Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric, and welcome to next question today.
Speaker 1: I have such a treat for you, a man you
Speaker 1: are certainly familiar with. He can make you laugh, he
Speaker 1: can make you swoon, Julia, you are the butter to
Speaker 1: my bread and the breath to my life. I love you,
Speaker 1: Darling Grew. And he can also make a mean NECRONI
Speaker 1: you can do it on the rocks. It's kind of
Speaker 1: nice to have it up. It's Stanley Tucci, Everyone's favorite
Speaker 1: pandemic sauceman. Enjoy. Are we doing the thing right now?
Speaker 1: Or are we? Yeah? Yeah, we're doing it right now.
Speaker 1: This isn't yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm so happy to
Speaker 1: see you, and I know that you too. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate that you've, Stanley, been able to cram me into
Speaker 1: your very very busy but because what can I say,
Speaker 1: there's been a Tucci sons. Yeah, Am I right? Yes?
Speaker 1: I think so? Yes, which yeah is wonderful and embarrassing. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: I think it's just plain wonderful and I'm not embarrassed
Speaker 1: at all. But I want to ask you about all
Speaker 1: the different things you've been doing, Stanley, because you have
Speaker 1: been so busy, you have your CNN series about Italy,
Speaker 1: you have an upcoming book, you have a movie you
Speaker 1: just did with my my, my sauceman, Colin Firth. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're you're also my sauceman's family. But I have had
Speaker 1: I have had a thing for Colin Firth, uh for
Speaker 1: for decades now. Well it's it's hard not to. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk about Colin and your wonderful movie with him,
Speaker 1: and also about how you're delighting all your Instagram followers
Speaker 1: with your cocktails, and we'll talk about that and you
Speaker 1: and Felicity and how that all got started. But I
Speaker 1: thought we should start by talking about your extraordinary series
Speaker 1: on CNN, which I have to be honest, makes me
Speaker 1: very very hungry. And since I've sworn off carbs, damn you,
Speaker 1: Stanley Tucci. Is it like a brioche? Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: even healthy as compared to this, This is b spride.
Speaker 1: It's a sort of doughnuts with a cream. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine a better assignment for you, Stanley, because your Italian
Speaker 1: on both sides, you're a foodie, uh from way back,
Speaker 1: and you'd love to travel. So how much fun was
Speaker 1: this just exploring these regions and and what did you
Speaker 1: learn from the experience, Well, I learned a great deal
Speaker 1: because we wanted to incorporate always um, not just that
Speaker 1: the idea of it. Like, first of all, I wanted
Speaker 1: to sort of dispel the myth that Italy is the
Speaker 1: food of Italy is bustin pizza in panamajana, which is
Speaker 1: not an actual Italian. Yes, I saw, I saw some
Speaker 1: of the innerds that you were consuming, and I have
Speaker 1: to say, I think I would say check please, I'm
Speaker 1: not an adventurous eater Stanley. Oh no, but Katie, then
Speaker 1: we'll go out to dinner and you will be fine.
Speaker 1: I promise, I promise you needn't be afraid. But the
Speaker 1: the I wanted to dispel that myth that you know,
Speaker 1: pasta is with every meal and the tomatoes and everything
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. Yes, that's that can
Speaker 1: that's true in certain parts of Italy, but not all
Speaker 1: parts of Italy. Pasta gives way to polenta, which gives
Speaker 1: way to rice, and everything is cyclical and everything is seasonal.
Speaker 1: And the Italian still promote this and believe it and
Speaker 1: live by it. And I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: things it makes them so, that makes that their cuisine
Speaker 1: so attractive. But but the but the idea that you
Speaker 1: can have um cavalonero, which is a a black kil
Speaker 1: that you have that in the North, but you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily have that in the South, that you have egg
Speaker 1: plant down in the south, but you don't have that.
Speaker 1: You never see an egg plant, You'll never see a tomato,
Speaker 1: you very seldom have pasta. But the other aspect was
Speaker 1: that I wanted to show Italy not in a rope
Speaker 1: and a completely romantic light, but to show it truthfully
Speaker 1: through its food. And as you delve into that food,
Speaker 1: specifically in each region, what you're going to end up
Speaker 1: delving into is the society. And every society has issues,
Speaker 1: and there is a huge amount of poverty in Italy
Speaker 1: to this day, not just in the South but in
Speaker 1: the North as well. And there's a lot of prejudice,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of um uh, sort of let's say,
Speaker 1: governmental confusion as to what a safety net should be
Speaker 1: and what a safety net shouldn't be. Um And you
Speaker 1: want to in each episode sort of shine a little
Speaker 1: bit of a light on that. I think you do
Speaker 1: you know, I was I was going to say, Stanley,
Speaker 1: I was taken with how you showed sort of these
Speaker 1: forces that were budding up against each other in an
Speaker 1: episode when you talked about kind of gentrification or trying
Speaker 1: to have new restaurants in this certain area and how
Speaker 1: they were being bombed, and that to me was a
Speaker 1: microcosm of some of the social issues that are happening everywhere,
Speaker 1: this reaction to multiculturalism, to disruption, etcetera. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: really interesting and it's very sad because to me as
Speaker 1: as a as a as an Italian American um. You know, yes,
Speaker 1: when Italians came over, they came over because they were
Speaker 1: they were suffering terribly in Italy and the between the
Speaker 1: wars or prior to World War One. But to think
Speaker 1: that Italy would reject people in need when a lot
Speaker 1: of countries, American particular, accepted so many Italians when they
Speaker 1: were in need, is heartbreaking to me. And it's not
Speaker 1: that when the Italians came to America that they weren't vilified,
Speaker 1: that they weren't ostracized, that they weren't demonized, but ultimately
Speaker 1: what they ended up doing was making our society so
Speaker 1: much better. And in Italy there are those who really
Speaker 1: see the benefit fits of of immigration and there are those,
Speaker 1: particularly in the North who don't uh. And one episode,
Speaker 1: the episode of Milan, I interview and spend time with
Speaker 1: the guy who is the sort of gamekeeper of of
Speaker 1: Lake Como and he looks after the health of the lake.
