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It’s a bit like doing a movie naked

July 9, 2011, 12:01 AM

John Turturro, who will receive the KVIFF president’s award tonight, is here screening the film Somewhere Tonight, in which he and wife Katherine Borowitz (Patti) play aging, increasingly desperate singles in New York who both pursue and taunt each other via a phone sex chat line. The film, written and directed by Michael Di Jiacomo, features a Turturro character that naturally appealed to the actor. Like so many roles he has played, Leroy, aka Wooly, is weird, a little damaged, a bit obsessive, and has a lot going on under the surface¬ and in between the lines of dialogue.

What is it about the original Theo van Gogh work 06 (1-900) that inspired you to create its third US adaptation, following Stanley Tucci’s and Steve Buscemi’s?

The original was a play that he wrote. It was his first one. It’s very, very sexual. It’s of his culture. I thought it would be fun to do something like that with Kathy but after a half an hour you did kinda get a little tired of the sex. It’s an exercise because it’s over a phone. That’s really hard. I didn’t have time to do my own adaptation. So I said listen, there’s this guy Michael [Di Jiacomo] I worked with on a script before. It was the story of Jack Molinas, who was a basketball player who was thrown out of the NBA in his first season. He did a great job. So I suggested him to write it. Then the producer said, “He’s really good.” Then I said, “You know what? Give him a chance to direct it.” This way I could give him a chance to get out there.

Even though you sometimes make big, summer popcorn movie like Transformers 3, you also do small films like Somewhere Tonight that are closer to your heart...

People are starved for different things. They really are. I know I am. I find movies... ¬I hate to use the word mystical, ¬but when you were younger you had these encounters with things, there was a whole mysterious element to it. Now a lot of comedies, it’s a certain kind of comedy¬ and some people do it well. But doing something like this is a little bit like doing a movie naked. It’s an experiment. Everything’s an experiment. But I got to work with Kathy and I got to work with Max Casella and Elizabeth Marvel.

You will find the complete interview in today´s edition of the Festival Daily. 

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