John Turturro has "made a lot of movies." He sits down to guess lines from some of them and reminisces about working with some of the best directors in Hollywood, including Spike Lee and Robert Redford. He also talks about the movie that made Martin Scorsese nervous, the unexpected successes of 'The Big Lebowski' and 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', and the wardrobe item that he insisted on wearing for his role in 'The Batman.'
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Variety. Okay, I'm doing that.
00:02Now this is hard. I'm doing great.
00:06I've done that a lot of movies.
00:12Nobody fucks with the Jesus. Well that's a very easy one.
00:16That's from The Big Lebowski.
00:18Nobody fucks with the Jesus.
00:21That's a movie that's really become so popular.
00:23It was not popular, that popular here.
00:26In Europe, in certain countries, it was popular.
00:29It is a film that I have to say that I know a guy who's a general
00:33and he said that soldiers, when they go, when they serve
00:36and they go into dangerous territories, they take DVDs with them
00:41and The Big Lebowski is the favorite.
00:43Okay, you want to be worshipped, go to India and moo.
00:50Wow, you want to be worshipped, go to India and moo.
00:55Comedy? Transformers?
01:00Comedy, you want to be worshipped.
01:02Adam Sandler comedy?
01:04What did I do? Wait, uh, Unstrung Heroes?
01:08No, I mean, what did I do in 94?
01:10Oh, wait, it can't be Quiz Show.
01:12It was Quiz Show, that's 93. He's ruining me off there.
01:15You want to be worshipped, go to India and moo.
01:17It's Herbert's Temple.
01:19You want to be worshipped, go to India and moo.
01:21Even though I missed that line, I love doing that movie
01:26and that was a big experience for me.
01:29I used to do this warm-up on the set, go like this.
01:40So I could sustain talking, you know, in a higher register.
01:46But when I heard him talk the original time, I was like,
01:50oh my god, I was like, this guy's, he's fantastic, you know.
01:54And I loved working with Robert Redford, you know.
01:56He was a very, very fine director.
01:58Wonderful physically moving you around.
02:01And we had a great relationship.
02:04He was always kissing me and stuff like that.
02:05I was like, I love this guy.
02:07I said, you know, I never thought I would like him as much as I did,
02:10but he really was.
02:12And then I used to kid around with him a lot.
02:15I would read it in like People magazine
02:17and then make believe that I had talked to, you know,
02:21Meryl Streep or someone saying, you know,
02:24I heard you're a great kisser once.
02:25He had his arm around me.
02:27He said, who told you that?
02:28He was like feeling his chest.
02:29He was like, really?
02:31And I was like, I got him in the palm of my hand.
02:33But he was great.
02:34We had a wonderful time.
02:37Well, fuck you too and fuck Michael Jackson.
02:40Do the right thing.
02:41Well, fuck you too and fuck Michael Jackson.
02:44He does say before that, fuck Frank Sinatra.
02:46So that's my response to him.
02:49I say a lot of incendiary things in the film.
02:53And but when I said that in this 25th anniversary,
02:57the whole audience responded.
03:00And John Kelly, the producer, came over to me, said,
03:02John, you know, you just keep raising the ante.
03:06Anyway, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between me and Spike.
03:10You had to really kind of earn everyone's trust
03:14to be able to do that kind of character.
03:16It was not easy at first, but I wanted to do that character
03:19because I thought that's what, you know, the film was about.
03:23You know, it's one of the few films where you're dealing with a lot of racism
03:26and it's not with the good guys in hoods.
03:29It doesn't have the Ku Klux Klan.
03:31All those films I made with Spike, you know,
03:33a lot of them explored that jungle fever.
03:35I got to explore the other side of someone who was open-minded.
03:40And Variety says, do not seek the treasure.
03:45Oh, brother, where art thou?
03:47Do not seek the treasure.
03:52Once again, I play a Southern, uneducated guy.
03:59Maybe because I'm Southern Italian,
04:00I have a certain affinity for playing Southerners.
04:03That was a blast of a film to do.
04:06I did wear fake teeth on the bottom
04:09whenever they didn't know what to do in a scene.
04:11They would just ask me to show us your teeth, John.
04:14So I'd do this like King Kong type of thing.
04:16Once again, that film became even more popular after it came out.
04:20It did all right because of the soundtrack.
04:22Then people really caught up with it.
04:24And I consider that a family movie.
04:28So far, I'm doing great.
04:30You know, but you know, I could plummet.