Speaker 1: He's a fisherman and he's an ardent environmentalist and yet
Speaker 1: at the same time, and these things don't often go together.
Speaker 1: He's he's anti immigration and he's part of the of
Speaker 1: the League, which is the right wing um you know,
Speaker 1: a political group headed by Salvini Um. So there's a
Speaker 1: real dichotomy there and we had a good conversation about it.
Speaker 1: But you know, he's a lovely I have a great
Speaker 1: family and everything. But you just think if you, if you,
Speaker 1: if you could only see that the more diversity there is,
Speaker 1: the healthier country is. How did COVID affect the production
Speaker 1: schedule and what was it like kind of taking this
Speaker 1: on in the middle of a global pandemic. Well, it
Speaker 1: was We did the first four episodes prior to the pandemic.
Speaker 1: The second you know, the second leg of it was
Speaker 1: done just two episodes. It just makes it more complicated,
Speaker 1: it makes it harder. It's not it's not as much
Speaker 1: fun Um, you want to be you want to follow
Speaker 1: all the protocols and be really careful and and every
Speaker 1: day you're learning something new at that point about COVID
Speaker 1: and um, well still, but it was it was hard.
Speaker 1: It was hard. I mean, I have a friend of
Speaker 1: my on who's directing a series here now excuse me,
Speaker 1: for Netflix, I think for Netflix something and he and he, uh,
Speaker 1: one of those, one of those. He told me that
Speaker 1: they've added seventeen million dollars to their budget simply for
Speaker 1: testing and COVID protocols. I'm doing something here and I'm tested. Uh.
Speaker 1: Once I start the job on Thursday, I think I'm
Speaker 1: tested five days a week. So if you think about
Speaker 1: hundreds of people, how much that costs. Um, it's going
Speaker 1: to actually change the face of the film industry significantly.
Speaker 1: Because the movie that I made with Colin will will
Speaker 1: be called Supernova, that we made for three million, three
Speaker 1: million pounds. You won't see a movie like that for
Speaker 1: quite a while. Why is that because of the protocols? Okay,
Speaker 1: I can't afford it. We'll talk about Supernova, but you
Speaker 1: don't really you don't really talk much about the pandemic
Speaker 1: in the series, which I thought was interesting. There would
Speaker 1: be maybe a mask here, an elbow bump there, and
Speaker 1: um was that a conscious decision because Italy was so
Speaker 1: devastated and of course we watched in horror as so
Speaker 1: many people were dying from from this disease. Did you
Speaker 1: feel like it would date it or you know, how
Speaker 1: did you decide to handle that? You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Katie, I don't know why we didn't
Speaker 1: do that. I think I think we were I think
Speaker 1: we were all a bit shocked by it, and I
Speaker 1: think we just wanted to try to move forward because
Speaker 1: it was at a point where we thought that things
Speaker 1: were getting better. And you know, you don't want to
Speaker 1: skirt the issue, but you also don't. It's not an investigator,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's not it's not that
Speaker 1: you want to acknowledge it. But but I going forward,
Speaker 1: I would I would like to talk more about that.
Speaker 1: I would like to talk more about um, the loss
Speaker 1: and also the success of the way the Italians UH
Speaker 1: handled it from the get go. You may get a
Speaker 1: chance to do that because I know you're doing another season.
Speaker 1: Is it going to be searching for Italy or is
Speaker 1: it going to be searching for the UK. What are
Speaker 1: you going to be searching next, Stanley, Well, we're going
Speaker 1: to search different regions. We're gonna do um, we're gonna
Speaker 1: do six different regions, six different regions of the world. Italy.
Speaker 1: Oh you're doing more Italy though, Yeah, No, not at all.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about it. In fact, I think for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, we just got so much vicarious pleasure,
Speaker 1: not only watching you eat. And I have to ask
Speaker 1: how you stay so thin, Stanley, because it's freaking annoying
Speaker 1: to watch you eating all that stuff and then to
Speaker 1: watch you and you're like, look like you don't even
Speaker 1: have body fat anyway. But I think people just love
Speaker 1: watching watching it, especially because we are all desperate to travel,
Speaker 1: and I think for us to see you enjoying, you know,
Speaker 1: these beautiful, fascinating places full of incredible people. I think
Speaker 1: I loved, you know, meeting the people behind the food.
Speaker 1: I think I think it's sort of spirited us away
Speaker 1: from our our pandemic blues, if you will. So I
Speaker 1: love it, Lee, and I'm happy you're doing more. Um.
Speaker 1: I I'm excited just to to watch whatever you do, Stanley.
