are you? And Do the right thing. In recent years he has appeared on television in the critically acclaimed series The night of, The Plot Against AmericaAnd Breakup.
Turturro says he’s drawn to complex roles – and he’s always ready to learn something new: “I really try to take the elevator down to the basement and squeeze out everything I can because I’m a student,” he says. “I like starting something because you never know. There’s the unknown of, ‘I might fail. I might not be able to do it.’ And I find that exciting.”
Interview Highlights
On being the legal guardian of his late brother who had schizophrenia
I had to find different residences and then I put him in an apartment. I had to hire all the caregivers and then someone to take care of the caregivers so I could function and he wasn’t used to being outside (the hospital). So a lot of times he didn’t like that. He could be very violent and very unpredictable, so you never knew what was going to happen. So I was always on alert. No matter where I was in the world, I tried to protect my own family from him. And then finally, we finally got him on a medication that he could take monthly. …
But there were times when he ended up in the hospital because he was lashing out, he was getting kicked out of a lot of apartments. It was really difficult to do because there is no system. (Many) mentally ill people find themselves on the streets. I had many encounters with the police, and then he ended up in New York Presbyterian Hospital, and sometimes I would bring him food for lunch, and if he was in a bad mood, he would throw it at me, and I just had to decide: Do I leave? Do I stay? But I know that it depended on me and it had a major effect on my life as a person and I learned a lot about myself and how much I could handle and how I learned to protect myself to a certain extent because you have to be able to form a kind of little barrier around yourself.
He was a very complex and insightful person. He could be quite generous, even if he didn’t have much to do. He was a very good musician. …I guess I learned a lot about human behavior from him and all the people around him. … My brother once told me, “I gave you a lot of material.” And I said, “You’re absolutely right, but at a high cost.”
On growing up in a very volatile environment
My dad was in the war, so he had PTSD (from) World War II. He was at D-Day and blew up and everything. And he was on a destroyer. It hit a mine, they were ahead, the destroyers, and they were stuck there for about two or three days.
So he had that, so him and my brother…it wasn’t a good combination. And I was kind of the person who calmed things down. I’m the middle child, but I became like my mother’s protector for much of my life growing up. And it’s not that I chose to do that, I just did it. I guess you have this nature or not. But my mother and father were very present in their relationship and I learned a lot in that house. It was like being in an acting class, but it was real life in some ways. … My mother was very dry and funny. But you learn to defuse the situation. … When I was younger and playing all these explosive characters and stuff, I understood the reality of that, versus the imaginative reality of that. I saw a lot of violence growing up and have been in the middle of it many times.
On the impact of growing up with women
I realized very early in my life that in a lot of these tumultuous homes from all different backgrounds, it was the women who held everyone together. They were the glue. And I wanted to listen to their conversations because I thought that’s where it was happening and they were exchanging information about their husbands, who was doing what, who was cheating, this and that, and I found that really fascinating, you know? And I felt very comfortable, and I still feel very comfortable working with women. And I think it’s because of my mother. She was a seamstress and when she made dresses, I helped her with the patterns. … Sometimes when she was making wedding dresses, and our mannequin was too small and the lady was too tall, she would ask me, “Would you like to put it on so I can do all the hemming and beading?” and my dad came in one time and I was wearing a wedding dress and he was looking at me and I was like, I don’t care. … It was a pretty free household that way.
Richard Edson, John Turturro and Spike Lee in Do the right thing, Lee’s 1989 film about simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood.
Universal
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Universal
On growing up in a black neighborhood and his friendship with Spike Lee
I grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood for the first six years of my life in Hollis, Queens. It was in a small apartment with a garden. I had no white friends. My best friend was Black. The guy who was the nerdy one was black, the bully was black. Everyone was different. And we had white people in our neighborhood, but I didn’t really have any friends my age who were white. And I think that had a huge influence – musically, friendship-wise, sense-of-humour-wise – on me.
When I moved to Rosedale, it was more of an Italian, Irish, and somewhat Jewish neighborhood. And it was the first time I felt prejudice about the color of my skin. Everyone thought I was Puerto Rican. So I found it much more aggressive towards me personally, even from people who supposedly came from a similar background to me. So my experiences growing up kind of helped me, I think, navigate a multicultural world. …
I think that really connected us and Spike (Lee), because he grew up in an Italian neighborhood. … I was like oh my god, this is like someone I’ve known my whole life. …When he showed me the film (the script of Do the right thing) I said I knew a lot of people like that and I said, I’d rather play the racist guy because that’s what the movie is about. And he doesn’t have a Ku Klux Klan hood on him. He’s just the guy who sells pizza. Before that, I worked at a pizza place and the guy wasn’t that different from the guy I played. It was about exposing him, in a way.
On his film roles becoming more and more interesting as he gets older (Turturro is 69)
Seventy is the new 50, I guess. Look, I’m trying to stay in shape and keep my memory sharp. I think as an actor, if you get the opportunity, you have a bigger toolbox of experience. You can’t jump over a fence as fast or run as fast, but you can distill things and understand what stillness is and be really specific because your toolbox is a lot fuller. You’ve been through so much. And I feel very rich that way right now. I do. And when I see The only living pickpocketI see a person who has lived a lot of life this way, and it’s me too.
Lauren Krenzel and Nico Gonzalez Wisler produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Meghan Sullivan adapted it for…
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