04:32This could happen.
04:33Ready? All right.
04:35The guy's a chump.
04:36What did he do?
04:37He beat me one night.
04:39I'll put the nine ball up both your asses.
04:42That's from The Color of Money.
04:43That's the nine ball is in The Color of Money.
04:45I'm saying that to Paul Newman,
04:48one of the best looking actors ever.
04:50The guy's a chump.
04:52What did he do?
04:52Beat me one night.
04:53I put the nine ball up both your asses.
04:55We rehearsed the entire film with a video camera.
04:58But when we shot the first day,
05:01I guess I was nervous and I did too many movements
05:05putting my jacket on.
05:06Scorsese seemed to be really nervous too.
05:09And he came over to me, said,
05:11that was great, John.
05:12That was great.
05:13But he said, the next time I'm going to do one more take.
05:15And I want you to just put your coat on.
05:19And I said, I'll just put my coat on.
05:21I gotcha.
05:22And he was just telling me to relax.
05:23I confided to him.
05:24I said, you know, I look at Paul Newman
05:26and I see like every movie.
05:28He goes, you think you're nervous?
05:30He goes, I have to direct them.
05:31He goes, I see every movie too.
05:33Of course he knows every single movie
05:35from the silver chalice on.
05:37Paul Newman was lovely, lovely, lovely person.
05:40And I got to know him a little bit more
05:42after the film and during the film.
05:45And he was a very humble guy.
05:47He told me it took him 25 years
05:50to learn to relax on camera.
05:53And so handsome.
05:54Okay.
05:56Variety.
05:57Okay, I'm doing that.
05:58So far, so good.
05:58Okay, ready?
06:01I got to tell you the life of the mind,
06:02there's no roadmap for that territory.
06:05And exploring it can be painful.
06:07This sounds like that egghead Barton Fink.
06:10I got to tell you the life of the mind,
06:13there's no roadmap for that territory.
06:17And exploring it can be painful.
06:19Obviously I did this when I was quite young
06:22and we won all these awards at Cannes for it
06:25and everything.
06:25And yeah, I won a lot of awards for that.
06:27But it was, I thought no one would see that movie,
06:30you know, because it was such a strange movie.
06:32But there's a lot of eggheads in our business.
06:38All right.
06:40Oh, you little punk.
06:42I'm not playing for the thrill of fucking victory here.
06:45I'll rent alimony, child support.
06:48I play for money.
06:50That is from Rounders.
06:52And I am telling that to Matt Damon in a steam room.
06:56I'll rent alimony, child support.
06:59I play for money.
07:00He's one of my favorite American actors.
07:03He really is.
07:04I didn't know that he would be.
07:06And I know this is not about Matt or whatever,
07:08but I really, I love his work.
07:10And I did the Good Shepherd with him also.
07:13And he's a beautiful actor.
07:15That's another movie that did so-so.
07:18And then with gambling on ESPN,
07:21you know, people come up to me all the time.
07:22Joey Kanish, Joey Kanish, you know, we love you.
07:25And I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, Joey Kanish, yeah.
07:28Ready?
07:29Variety.
07:31The hideousness of that foot will haunt my dreams forever.
07:37Mr. Deeds.
07:38The hideousness of that foot will haunt my dreams forever.
07:43There were two roles in Mr. Deeds.
07:45There was the gardener, who was the guy
07:47who was going to inherit the money.
07:48And there was the butler.
07:50And they were thinking about maybe for me
07:52playing one of the bad guys or something.
07:54And I said, I like these two small parts.
07:56Could you make them one?
07:57And Adam was thinking along the same lines.
08:01They let me do whatever I wanted to do.
08:02So I said, I'm going to design my wig.
08:06I want a wig.
08:07I want to look like a bullfighter,
08:09even though I'm a butler.
08:11And I want to have this kind of very foreign accent.
08:14And I watched Fantasy Island to ape Ricardo Montalban
08:18because I loved the way he talked.
08:20There was a certain way.
08:21And also playing a butler.
08:25These are great roles throughout theater history.
08:28They're the people, the fool, the butler, the maid,
08:31the servant, they know what's going on.
08:34And then we shot at Madison Square Garden.
08:36And I'm an ex-basketball player.
08:38And Adam is a basketball fanatic.
08:41And we played full court at lunchtime.
08:44And I had a wig on.
08:45So I had to put a headband around my wig.
08:48And I played full court with that wig
08:50at Madison Square Garden.