Speaker 1: So thank you. No, no, because you're you're so fun
Speaker 1: to watch and you're kind of easy to be with
Speaker 1: on television. I can't explain it, but do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, you're just uh, you just feel like
Speaker 1: a travel companion. So it's been really nice. But but um,
Speaker 1: do you what's the response been or a lot of
Speaker 1: people saying that to you, Like, it's just it's just
Speaker 1: so much fun to to see the world, at least
Speaker 1: a part of the world. It is, No, it is you,
Speaker 1: don't you know? I was. You have to be careful
Speaker 1: not to make it trite, as I said, not to
Speaker 1: make it. Um. Isn't Italy the most romantic place in
Speaker 1: the world. Yes, there's romance and its romance everywhere, but
Speaker 1: you know there are darker aspects of every country. Uh,
Speaker 1: and we touch on them. But I for me, oh,
Speaker 1: for me, it's really just about telling the truth of
Speaker 1: that of that country through its cuisine. And the cuisine
Speaker 1: is arguably, um, the I think it's the most beloved
Speaker 1: food in the world. Um. If anyone, if you said
Speaker 1: to anyone, do like Italian food? Have you ever met
Speaker 1: a person who says no, no, no? When we come back.
Speaker 1: How did Stanley become such a foodie and how does
Speaker 1: he stay so damn fit. That's right after this. How
Speaker 1: do you stay so skinny? Stanley? I exercise obsessively, um,
Speaker 1: and I'm blessed with a very fast metabolism. Really, I
Speaker 1: mean really, I toasta like every day. I hate people
Speaker 1: like work, I work out. How did you become a
Speaker 1: foodie in the first place, because this is not your
Speaker 1: first rodeo when it comes to kind of exploring cuisines,
Speaker 1: can you take me back to your like food origin
Speaker 1: story where you thought, I just I really love food
Speaker 1: and who influenced you? Because I sort of know the answer,
Speaker 1: but some of our listeners may not. My family, my mother,
Speaker 1: my grandmother on both sides. Um, food, food was everything.
Speaker 1: Sitting around the table at night was what you just did.
Speaker 1: You were not late for dinner? Um. If you were,
Speaker 1: you were sort of roundly chastised. Um. And my mother
Speaker 1: and I write about this in the book. And my
Speaker 1: mother was is an incredible cook. I mean, she's the
Speaker 1: she's the kind of person that I mean, had she
Speaker 1: chosen to be a professional chef, she would have been extraordinary,
Speaker 1: beyond beyond. And I'm not saying this because oh every
Speaker 1: Italian boy loves his mother's coaching. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: it's not like I've been around you know, uh, not
Speaker 1: in that sense, Katie. But but you know, but you know,
Speaker 1: you're just like whoa. No matter where I travel, no
Speaker 1: matter where I go, I always go back to those
Speaker 1: flavors and that process and and when I find something new,
Speaker 1: it's great. But ultimately that's the stuff that that really works,
Speaker 1: I mean really works. Describe describe the Tucci family dinner
Speaker 1: table growing up, because I just want to have people
Speaker 1: get an image of it and what it was like,
Speaker 1: where it was and kind of the commotion that would
Speaker 1: take place there. I mean, we're just in Westchester and
Speaker 1: in our house and excuse me, in Katona, and we
Speaker 1: had this ranch house that that my parents had built,
Speaker 1: which now would be I mean, you couldn't buy you
Speaker 1: couldn't buy a car for the price of the house
Speaker 1: and the whole thing, beautiful house on a cul de
Speaker 1: sac in the in the you know, in suburbia. My
Speaker 1: dad came out. He was at our teacher retired. It's
Speaker 1: still alive. He's about to be. Wow, that's so nice
Speaker 1: for you. That's great. It's great, probably better for him
Speaker 1: because he still alive. But but I but yeah, it
Speaker 1: was you know that my my mom worked in the
Speaker 1: office at the high school where he taught uh in chatta,
Speaker 1: and they went to work together a day, came home
Speaker 1: every day, so my dad was home when we were
Speaker 1: home after school, which was great. Uh. And then you know,
Speaker 1: you do your homework or not do your homework. And then, um,
Speaker 1: they were always cooking dinner. How many little how many
Speaker 1: little two cheese were running around Stanley? There were there
Speaker 1: were me and my two sisters, younger sisters. Um, And
Speaker 1: it was wonderful, you know. I mean it wasn't the
Speaker 1: time of you know, there was one black and white
Speaker 1: television and my father used to watch the Huntley Brinkley Report,
Speaker 1: right yeah, every night, and my mother cooked. My father
Speaker 1: was a sush chef. There was no sort of like
Speaker 1: the man does this, the woman does this. It wasn't
Speaker 1: it wasn't like that, although she did do more of
Speaker 1: the cookie uh because she was really good at it. Um.
Speaker 1: And then everready pitched in and cleaned up, and you
Speaker 1: sat around the table and you had wonderful conversations or
Speaker 1: you had arguments or you had whatever. And it was
Speaker 1: but every night was I mean, I remember my mother
Speaker 1: just sort of making Paea. That was extraordinary. Were suddenly
Speaker 1: you know, making you know creps, you know, with a
Speaker 1: shamil and chicken and you know, just and you thought,
Speaker 1: she's go onto work. She's worked all day. Then she
Speaker 1: comes home and she does all this stuff. My dad
Speaker 1: helps her, and then you know it was it was
Speaker 1: an amazing, amazing, uh culinary experience every week every week.
