Stanley Tucci, Vol. II

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0:47Because Pepsi brings out more flavor, more fun, and more of the moment. Food deserves Pepsi. Grab a Pepsi Zero Sugar today. When you first read in the script the words, gird your loins, do you have questions? Do you say, yeah, this works. I can make this work. No, here's the thing. That was not in the script. It was David. We came up with a list of things to say. Mine would have changed the rating of the film. but David came up with gird your loins and it was perfect, perfect he's brilliant have you reconciled that you are going to be heckled with that line until your last day on earth? no, it's going to be on my tombstone

1:42girding his loins in perpetuity prepare your ears humans happy, sad, confused Confused begins now.

2:19Check us out on Spotify if you haven't already. This is such a treat. We did a live event with Stanley Tucci to a virtually sold-out crowd in New York City. He's an icon. Somewhere along the line, this character actor turned into an icon, and it's well-deserved. He's a class act. He's got a lot going on, as I said. Not only Debra Wears Prada 2, which everybody is seeing, but his Tucci in Italy series on Nat Geo, which I love and adore. Stanley Tucci, Italy, food, sold. All the good things in life. All right, before we get to Stanley Tucci, though, some reminders, as always, patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused.

2:57That's where you get all the early access to everything we do over here. You get discount codes to our live events. You get access to free merch. You get autographed posters and all sorts of fun stuff. If you like what I do, check us out over there, patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. And I mentioned the live events. We do so many of those. Obviously, Stanley was at a live event in New York City, but we also have events coming up in Los Angeles. I'll remind you guys, if you don't know already, May 13th with the Stranger Things guys, the Duffer Brothers who don't talk that much. They are doing a live event with me the evening of May 13th.

3:30Tickets are available. Check it out. We are also giving away some free cool stuff at that one, I'll say. And we're going to dive deep into Stranger Things. There's some cool surprises at that event. Get in on it if you can. Then I'll be back in New York May 17th with Billy Eichner. May 18th with Nick Jonas, Paul Rudd, and director John Carney. Yeah, lots coming up. More to come that we can't announce yet. Yeah, we keep busy around here, safe to say. Okay, not much more preamble because Stanley Tucci is one of those guys that doesn't really need much of an introduction. We have all grown up loving what he can do.

4:03His career is so multifaceted, whether you love him, from Big Night or The Hunger Games, Spotlight. I could rattle off 20 great Stanley Tucci performances, and it's the tip of the iceberg. So real treat to catch up with him, to talk about his entire career and these two new exciting projects, Devil Wears Prada 2 and Tucci in Italy. So without any further ado, let me take you to our live event at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, me and Stanley Tucci. Enjoy. Hi, everybody. How's it going? Welcome to the 92nd Street Y. Hi, everybody. My name's Josh Horowitz. I host a podcast called Happy Second Fuse, and you're inside of it right now.

4:42Thank you for coming out today. Thank you for selling out this theater for a very good cause. Stanley Tucci is here. Are you ready? Thank you guys again for being here. Let me tell you, there is such a joy and a panic in prepping for Stanley Tucci. This man has lived such a life. So many amazing on-screen credits. He has lived every kind of life. He's like social media's favorite mixologist. he's a great director he can do it all and currently as taz just mentioned he's got the number one film in the world the devil wears prada 2 which i'm sure you all saw he's got my favorite show tucci in italy coming back for a second season on nat geo on may 11th amazing we yes give it up we're going to talk about all of that and much much more please give a warm welcome to the one and only it's stanley tucci everybody

5:50Stanley, how are you still standing? We've seen you on social media. You're running around the world. This has been quite the press tour for Prada, too. You doing all right? No. Okay. No, I'm fine. We got you a comfortable seat. Yeah, it's tiring. You know, it's funny, the press junket thing. But, you know, you do it because you do it. Yeah, well, there's a lot to celebrate, including, look, there are certain markers in someone's life when you're an actor, and sometimes it's awards and nominations, sometimes it's box office. You also, you just got your star on the Walk of Fame. Yeah, I did. Thank you.