08:52And it was a thrill.
08:55And Variety.
08:58I'm going to give that fucking scumbag a serious headache.
09:04May God strike me dead if I don't waste him.
09:09Now, this is hard, this one.
09:12It's not Batman.
09:13No.
09:14It could be Sugar Time.
09:20No, it's not Sugar Time.
09:21That one I played Sam Giancana.
09:23I'm going to give that fucking scumbag a serious headache.
09:27May God strike me dead if I don't waste him.
09:29Oh, wait, wait, okay.
09:32That's To Live and Die in L.A.
09:33I'm going to give that fucking scumbag a serious headache.
09:37May God strike me dead if I don't waste him.
09:40Billy Freakin' was kind of wild, you know, in those days.
09:43It was a wild shoot.
09:44You know, we shot at San Luis Obispo, you know.
09:47And we shot in the most dangerous wing
09:51where it was all guys who were in for life.
09:54And my advisor on that movie, I knew he was in for murder.
09:58And then I asked one of the guards, I said,
10:01well, what else is he in for?
10:02He goes, oh, well, he's a three-time murderer.
10:05I said, really?
10:06He said, yeah, he murdered two guys while he was in here.
10:09I said, and he's my advisor, right?
10:10I said, okay.
10:12And a lot of the prisoners were extras
10:14and they would comment upon your performance.
10:17Like, nah, that ain't good, you know, that's not good.
10:22Yeah, that was a wild experience.
10:24But I learned a lot.
10:26All right, so I got a hint in that.
10:28So I can't get a hundred.
10:29I can't have an A plus because I got a hint.
10:31Okay, that's hot, 1984.
10:33That's a lot.
10:34I've made a lot of movies.
10:35So I'm doing pretty well overall.
10:38Whatever I know, whatever I've done,
10:41it's all going with me to my grave.
10:43That's Batman.
10:45Whatever I know, whatever I've done,
10:48it's all going with me.
10:50That's a good line, yeah.
10:51And I like that scene a lot
10:53because Batman is taking me out after he's captured me.
10:56And he's like, I'm not going to tell you anything,
10:58you know, a real taciturn character.
11:01And I said, if you let me wear these glasses,
11:03then I'll do the role because I want a mask.
11:06Everyone else has a mask.
11:07I want a mask.
11:08So, okay, ready?
11:09All right.
11:09Are we being punished for defying the guidance
11:13of the founder?
11:14Are we being punished for defying the guidance
11:18of the founder?
11:18Severance.
11:20See, I had to go into my innie, not my outie.
11:23I was an outie, but now I'm innie.
11:25Are we being punished for defying
11:27the guidance of the founder?
11:29Are we being punished for defying
11:32the guidance of the founder?
11:34We did the second season.
11:35It's coming out.
11:36I love the character, wonderful cast.
11:39And of course, I love working with the apple
11:41of my eye.
11:42I mean, if you have to be in love with someone,
11:44you know, for me, there was only one choice.
11:46And that was Christopher Walken.
11:47I said to him, because we've worked together
11:50many times and I've directed Chris,
11:52because you have this feeling there anyway.
11:55Then you play like, well, I'm in love with this person.
11:57You have something to really base it on.
12:00So I'm doing pretty good.
12:02All right.
12:04I've completely lost faith in people doing this.
12:07I've completely lost faith in people doing this.
12:09I've completely lost faith in people doing
12:11the right thing.
12:13Oh, this is from the room next door.
12:19I completely lost faith in people
12:21doing the right thing.
12:22That's something I think we all have to live
12:23with every day.
12:24How greedy are we as a human race?
12:28You know, and talking about climate change
12:30and how people don't want to change their habits
12:32and all.
12:34That's a good reason to do a movie.
12:36One line like that, you know.
12:38And it's interesting when I look at these lines.
12:40When I learn lines, I try not to learn lines
12:43in the way I'm going to say it.
12:45I like to learn a line like this.
12:48I've completely lost faith in people
12:52doing the right thing.
12:54So I just learn it like, you know, the phone book.
12:58Obviously, lost faith and right thing
13:00are the operative words.
13:03But still, you want to kind of inhale it in a way
13:07that then you can do it anyway.
13:09And not one way.
13:10So I never try to prepare it like,
13:12this is the way I'm going to say it.
13:14This was the last question.
13:15So I got what?
13:1797?
13:18No, 95.
13:19You'll score me.
13:20Yeah.
13:20At least I'm in the A range.