Speaker 1: So she really infused in you and your dad, I
Speaker 1: think a love of food. And so that's kind of
Speaker 1: from an early age, how you became kind of uh
Speaker 1: enamored with cuisine? And did they speak Italian? How did
Speaker 1: you become so proficient in Italian? No, they didn't really speak.
Speaker 1: My father spoke some Italian, my mother spoke Italian, but
Speaker 1: more dialect. Um. I learned in Florence when I was twelve.
Speaker 1: We lived there for a year when I was twelve,
Speaker 1: and then um uh of course you know your you
Speaker 1: speak fluently because you don't have much else up there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know you've become the sort of you know,
Speaker 1: lingual sponge. But then I when I was doing Big Night,
Speaker 1: I studied Italian again for about a year, and now
Speaker 1: before the series, I studied again. So every time I
Speaker 1: go you know, it comes back suddenly, it starts to
Speaker 1: come back. But I have to make a conservative effort
Speaker 1: to to learn it properly because it disappeared. Well it
Speaker 1: sounds like you know what you're talking about. All I
Speaker 1: know is like Karazi and Grego and shall No, that's
Speaker 1: good enough. I'd like to I'd like to learn Italian. Uh,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll do that. I think it would be good
Speaker 1: for my brain to actually a new language. To do
Speaker 1: it is I do with a guy online. Um, he's Italian.
Speaker 1: He was teaching here in England. We had like two things,
Speaker 1: excuse me, two sessions in person, and then it was
Speaker 1: like I was like, don't drive all the way here,
Speaker 1: and he was in you know, North London or so
Speaker 1: I was like, we'll just do it on that. You know,
Speaker 1: this is pre pandemic. Uh. And now he's moved to
Speaker 1: Spain where his wife is and um, we just do
Speaker 1: it you know on zoom like this, and it's great
Speaker 1: and it's really really great. It's really great and we
Speaker 1: just like he does not allow me to speak in English,
Speaker 1: which is really painful for both of us. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about your the new book that's
Speaker 1: that's coming out but first I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you about super Nova. And this this this this small
Speaker 1: but very moving movie that you did with my bff
Speaker 1: Colin for for the uninitiated, and it is the story
Speaker 1: of two men who have been a couple for twenty years. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's a very quiet story that unfolds
Speaker 1: and and obviously your character is in early stages of dementia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: teach me what that now? Why? God want? All right,
Speaker 1: I want to be able to find it? H try Okay, So, um,
Speaker 1: first you have to find the the what do you
Speaker 1: call it? It's a shape, the shape, the shape triangle
Speaker 1: and you have to find the three bright lights there
Speaker 1: that make the triangle. At this one contraw a line horizontally,
Speaker 1: that's right, And that's where the milky way is. What
Speaker 1: drew you to the role. And why did you say
Speaker 1: you must get a million script? Stanley? Let's be honest.
Speaker 1: And and you know no, you come on, you do listen.
Speaker 1: It's the Tucci Sons. It's the Tucci sons. Come on
Speaker 1: maybe now, yeah, but but but but I'm curious, what
Speaker 1: what what has to happen to really to really suck
Speaker 1: you in and to say I'm going to devote a
Speaker 1: lot of time making this movie. And what was it
Speaker 1: in this case? It was the purity of the script
Speaker 1: and the poetry of it and the absence of drama
Speaker 1: and melodrama. Uh, it was gorgeous. It was the script
Speaker 1: that I that you read and you go wish I
Speaker 1: had written that. It's beautiful. But I was not going
Speaker 1: to play that role. I was going to play Colin's role.
Speaker 1: And then when I read it, I loved it so much.
Speaker 1: And I watched Harry's movie, Harry McQueen, who wrote and
Speaker 1: directed it. I watched his first film, which he had
Speaker 1: made for ten thousand pounds. Wow. So if any filmmaker
Speaker 1: thinks that they need a lot of money to make
Speaker 1: a movie, well only when they have expensive actors like
Speaker 1: you Stanley. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. But he made this
Speaker 1: really beautiful movie for ten thousand pounds. And then I
Speaker 1: watched him that I met Harry, and he was as
Speaker 1: wonderful as his as his writing and his filmmaking. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then I said, I think Collins should play the
Speaker 1: other guy. Now, unbeknownst to Harry, I slipped it to Colin,
Speaker 1: and um, Colin read it and he called me up.
Speaker 1: He goes, oh my god, it's so beautiful. I said,
Speaker 1: I know, I know. So then Colin signed on, and
Speaker 1: very soon afterward, of course the money came through. With
Speaker 1: me signed on, I'm not so sure what would have happened,
Speaker 1: but once that happened, we started talking with Harry and
Speaker 1: you know, talking through and everything. And then Colin called
Speaker 1: me and he goes, I think we have to switch roles.
Speaker 1: And I said, I'm just thinking the same thing, but
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I was gonna say why. I
Speaker 1: mean that I don't know, Katie, I don't know. It
Speaker 1: just didn't feel right. So then and you can this
Speaker 1: doesn't this doesn't happen. I mean, you can only do
Speaker 1: that with your like best friend, and you know, if
Speaker 1: you can't go hey, by the way, you know, when
Speaker 1: you were signed up for a bro I think we
Speaker 1: should switched role, you know, and the studio goes, what
Speaker 1: you know, no, um, So we go to Harry, and
Speaker 1: poor Harry, you know, blanched and and he's and he said,
Speaker 1: all right, well, let's you know, on typical sort of
Speaker 1: British fashion, let's read it. So we read five scenes
Speaker 1: and then we switched roles because it was more right.
