Big Night

Director, writer and actor Stanley Tucci

Interview by Serena Donadoni

While he was acting in a series of small character roles in Hollywood and independent films, an idea for a film of his own was fermenting in the back of Stanley Tucci's mind. Big Night, which Tucci co-wrote, co-directs and stars in, is a small film with large concerns. In this intimate look at two Italian brothers and their restaurant, Tucci deals with the issues of family and obligation, immigration and the fulfillment of the American Dream, and the clash of art with commerce.

Stanley Tucci joins fellow actors turned writer/directors John Turturro, whose Mac was inspired by his construction worker father, and Steve Buscemi, whose upcoming Trees Lounge is a semi-autobiographical account of a guy going nowhere in his hometown. But unlike his one time co-stars Turturro (Men of Respect) and Buscemi (In the Soup), Tucci has chosen a more collaborative environment and a story more detached from his own life. Another key difference is that Tucci has not yet starred in a film, so Big Night is an opportunity to play a multi-faceted character different from the self-assured villains or hopeless societal fringe-dwellers he has embodied in the past.

For Tucci, 35, the idea that he would become an actor was there since he was a kid growing up in Westchester, New York. The process came later, when as a student at SUNY-Purchase he was introduced to the work of Keith Johnstone and his theories on status. Johnstone espouses that no character is neutral to other characters and that their relationships must be examined and strong choices made concerning how they fit into their respective environment.

"That stuff for me was actually a huge turning point in my acting, the high status/low status," says Stanley Tucci during a recent trip to Detroit to promote Big Night, "and once I fully understood it physically, emotionally and intellectually it completely changed everything." The character's status "is actually my first thought," he explains, "and then how and where they change their status throughout the scene and throughout the film, what's the arc of the character."

Tucci is the type of actor who can make a big impression in a small amount of screen time, and his supporting roles have ranged from tough-guy steely intensity to sweetly sympathetic, such as the hapless, lovesick Gregor from In the Soup ("one of my favorite roles ever," he says). Despite having appeared in almost 20 films, starting with Prizzi's Honor (1985) and including Billy Bathgate, Prelude to a Kiss, The Public Eye, The Pelican Brief, and Kiss of Death, Tucci's biggest impact has been in television.

Along with several regular and guest-starring roles, Tucci found his niche with two unconventional shows. On Wiseguy (1988-9), he played a mob-connected garment industry kingpin who exuded menace, and this past season on Murder One, his role as Richard Cross, a tycoon of dubious moral standing who was possibly a killer, garnered him an Emmy nomination. For Big Night, which took almost 10 years to finally come to fruition, Stanley Tucci chose his collaborators carefully. The screenplay was written with his cousin, Joseph Tropiano, and although the process had its rough patches, the end result was positive.

"He understood story structure, and I'm much freer when it comes to coming up with ideas," Tucci explains. "We met somewhere in between." But the next step, of tackling the directing duties, didn't come until "at one point in the writing process, I thought, 'Yes, I really do want to do this,' because the way we were writing it was very visual," he says. "The images in my head were so clear, the tone of it was so clear, that I seemed to be the best candidate to direct it."

With the daunting task of also starring as the key player in the story, Tucci chose a unique approach and enlisted the help of fellow actor Campbell Scott, who had grown up with Tucci in Westchester. The two worked closely together during filming, and although Tucci retained the final decision, Scott's presence brought a balance to the project.

"If I was doubtful about something, doubting myself, he would say, 'That's okay, do it, you really want to do this, you've talked about it for ten goddamn years, just do it'," Tucci explains. At other times he questioned things, "and it allows you to explore what you thought for a long time. You were so sure of it. You need to know why you're sure of it."

Campbell Scott also makes an appearance as a Cadillac salesman in Big Night, a flip and casual representative of the prosperity Tucci's character dreams of. The Pilaggi brothers, played by Tucci and Tony Shalhoub (a regular on TV's Wings), are named Primo and Secondo, which not only reveals their status as younger and older, but is also a clever use of the names given to the first and second courses of a full Italian meal. Primo, whose culinary skills are underappreciated in 1950s America, contemplates returning to Italy, but his more assimilated and ambitious brother wants to grab hold of the opportunities he sees around him. Secondo wants to rise above what he could have become in Italy.

"That's what you really can do in America, but it depends on what you're going to sacrifice for that," Tucci says. "You could serve unusual food, and that could happen to be very successful. But it also could not be. So what do you want? Do you want success or do you want to serve the food you want?"

For Secondo, the question is eventually about loyalties and priorities. For Stanley Tucci, the making of Big Night also involved some of the people closest to him. His mother aided food stylist Deborah DiSabatino (who created the sumptuous dishes), one of his younger sisters appears as a singer in a rival restaurant, and his father, an artist and teacher, created the beautiful recipe cards seen in the restaurant's kitchen. Putting together Big Night was as delicate a task as constructing the multi-layered, elaborate timpano, the centerpiece of the feast the brothers create, and the end result is just as appetizing.

BIG NIGHT (1996)

Cast: Stanley Tucci (Secondo), Tony Shalhoub (Primo), Ian Holm (Pascal), Isabella Rossellini (Gabriella), Minnie Driver (Phyllis), Campbell Scott (Bob), Allison Janney (Ann), Liev Schreiber (Leo), and Marc Anthony (Cristiano).

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