6:29Thanks. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, it was very exciting. Does it make you a little bit reflective? Do you have that kind of like, wait, I was a kid once that dreamed of this life moment? Yes, no question. You always dreamed that it might happen, and then it happens, and you're sort of shocked that it happened. It took them long enough. But I was really especially happy to have, you know, like Matt Damon there and Meryl speaking and, you know, Robert and Dwayne speaking for Emily. But I think particularly to have it with Emily and now that they're sort of side by side is really lovely. It's also, you mentioned Meryl, who you've worked with a few times and I know you're friends with beyond just being a screen partner.

7:22To hear her words at that event was pretty amazing. I'm going to say a few of them here today. she said it's impossible not to love Stanley Tucci fairness fact check is that correct can you go test to that oh there's no question about that yeah okay she also called you here are a few words she she name-checked for you tell me if these are true or not would you call yourself urbane yeah I guess yeah sly sly yeah yeah funny oh yeah now we get to the good stuff Bitchy? Sometimes. Yeah. She said you're one of the world's great complainers. Yes, I am. That's why I'm here tonight. What's a favorite subject to complain about?

8:11Oh, anything. I could complain about anything. And so can she, which is why we get along so well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I, making, you know, Tucci in Italy, I'd sit with Lottie, who is my producing partner, used to be my assistant, now my producing partner, she's extraordinary. And we'd be in the car for hours and hours, you know, going from the hotel to one location. And there'd be these long silences. And then I would just turn to her and say, do you know who I hate?

8:54I promised your publicist backstage I wouldn't bring you down tonight. So I'm not going to ask you to follow. Don't do it. We'll be right back with more Happy Sad Confused.

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12:30Here's a broader question. As we're talking about being a little reflective, when did your parents stop worrying about you, your career? Because never. Was there a demarcation point? There was never like a movie, an accomplishment, anything? No, nor did I ever stop worrying about my career. You never do. Because a career in show business ebbs and flows. And there was a lot of ebbing for a while. Consistent ebbing. Like after the first Devil Wears Prada, yeah, I mean, I couldn't really get a job. which I know sounds weird but it's true so does that mean a satisfactory job or literally any job I could get a job but it wasn't a job that was they were less than lateral moves right so it wasn't yeah and also just not I mean I had a family you know I had a mortgage yeah my late wife was ill and I needed to find something that, you know, was satisfying, but also that would bring me money to be able to, you know, whatever.

13:45And is it just about powering through those ebbs? Just sort of like you know that the next... Yeah, you have to, yeah, drink your way through it. Right. No. No, you have to keep communicating with your representation. Yeah. Yeah. I mentioned your parents. I mean, it strikes me, like reading a little bit about your background, that we're all the sum of our two parents. Yes. But you especially, I mean, dad, an art teacher, a true lover of the arts, the fine arts. Mom, you often describe as like the greatest cook in existence. There's Stanley Tucci right there. Artist. Yeah. Foodie. Yeah. Nutshell, basically.

14:27Not nearly as talented as both of them, but they gave me a lot of tools. and they gave me, you know, they gave me a vision and they gave me a palette. Were they supportive when you, was there a moment where you said, I'm going to make a go of this and were they immediately supportive? They were very supportive. They were. They knew that I wanted possibly to be, I thought about being an architect, but my math skills are tragic. So that wasn't going to happen. and I said this is what I want to do and they were incredibly supportive I know my mother still worries when I last year I had like a little time off and she was like so how are you you know we talk once, twice a week she said how are you I said I'm good so what are you what are you doing and I was like well I'm just taking time being with the kids and I have meetings at the office and stuff or this or that or charity stuff or whatever you know there's a pause and you're like oh she thinks that I'm never going to work again

15:54I understand it I understand it does she have a favorite film of yours in your filmography Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. She's never seen anything. No, I don't know. I don't know. All right, let's talk about, first, I want to get to Tucci in Italy, but I want to start with Devil Wears Prada 2, which, what a remarkable, I mean, this must be so surreal for you. I mean, the first one was lightning in a bottle, and here we are 20 years later. This doesn't happen in this way. Was the first one, first looking back at the first one, Is that, in a career filled with surprises, one of the most surprising moments in your career, the way that one hit and continued to hit?