Speaker 1: I don't know why. There was something rhythmically more right
Speaker 1: about it being this play and the first scene is
Speaker 1: is Colin and the two of you. I think I
Speaker 1: would say in a semi spoon in bed your semi spooney. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: not a full spoon, but yeah, And uh, I don't
Speaker 1: know what was it? Was it fun doing this this
Speaker 1: movie with someone who you're very close to and you
Speaker 1: really like, and you play a gay couple, so you know,
Speaker 1: I think it must be an added extra if you
Speaker 1: actually like your screen partner helps, if you trust and
Speaker 1: love the person that you're working with. Um, it's always
Speaker 1: difficult to play the same sex person if you're you know,
Speaker 1: that's always more complicated. But in the end, you just
Speaker 1: want to tell that story truthfully. UM, And you know
Speaker 1: it's it's complex, but ultimately it's the story that makes
Speaker 1: makes the difference. And I feel like this is illustrative.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I mean, you would know much more
Speaker 1: about this than I. But of this opening up of
Speaker 1: of art and film too. You know, I hate to
Speaker 1: to use sort of uh you know, modern vernacular that
Speaker 1: is sometimes overused, but to make it more representative, more inclusive,
Speaker 1: more UM, you know, such a variety of experience, says,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Do you do you feel that is
Speaker 1: really happening? Um, in in in a in a significant
Speaker 1: way now, because just as a casual observer, I do,
Speaker 1: and I think it's so exciting and wonderful and it
Speaker 1: makes you realize how how myopically one sided or one
Speaker 1: dimensional a lot of our culture was. And um, and
Speaker 1: I'm just curious that if looking at the big picture,
Speaker 1: you notice that too. Do you mean regarding every every
Speaker 1: different I mean gay stories, black stories, um, you know,
Speaker 1: all kinds of stories that I think here before we're
Speaker 1: marginalized or are really not told at all. Yes, without
Speaker 1: a question, I think what's happening now is a great thing.
Speaker 1: There were questions raised, of course, because neither column I
Speaker 1: are gay, um, which seems you'd be happy about. But
Speaker 1: I think but I think that I think that, Um,
Speaker 1: the wonderful thing is that we for for us selfishly,
Speaker 1: we have been embraced by the gay community before, having
Speaker 1: played gay characters before, and in this film, the same
Speaker 1: thing has happened. I think that eventually what is going
Speaker 1: to happen And we've talked about this in interviews. UM,
Speaker 1: that for me it's a it's a societal issue why uh,
Speaker 1: gay actors have not been able to just be whomever
Speaker 1: they are. Um. The the more society is open, the
Speaker 1: more expansive, UM, the arts can be. Arn't is often
Speaker 1: a reaction to repression. UM. But I think that I'm
Speaker 1: hoping that in America and here and throughout the world,
Speaker 1: that that will begin to change and an art can
Speaker 1: be then an uh an expression or an extension of
Speaker 1: freedom and a new reality. And that reality is love
Speaker 1: is love and it doesn't matter who it is that
Speaker 1: you love. And I think that's the beauty of that
Speaker 1: story of this film, is that love is love and
Speaker 1: loss is loss. We're going through that, I think the
Speaker 1: growing pains of a shifting society. And you know, we
Speaker 1: could talk about this a lot, but maybe over one
Speaker 1: of your negronis one day. But you know, this whole
Speaker 1: idea of you know, opening the doors to people who
Speaker 1: were not represented before and yet I I totally understand this,
Speaker 1: But the idea of having to have an actor who's
Speaker 1: portraying a certain role come from that role. UM, I
Speaker 1: think that's a slippery slope too, because are we all
Speaker 1: aren't we all occupying me like I'm an actor, but
Speaker 1: aren't all actors occupying a a an you know, an
Speaker 1: alternate personage, and you know the idea that you have
Speaker 1: to be that person to occupy that space. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I I find that I find that challenge,
Speaker 1: you know, challenging to wrap my head around. And I
Speaker 1: don't I don't believe in that. I just read this
Speaker 1: interview with Rupert Everett, uh and he said, no, I
Speaker 1: don't believe the gay actors should only play that that.
Speaker 1: No one who isn't gay should not be able to
Speaker 1: play a gay role, and no one who is gay
Speaker 1: shouldn't be able to play a straight role, exactly. And
Speaker 1: that's the problem. That's the genesis of it. The genesis is,
Speaker 1: as I said, before gay actors, gay people were not
Speaker 1: allowed to simply be who they were in society. So
Speaker 1: if you can't be that, then you're hiding all the time.
Speaker 1: And then gay men are playing straight men and only
Speaker 1: straight men, and then so everyone so everyone is straight
Speaker 1: right in society. But you know, but by the old
Speaker 1: sort of standards, and you're like, no, it doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense. It makes no sense. So well, once once
Speaker 1: there's an opening, than anybody it sounds so silly, But
Speaker 1: anyone then will be accepted playing anyone. You don't mean yes,
Speaker 1: making sense or yes you are you are I think.
