John Turturro: always an actor of character

First things first. John Turturro needs to tell us who Barry Huggins really is. In Mia Madre, the latest film from Italian master Nanni Moretti, Turturro plays a self-important actor who makes life a nightmare for his exasperated director. It's a hilarious turn, and I long to hear that it is based on somebody he knows.

“It’s based on a lot of people,” he cackles. “I’ve seen this sort of thing. There are actors who have had bad days and have big arguments. There are actors who aren’t as prepared as they should be. I have seen behaviour way beyond that.”

Oh, come on, Turturro. Spill the beans. Name names. “It’s an occupational hazard. There are guys who are drunk or they are lonely. They have to pick everybody up, maybe. It’s a strange life. It can come out of you in a lot of different ways.

“I have had fights with directors myself. But I am usually very well prepared. If you’re a surgeon, you’ve got to know what you’re going to take out today.”

Turturro is in good chatting form today. What else would you expect from an actor raised on the noisy streets of Brooklyn and Queens? You won’t need to be told that he comes from an Italian background. Dad was a construction worker. His Sicilian mother came from a family of musicians. So they weren’t shocked when he ran off to drama college.

He moved back to Brooklyn a few decades ago and finds himself gawping at the changes.

“Yeah. There’s all these kids here now. It’s like San Francisco in a way,” he says with no hint of old-bloke grumpiness. “The next neighbourhood, Windsor Terrace, there’s still an Irish pub. There are still some original Irish and Italians. But not so many.”

Duel citizen

He is clearly proud of his Italian heritage. A few years ago, he secured an Italian passport and now holds dual citizenship.

“I am in the EU now,” he laughs. “I am very comfortable when I work in Europe. I am comfortable when I work in America too. You realise suddenly the very different classes and regions in Italy. It’s like being in Ireland. I haven’t worked there, but I’ve been there a lot. You realise there are all these similarities between Ireland and southern Italy. It’s all there. They wound up getting married in New York. Right?”

John Turturro attracted the ear of teachers from an early age. After taking his degree at the State University of New York, he went on to do a master’s at the Yale School of Drama. His father would really have preferred him to become a doctor, but Mr Turturro did live long enough to see John take his first steps on the ladder.

“It’s a rough business,” he says. “I wouldn’t want my kids to do it. My oldest son is in the world of cartooning. He’s with DC Comics. If you have a passion for something . . . ”

After Yale, Turturro had great success on stage in John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. When did we first become properly aware of him in the movies? He certainly registered in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989) and went on to develop a busy relationship with that director. He soon developed into the first man you call when you're looking for a slightly nervy, mildly off-centre character actor.

Turturro won best actor at Cannes for the title role in the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink and became a favourite of those directors. We will, of course, never forget his turn as Cuban bowling "pederast" opposite Jeff Bridges in the brothers' legendary The Big Lebowski (1998). Everyone now loves that film. But its cult status took a while to set in.

Kind of embarassing

“When I first saw the movie, I thought Jeff was terrific, but I thought my role was kind of embarrassing,” he says. “It didn’t even get good reviews. But the kids discovered it. It became the sort of film you can watch many times. It’s one of those films that people in the armed services take with them.” It’s a comfort food? “Well, yeah, but it’s got so many layers. It’s like watching great drama. You can watch it over and over again. You feel you can’t get your hands on it.”

In recent years, Turturro has taken to directing. Films such as Passione and Fading Gigolo prove he has a good eye. Is he headed back behind the camera?

"I can't really say exactly," he says cagily. "But it will have some connection to The Big Lebowski." Wow. The Lebowskisphere will be astonished. Are we looking at a sequel?"I will let you know when it's all signed and sealed. Let my agents know. Say: when something happens on John's next movie, I want to talk to him."

Keep watching this space.

Mia Madre opens on Friday 25th September