SIFF Man of One Face, Many Personalities
posted by on June 14 at 11:00 AM
There’s something sweet about him…
yet he can project danger and insanity.
— David Chase, The Sopranos
Not too surprisingly, Steve Buscemi is all over YouTube.
See below for a couple of choice clips from his diverse career
as an actor (Parting Glances, Mystery Train, Fargo, etc.).
Interview, his English-language remake of Theo Van Gogh’s
Dutch original, represents his fourth directorial effort after
Trees Lounge, Animal Factory, and Lonesome Jim.
[As for the Chase quote. Not only did Buscemi play the doomed
Tony Blundetto, he directed four episodes of The Sopranos,
including “Pine Barrens,” for which he received an Emmy Award.]
I realize I’ve left out a ton of titles, including those, um, Michael
Bay blockbusters, the animation efforts, and the early TV appearances (Miami Vice, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Tales
From the Crypt, etc.), but everyone’s bound to have their favorites.
Take Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion, for instance [above,
pictured with James LeGros and Catherine Keener]. Buscemi’s beleagured director represents one of his best loved performances. And he’s even better as a neurotic paparazzo in DiCillo’s Delirious, which plays almost like a companion piece. I particularly enjoyed
his Odd Couple rapport with Michael Pitt’s aspiring actor.
But that is now, this was then…and here’s a scene from
Reservoir Dogs (warning: anti-Semitic content!):
And now back to the present. A silent Buscemi in
Joel and Ethan Coen's portion of Paris Je T'aime:
Interview, co-starring Sienna Miller, plays the Egyptian on 6/16
and 6/17. Buscemi will be in attendance at both screenings. Delirious plays the Egyptian on 6/16. For the Interview trailer,
click here. For Delirious, click here. I'm planning to grab a few words with Buscemi for Slog next week. Anything about his career you're dying to know? If so, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll add your question to my list. Images from Ghost World and Living in Oblivion.
I loved Living In Oblivion!
Yo! I axxed' fo' a frame line!
"Pine Barrens" was not the episode in which Adriana died.
He is quite talented. Fargo is one of my all time favorites even though he is probably most known for Reservoir Dogs.
Too many pretty faces and perfect bodies trying to break into movies when it is the unique looking (on the verge of unattractive) character actors that take the cake.
Not to be too nit-picky, but I'm pretty sure "Pine Barrens" isn't Adriana's last hurrah, but when Paulie and Christopher go chasing the Russian through the snow. An excellent episode, though, that Buscemi did direct.
He's so damned prolific that it's too hard to pick a favorite moment. Favorite cameo? As Danny McGrath in Adam Sandler's Billy Madison. He's only in two scenes and has almost no (if any dialog) but when I see him I just cry.
Haha. Yeah. The name of Adriana's last episode is (I'm going completely from memory here, you'll have to trust me) "Long Term Parking." I hope I'm right. (I checked. I am!) That one was burned into my memory.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. (You can call off the hit.) Travis is correct. According to the IMDb, "While Slivio has the flu, Chris and Paulie run his collections for him, which results in the pair getting lost in the woods and nearly freezing to death." Text has been corrected. I couldn't figure out how to strike it out, so I simply deleted the reference to Adriana. My confusion stems from her "pine-y" Miller's Crossing-type passing.
That black and white longhair picture reminds me of his greatest role ever, in Airheads.
I thought Delirious was more of a companion piece to The Real Blonde, with its skewering of the cult of celebrity. Kinda wish DiCillo had made it to the screening, if only to ask about the Elvis Costello cameo.
ConAir, where he plays a philosophical mass murderer.
Spy Kids 2, where as a bioengineer, he asks, "Do you think God hides in Heaven because he is afraid of *his* creations?"
Sad about his brother. Steves a great actor and I like his brothers supporting act and character. those two actors always seemed to be playing with humour and realism somebody you knew once in your life and I would like to have seen them do another movie together.
Watching Paris Je T'aime, seeing that the next short is by the Coen brothers and then thinking "I wonder if Steve Bus... Oh, I guess he is!" was pretty great.
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