Speaker 1: I think what you're saying is no, no, I no,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about it. It's it's how we view people
Speaker 1: as a society that that prevents or gives permission to
Speaker 1: people to play a whole host of roles. Because I
Speaker 1: think that's what happened to uh Rupert Everett, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was typecast and right, and I think that the roles,
Speaker 1: the roles right up for him because he was only
Speaker 1: viewed as a certain way, which was justly unfair. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but to me, Ruferts have wonderful actor. That's
Speaker 1: that's all I know. I don't I don't know anything
Speaker 1: different than that. I don't care if if a person whatever,
Speaker 1: they're sexual, I don't really care. Well, I think the
Speaker 1: more race are just changing so much, and that people,
Speaker 1: you know, I think, I think things have changed so dramatically,
Speaker 1: and I'm writing a memoir and right now, and I
Speaker 1: just even look back on the nineties when I was
Speaker 1: covering stories or you know, some of the questions I asked,
Speaker 1: whether it was about sexual harassment with Anita Hill, or
Speaker 1: how I interviewed Matthew Shepard's parents, or how we covered
Speaker 1: Rodney King. You know, it was just in so many ways,
Speaker 1: Stanley clueless. And I think that we have evolved so much.
Speaker 1: I mean sometimes to the point where you know, it
Speaker 1: comes crashing down on top of you if you if
Speaker 1: you haven't evolved enough. But it's just it's really fascinating
Speaker 1: to me just how much in the last gosh two
Speaker 1: decades or so our attitudes have shifted for the better.
Speaker 1: And and I think that's that's what you're saying. No,
Speaker 1: I think you're right, and I think particularly in the
Speaker 1: particularly in the last like almost like three years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's frail, but that's also because of the technology. It's technology,
Speaker 1: but also, you know too pretty dramatic social movements social
Speaker 1: you know, whether you're talking about Black Black Lives Matter,
Speaker 1: Me Too, and Time's Up. Um, you know, I think
Speaker 1: that the confluence of those two movements have really put
Speaker 1: the issues front and center as they've never been before
Speaker 1: for the better. I think. You know, obviously the pencil
Speaker 1: incolns in certain cases wing too far. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think, no, no social justice movement is perfect, but
Speaker 1: I think it's uh, you know, I think that that
Speaker 1: has has really moved the ball forward in such a
Speaker 1: palpable significant way. And so I guess that's what. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say that you have as you said,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna ask you a question if I may.
Speaker 1: That you have seen it, you know, as a as
Speaker 1: a reporter for so many years, and it has distinctly
Speaker 1: changed for you. Do you how do you feel now
Speaker 1: about when you're when you're talking to people? How do
Speaker 1: you is it Is it easier for you now or
Speaker 1: is it harder for you now? Because there are so
Speaker 1: many caveats in a way, right, I think the umbre
Speaker 1: this is your thing, so you can just no, no, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think they're listen. I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: cultural conditioning, deep seated attitudes that are formed and um,
Speaker 1: you know, compounded over years and years of visual stimuli,
Speaker 1: you know, com sations, mass media, um, you know, familial
Speaker 1: uh kind of I think outlooks, uh you know, they
Speaker 1: form us as a person. And I think what what's
Speaker 1: really hard is to you know, be vulnerable enough two
Speaker 1: to kind of challenge your own your own biases which
Speaker 1: have developed over the years. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: it can be tricky because I think the current landscape,
Speaker 1: you know, people want to jump on people right away,
Speaker 1: right this instantaneous judgment, and there's very little forgiveness in
Speaker 1: the culture. There's very little forgiveness for mistakes. And I've
Speaker 1: made I've made my fair share of mistakes, certainly, and
Speaker 1: when you're when you're a public figure, it's it can be.
Speaker 1: It can be very tough and very pain well honestly
Speaker 1: when when you but but I you know, I would
Speaker 1: hope that people can recognize fair minded individuals who want
Speaker 1: to learn and want to be better. But it doesn't
Speaker 1: happen overnight, necessarily after you know, sixty years of of conditioning.
Speaker 1: So I try to be mindful. Um, I try not
Speaker 1: to say stupid things. But I also you know, I
Speaker 1: I like I like compassionate teachers, you know. I think
Speaker 1: that that um you know, and and by the way,
Speaker 1: you know, this is me coming from me as a
Speaker 1: sixty four year old who has had certain life experiences
Speaker 1: and privileges, and I get that, um, But but you know,
Speaker 1: it can it can be tricky. And I pride myself
Speaker 1: on being a lifelong learner and being open to understanding
Speaker 1: and I think, Um, you know, I really appreciate the
Speaker 1: opportunity and more than that, I appre shape that changes
Speaker 1: I'm witnessing and um, but but I think for for
Speaker 1: some people it does take adjusting and and once in
Speaker 1: a while, UM, I think a little bit of slack
Speaker 1: can be a good thing. You know, I agree, But
Speaker 1: I have my twenty five year old, extremely woke daughter
Speaker 1: there to keep me in line every step of the way.
Speaker 1: How about you do your do your kids your older kids,
Speaker 1: not your little ones. Um, do you feel like they're
Speaker 1: they're educating you on some of these things? Yes, always, always,
Speaker 1: they educate you on who who you are. It's it's
Speaker 1: always changing. It's always different, um. I think, particularly in
Speaker 1: the pandemic, because there's no consistency. Who knows, you know,
Speaker 1: when somebody's living or there, when they're going to go
Speaker 1: back to school, when they can come back home and say,
Speaker 1: and you know, one of my daughters went and stayed
Speaker 1: with her boyfriend for like almost six weeks, and rightly so,
Speaker 1: I mean she's twenty one years old, and you know,
Speaker 1: and then but he was staying with us for a
Speaker 1: while before that, and so I don't know that it's
Speaker 1: It's the whole thing is everything is heightened and exacerbated.