16:35Yeah, absolutely. It was a great honor to be a part of it. And it was, I remember the last day of shooting, I didn't want to leave. It was so much fun. You know, I met Emily, who became my dear friend, and then, you know, my sister-in-law. You know, I got to work with Meryl. I had known her, but we'd never worked together. I met Annie and David and all these wonderful people. It was great, but we knew we were making a good movie, you know, but we had no idea that it would result in something that would become really the sort of Hollywood classic. When you first read in the script the words, gird your loins, do you have questions?

17:23Do you say, yeah, this works, I can make this work? No, here's the thing that that was not in the script. It was David. We came up with a list of things to say Mine would have changed the rating of the film but David came up with Gird Your Loins. Yeah, and it was perfect Perfect. He's brilliant. Have you reconciled that you are going to be heckled with that line until your last day on earth. No, it's going to be on my tombstone.

18:01Girding his loins in perpetuity. Yeah.

18:06You mentioned Meryl. You, of course, worked with her on these two films and Julia and Julia. And I mean, we don't need to sell the audience on her as a talented actor. But I do feel like sometimes we, in a weird way, we take her for granted because she does make it look so easy. And I kind of, I've heard her talk a lot on this press tour And she's so kind of self-deprecating and saying, like, I don't know what I'm doing after all these. Like, how much of that, in your experience of watching her up close, is for real? How much of that is her just being humble, having seen her do it up close? What's your perspective on her and her approach to the work?

18:40I think it's all of that. I think sometimes we don't know what we're doing. And you're not supposed to know what you're doing. because if you know what you're doing all the time, it won't read, it won't be truthful, and it won't be surprising, right? So she is that perfect dichotomy of an artist, which is there's this incredible technique, an amazing intellect, but then complete spontaneity. that's the place you want to be as an actor, as a painter, as a writer, as a whatever where she is every time that camera starts rolling. I think it's also, it struck me when I was watching this one how much is unspoken between your two characters and the long history there is between them.

19:37And I've heard you speak in previous interviews about the value you placed in actors that are like silent actors, that just like active listeners. You mentioned like Joe Pesci. from someone like that. Is that something that is important to you as an actor, that sometimes silence is as valuable as a great line? Oh, yeah. I mean, I always take away lines from scripts, from my dialogue. I don't, because I think a lot of times writers will, when I might consider, overwrite in order to get the information across or whatever. And a lot of times you don't need that. You don't. Let me, I'll take care of it.

20:22I don't need to say that. The way I walk into a room, with one look, you can cut three lines. Yeah. It's also probably tied often maybe to a younger actor who thinks they have to over-deliver. And it's maybe the confidence of knowing. With an eyebrow raised, with a look, you can convey. Yeah, and a lot of times actors want more lines. At my age, I don't want any lines. Because I can't even remember them. So as I alluded to before, it took a long time to get to this place where the sequel arrived. Did you have input in terms of what you didn't want to see for your character or did want to see for Nigel all these years later?

21:02Was there anything that would have been a deal breaker for you? I didn't want to see I didn't want for it to be too self-referential you know what I mean I mean this is vaguely self-referential it's a balance and you have to find the right thing you can't just suddenly try to repeat all the things that were successful in the first film it has to have moved on what I liked about it was that that Nigel was very much the same person. And he's just, as Emily described, just a little more world-weary. And I think the scene that I thought was so well-written where she comes in and explains to me what's happening with the whole thing's really falling apart, and I pay no attention to it at all.

