John Turturro, who has become a regular in the thought provoking films of Spike lee, speaks about his role in In The Night Of
Highly talented and lightly built, John Turturro who always looks unsettled and jumpy has become a favourite of cult/arthouse film aficionados with his compelling performances in a broad range of cinematic vehicles. In The Night Of, an American television drama, John Turturro, stepped in to play Jack, a lawyer who finds himself defending a naïve young man whose adventuresome evening takes a tragic turn for which he may or may not be responsible after James Gandolfini who was supposed to do the role and executive produce the show passed away.
Tell us something about the complexities of your character - John Stone.
Turturro: John Stone is a defence attorney. He usually deals with minor offences, burglary, prostitution, things of that nature.He doesn’t usually do capital crimes, like murder - he doesn’t really have the stomach for that. He is a guy who is very capable and probably, in my mind, maybe lost a really big case early on and never recovered from that and is not able to compartmentalise his feelings about it. He is cynical. He doesn’t believe in the system that much. He’d rather take a deal and make a deal because it’s better than risking going before a jury. He makes a decent living but I think he has the potential to be a really, really good lawyer.
Q: So what was that moment about when he met NazIJ
Turturro: I think he just had an instinctual connection to him. Of course he was looking for a job but he felt like something affects him - and maybe that’s more about him than about the kid. I think that happens in life too. A lot of times people become friends that way, people get attracted that way. It's like, wow that was a connection. So he connected to this kid and then got to know him and is surprised and encouraged and disappointed. He goes through a lot of the ups and downs. He’s like a guy who is an every man in some ways.
Q: Stone says in the first episode that the truth doesn’t matter when it comes to winning a case. But inside did he still think Naz could be guiltyIJ
Turturro: Maybe initially he had the feeling of this kid looks like he shouldn’t be here but that doesn’t mean that he was sure about it.I never played it in absolute terms. He knows that people say all these things. That’s not necessarily all of who that person is, just because that’s the mask that you’re presenting to the world. People are always playing versions of themselves and maybe there is this whole other crazy person or lonely person there so I didn’t decide (whether Naz was guilty or not) even though I knew from the scripts where it was gonna go. Also, it’s what you get from the other actor, and what’s real is.
Q: There have been many great attorneys in film and on TV. What was it about this one that intrigued youIJ
Turturro: When you’re seeing someone who is afraid to be good, who can only represent someone in a domestic dispute, a burglar, a prostitute, a pimp or this or that, they don’t want to be involved in the hardest cases because they say, “oh I don’t want to send someone away for life”. That speaks to your psyche. You know when Paul Newman was in The VerdictIJ That was a movie that I watched and I was blown away.
Q: What sort of research did you do for the roleIJ
Turturro: That’s my joy really, to do that stuff. I like to do a documentary. I meet people, I tape them, I interview them, I go to the court, I watch them and see if they can reveal themselves.Then you wanna have time to just think about it and look at it. I also know Steve (Zaillian) and I know Richard (Price) and there is a lot of Richard, like his sense of humour, right there. I know Richard and I know his rhythms and that’s something that was important for me.
Q: As a viewer, I’d like to see more of John Stone on screen. Might there be a further seriesIJ
Turturro: Yeah, well people have mentioned that and I was like wow. It all depends upon the quality of the writing but yes, he’s a character that you just want to spend time with. Because he is so human and he’s got this cape on, he’s got this long coat, he’s like a walking drugstore! That’s how I imagined him.I was like, this guy, he’s got food, he’s got chopsticks, he’s got his creams - he’s ready for anything.
Q: The eczema on his feet is a big motif throughout. Have you ever done a job where so much attention has been paid to your feetIJ
Turturro: Never. And they’re my feet; no foot double. And then I had all that eczema on my face and this and that was in the winter too so I was iced. I had to have warmers and all, and sometimes I would put my boots on but even then I was frozen. Then I had to run in my sandals, strap them up in a way that I could run and jump over a fence in them. I was like, oh my God. But finding the guy physically was important.
Q: The Night Of was filmed almost entirely on location in New York. Did that have much bearing on performanceIJ
Turturro: I think sometimes it did. Sometimes you want a view outside.Sometimes the studio can be a little deadening. Sometimes you can get better shots in a studio but you’ve got to infuse the studio with a life then too. I mean there were some great sets too-Rikers (Island) is a set but if it makes you feel a certain way then that’s fine.
Q: The series is a thriller and a whodunit - what else do you think the show on the whole reflects uponIJ
Turturro: I think it’s about the costs of entering into the judicial system. I think it’s about the system and the human cost that goes on within it for the accused, for the people who defend, for the people who prosecute, for the people who investigate it and for the families who are involved. It’s really about that and then what you’re left with and what you can come out of it with and how altered you can be from it. It’s about the system - and the human cost.