Speaker 1: Any issues, good or bad, are exacerbated by this pandemic.
Speaker 1: But do they teach you about kind of you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like young people are are so aware and
Speaker 1: so so much better than we we are in some ways,
Speaker 1: and and and when it comes to kind of societal
Speaker 1: issues and change and and you know, these thorny matters
Speaker 1: of race and gender and class, do you feel like
Speaker 1: you know, I I first heard the word intersectionality from
Speaker 1: my daughter, and uh, what's the word intersectionality. It's about
Speaker 1: the intersection of race and gender. And you know, um,
Speaker 1: she's so she's so smart. But that's what I meant.
Speaker 1: Do they kind of open your eyes and challenge perhaps
Speaker 1: some of the way ways you've thought about things. To say, Dad,
Speaker 1: have you ever considered this without without question, without question?
Speaker 1: I think the only thing that I fear, and this
Speaker 1: is inevitable when things sort of start to till in
Speaker 1: another direction in extreme too far. Yeah, Uh, is a
Speaker 1: a lack of irony. And I think that irony is
Speaker 1: absolutely crucial to our existence. It it is the the
Speaker 1: sort of genesis or the basis of all humor of
Speaker 1: good humor, right right, Um, So I fear the loss
Speaker 1: of irony. Um when somebody can't make somebody makes a
Speaker 1: joke and you're like, oh you're a racist, or oh
Speaker 1: you're a sexist, or oh you're a blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: and you're like no, actually, no, no, no, it was
Speaker 1: just you know, there was something sort of not even
Speaker 1: a joke, just you know something. So I I fear
Speaker 1: the loss of irony. But I do think that eventually
Speaker 1: things come around, and this is a natural progression. I
Speaker 1: think earnestness and irony are probably they're They're not the
Speaker 1: best cocktail, right, No, they're not the best cocktail, but
Speaker 1: they can. It's like a poost cafe. You don't in
Speaker 1: poosh cafe, I don't, okay, so a poosh cafe. If
Speaker 1: I look at that, that actually that print behind you
Speaker 1: or painting behind you. So it's layers. So what you
Speaker 1: do with the posh cafe is you take the heaviest
Speaker 1: liquor and you put you know, a drop in, you know,
Speaker 1: a shot. Then you take another liquor and you put
Speaker 1: it in and they lay on top of one and
Speaker 1: that it's a very complicated drink. You can be made
Speaker 1: with like seven, fourteen or twenty one likes something insane.
Speaker 1: No one would ever. I mean it's disgusting, but visually
Speaker 1: it's quite beautiful. Uh, And so you layer it and
Speaker 1: that's the way those two things sort of have to
Speaker 1: sit like that. But at the same time, you have
Speaker 1: we have to let them come together. We have to
Speaker 1: let earnestness and irony come together. And we go through
Speaker 1: periods of time where that happens, and then it changes again.
Speaker 1: I think it, you know, yeah, it changes. Well that's
Speaker 1: a good site there again. Yeah, we just need a
Speaker 1: good a good shaker like the ones you use, like
Speaker 1: the ones you use for your cocktails on Instagram. Wasn't
Speaker 1: that as seamless transition? Come on, who are you talking to,
Speaker 1: Stanley Tucci? Of course the hot mixologists. We'll get behind
Speaker 1: those cocktails right after this. I've gotten such a kick
Speaker 1: out of you. First of all, hilariously you're the sauceman,
Speaker 1: as you know, Stanley and uh, but also as the
Speaker 1: as the the hot mixologist on Instagram. So how did
Speaker 1: that all start? Obviously your wife Felicity, who I'm so
Speaker 1: happy that you met Felicity, and and you know, you
Speaker 1: talked about love is love and lost his lost You
Speaker 1: lost your wife. I lost my husband. So that's why
Speaker 1: I feel like we actually can talk about that because
Speaker 1: we have that in common. But um, I guess, uh,
Speaker 1: you and Felicity, first of all, can I ask you
Speaker 1: real quickly about your meeting because you were at Emily,
Speaker 1: Emily Blunt and John Chris. I always say his name
Speaker 1: r Krasinski, right, Prosinsk Krasinski's wedding. I love him, by
Speaker 1: the way, I just don't say his name very often. Um.
Speaker 1: And that's when you met Felicity, emily sister, and she
Speaker 1: had you at hello, right, No, not really, um, she no,
Speaker 1: she We actually had met at the devil Wares product premier. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I talked to her for a while, but she
Speaker 1: ended up really talking to Kate, my late wife, a
Speaker 1: lot about books because you know, they're voracious readers. And um,
Speaker 1: I actually have a photograph of them together. That's so
Speaker 1: that's so moving actually that Felicity's mom took um. But yes,
Speaker 1: then I went to EM's wedding and this was uh,
Speaker 1: oh gosh, maybe a year yeah, a year after Kate
Speaker 1: had passed away, and yeah, you know, we met and
Speaker 1: re met and we hit it off and then we
Speaker 1: I was coming to England to do uh Captain America
Speaker 1: and and yeah and sorry that just made me laugh. No,
Speaker 1: I know, it's weird. I know. I played the the
Speaker 1: the elderly Jewish scientists who created Captain America, which was actually,
Speaker 1: have to say, one of the best jobs I've ever
Speaker 1: had in my life. Uh um. And and then we started,
Speaker 1: you know, going out to dinner and we started dating
Speaker 1: and then yeah that was that. One thing led to
Speaker 1: another and you all had two children and uh and
Speaker 1: and and this wonderful new life together. So I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm just very happy for you both. And I feel
Speaker 1: like I feel like Felicity was sort of behind the
Speaker 1: Instagram cocktail making that you totally I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I have no savvy when it comes to this stuff.