22:00I completely ignore and move on to what's in front of me to let her know, like, it's not a conversation that we need to have. Just a resignation of this is the life that I've shown. Yeah, but also that he's always working on something behind the scenes. Right. Yeah. Right. He knows everything. Right. Everything. I referenced, and I saw the trailer, and I told you backstage, you've cracked the code, sir. Tucci in Italy is the gift that keeps on giving for all of us. And hopefully for you, hopefully you're getting a modicum of as much enjoyment as we all are out of the show because it's fantastic.

22:38Thank you. It's coming back on May 11th on Nat Geo. Italy, you spent time in Italy growing up, yes? Was, did you, I mean, has this kind of, not that you needed a stronger bond with the country, but what has this done for your own ties to Italy to shoot this show the last few years? Oh, it's been incredible. I always loved Italy. I lived there, I lived in Florence when I was 12, 13. So this is 1973. And I, it was just incredible. You know, coming from Westchester, New York, I'd never been on a plane before. I'd maybe been in New York City once or twice. It was life changing. And that without question informed my, how I saw the world and what kind of world I wanted to live in.

23:29And I realized as I got older and I traveled to Europe that I felt more comfortable in Europe than I did living in America. And going to Italy, I felt incredibly comfortable. I don't know that I'd want to live there because there are so many Italians. That's the thing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, and I get it. But it's a terrible joke. But there's, yeah, there is something truly, I hate to use the word, but magical about Italy and those people who have survived countless invasions, countless corrupt, inept governments, and yet they persevere. Yeah. What do you at this point judge a good Italian restaurant on?

24:25What's the dish they need to do right in order to pass the Stanley Tucci test? Every dish. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Look, for me, I think one of the most difficult dishes to make is a risotto, right, in any form. form. If a restaurant can make a good risotto, it means that they can usually make everything else pretty well. Have you ever been to an olive garden in your life?

25:08Yes. I was making a movie years ago in Salt Lake City. I didn't know where to eat. I went to the, that place.

25:27And, you know, I still bear the scars. It was, yeah, I mean, not to, I'm not one, look, in the books I've written, if I go to a restaurant and I don't like it, I never name it, I never anything. But, come on. Really? Right? I mean, they do offer as many breadsticks as you can possibly want.

25:56Yep. Yep. You've lost one endorsement deal. Yes, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How many cooking competition series have you said no to? I would imagine. A lot. Right? I don't like them. I don't like competition when it comes to art or food. I think it's silly. I know they're hugely successful, but I just find it false and weird. To me, cooking should be the opposite of that. It should be a thing that brings people together, not separates them, a thing that allows for communion, not for competition. What about competition in the arts? I still find it strange. Yeah. Yeah, I do. I mean, it's wonderful when you get nominated for stuff.

26:53It's wonderful when you get an award. But do I really believe, you know, because my dad was an art teacher, and he always said, how am I supposed to grade this and this and this? They're all different people and they're all different perceptions of what they're seeing. It's completely subjective. So how do you grade that? How do you say you're the best actor? Doesn't make any sense. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. I guess one way to judge is by the staying power of art. Here's my segue. 30 years ago, Big Night came out. This is the test of time. yeah thanks I mean that was a very important film for you fair to say as an actor as a co-director as a co-writer did a lot for your career and it's still arguably the greatest food cooking movie of all time among other distinctions um are you astounded by that film's staying power yeah I am I am I think yeah we had no idea that it was going to be, you know, what it became, this sort of cult classic, I suppose, because we just wanted to tell the story we wanted to tell.

28:13My cousin and I were writing it. We were just trying to focus on the truth of those people and make it a character-driven film as opposed to a plot-driven film, and a film that used food to tell the story of the struggle between commerce and art. And a story that had an ambiguous ending. An ending that you might see in a foreign film or something. But we had no idea. We had no idea. But I'm so happy. It changed my life because it allowed me a sort of entree into the world of food. And I'm really thankful for that.