Speaker 1: So she said, um, why don't you do a cocktail
Speaker 1: the beginning of Lockdown? First Lockdown, she said, to a
Speaker 1: cocktail for Curtis Brown, our agency where she works and
Speaker 1: I'm represented by. And I said, yeah, it would just
Speaker 1: be an in house thing, and you know you're doing
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, great, and then we did it and
Speaker 1: sent it to everyone and they were so happy, and
Speaker 1: she said, put it on your Instagram. So we did
Speaker 1: that and meaning I don't actually know how to do it,
Speaker 1: but you know, yeah, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: then um, uh it that happened. It blew up, as
Speaker 1: the kids say, Stanley, it blew up. Yeah, we crashed it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you don't say you say we crushed it
Speaker 1: or we crashed it. That's the word. Sorry Jesus. Um.
Speaker 1: Before we go, I want to give a quick shout
Speaker 1: out to your upcoming upcoming book. So what is this
Speaker 1: one about and when does it come out? Well, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a it's a memoir of sorts. It's called
Speaker 1: Taste My Life Through Food And it's exactly that up
Speaker 1: to now because I don't know, give me a better
Speaker 1: elevator pitch than that. And it's just about like, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up and eating great things and then you know,
Speaker 1: you know a little bit about Julia and Julia some
Speaker 1: of some little anecdotes there and things like that, and
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes it delves into the particulars of of
Speaker 1: pasta and bologna, uh and experiences with that. Um. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you know, it's just I don't know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is. I've never done anything
Speaker 1: like it. I'm going through the you know, copy of
Speaker 1: its now, which I'm doing that right now. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: have I have a memoir that is actually due yesterday, Stanley,
Speaker 1: and I've been going through, yeah, and I've been working
Speaker 1: on it for about two and a half years, and
Speaker 1: I'm going through everything now, and I don't know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm sort of panicked right now that that Gosh, it
Speaker 1: makes you feel very vulnerable. You're putting something out in
Speaker 1: the world. It's extremely personal, it's ridiculously honest. It's um,
Speaker 1: you know about Honestly, it's it's the only memory I'll
Speaker 1: ever write. It's about my life and how I got
Speaker 1: into this crazy business and sort of the tragedies and
Speaker 1: the triumphs of course, and you went through a real loss,
Speaker 1: but you know, and also I've had some professional disappointments.
Speaker 1: I've dealt with some you know, real dicks in the business,
Speaker 1: and um, and so I am like putting this out
Speaker 1: there and and all of a sudden, I'm seized by
Speaker 1: terror that that I'm doing this, and I kind of
Speaker 1: just want to put the whole thing in a fire.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that, ever, or is this just me
Speaker 1: as I'm going through it today. I thought, what am
Speaker 1: I doing? Who cares? You know? And also it's like,
Speaker 1: why would you want to? But I want to tell
Speaker 1: the story, you know what I mean. I want to
Speaker 1: sell the story of food and I'm fascinated by it.
Speaker 1: But to tell the story of food, I have to
Speaker 1: tell the story about myself, right, And that's hard and scary,
Speaker 1: really scary. Really. Yeah, Well, I'm glad you're feeling the
Speaker 1: same way. That makes me feel a little bit better.
Speaker 1: Going totally, I was totally like not sleeping, worried and
Speaker 1: self full, just just full of self down down, and
Speaker 1: you know, bordering on loathing. Yes, of course, yes, yes, yeah. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Well listen, I feel like this has been a really
Speaker 1: helpful therapy session for me. I'll do anything I can
Speaker 1: to help you. Thank you, thank you, and uh I
Speaker 1: want you to I want you to be able to
Speaker 1: be with your children. But I really love talking to you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for doing our little podcast daily. Well, thank you,
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate it. I'm glad I worked out.
Speaker 1: I just think you're wonderful. Thanks Stanley. I love Stanley Tucci.
Speaker 1: If you're also on the Tucci train, you've got to
Speaker 1: check out this SNL short Tucci Gang with Pete Davidson
Speaker 1: singing and Sam Rockwell giving us some good Tucci energy.
Speaker 1: It is a riot. Some of you don't know the
Speaker 1: name who, but that's that guy from the Home Games.
Speaker 1: Next Question with Katie Kurik is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Media and Katie Curic Media. The executive producers Army,
Speaker 1: Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen.
Speaker 1: Associate producers Derek Clements, Adrianna Fasio, and Emily Pinto. The
Speaker 1: show is edited and mixed by Derrick Clements. For more
Speaker 1: information about today's episode, or to sign up for my
Speaker 1: morning newsletter, Wake Up Paul, go to Katie Currek dot com.
Speaker 1: You can also find me at Katie Curic on Instagram
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