WEBVTT - Stanley Tucci does — and eats — it all 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.960 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric, and welcome to next question today. 0:00:06.080 --> 0:00:08.360 I have such a treat for you, a man you 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:12.559 are certainly familiar with. He can make you laugh, he 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:16.919 can make you swoon, Julia, you are the butter to 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.200 my bread and the breath to my life. I love you, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.160 Darling Grew. And he can also make a mean NECRONI 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:29.120 you can do it on the rocks. It's kind of 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.519 nice to have it up. It's Stanley Tucci, Everyone's favorite 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:42.080 pandemic sauceman. Enjoy. Are we doing the thing right now? 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.520 Or are we? Yeah? Yeah, we're doing it right now. 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:51.120 This isn't yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm so happy to 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:55.000 see you, and I know that you too. I really 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.160 appreciate that you've, Stanley, been able to cram me into 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.200 your very very busy but because what can I say, 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:07.959 there's been a Tucci sons. Yeah, Am I right? Yes? 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:14.480 I think so? Yes, which yeah is wonderful and embarrassing. Yes, well, 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.520 I think it's just plain wonderful and I'm not embarrassed 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.240 at all. But I want to ask you about all 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.840 the different things you've been doing, Stanley, because you have 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:27.320 been so busy, you have your CNN series about Italy, 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.280 you have an upcoming book, you have a movie you 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:35.080 just did with my my, my sauceman, Colin Firth. I mean, 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.120 you're you're also my sauceman's family. But I have had 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.759 I have had a thing for Colin Firth, uh for 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.920 for decades now. Well it's it's hard not to. We're 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.320 going to talk about Colin and your wonderful movie with him, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.760 and also about how you're delighting all your Instagram followers 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.920 with your cocktails, and we'll talk about that and you 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.400 and Felicity and how that all got started. But I 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:03.640 thought we should start by talking about your extraordinary series 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.320 on CNN, which I have to be honest, makes me 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.040 very very hungry. And since I've sworn off carbs, damn you, 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:14.919 Stanley Tucci. Is it like a brioche? Yeah, and it's 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:20.079 even healthy as compared to this, This is b spride. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:25.799 It's a sort of doughnuts with a cream. I can't 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:30.880 imagine a better assignment for you, Stanley, because your Italian 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:35.239 on both sides, you're a foodie, uh from way back, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.360 and you'd love to travel. So how much fun was 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:43.080 this just exploring these regions and and what did you 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.960 learn from the experience, Well, I learned a great deal 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:52.000 because we wanted to incorporate always um, not just that 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.360 the idea of it. Like, first of all, I wanted 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.280 to sort of dispel the myth that Italy is the 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.800 food of Italy is bustin pizza in panamajana, which is 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.880 not an actual Italian. Yes, I saw, I saw some 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:09.200 of the innerds that you were consuming, and I have 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.040 to say, I think I would say check please, I'm 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:16.040 not an adventurous eater Stanley. Oh no, but Katie, then 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.560 we'll go out to dinner and you will be fine. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:24.200 I promise, I promise you needn't be afraid. But the 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.880 the I wanted to dispel that myth that you know, 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.399 pasta is with every meal and the tomatoes and everything 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.040 and so on and so forth. Yes, that's that can 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:37.280 that's true in certain parts of Italy, but not all 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:42.480 parts of Italy. Pasta gives way to polenta, which gives 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:49.200 way to rice, and everything is cyclical and everything is seasonal. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:56.840 And the Italian still promote this and believe it and 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.680 live by it. And I think that's one of the 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:05.040 things it makes them so, that makes that their cuisine 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:10.880 so attractive. But but the but the idea that you 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:18.240 can have um cavalonero, which is a a black kil 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:20.920 that you have that in the North, but you don't 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.520 necessarily have that in the South, that you have egg 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.200 plant down in the south, but you don't have that. 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.360 You never see an egg plant, You'll never see a tomato, 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:33.000 you very seldom have pasta. But the other aspect was 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.440 that I wanted to show Italy not in a rope 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.560 and a completely romantic light, but to show it truthfully 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:44.279 through its food. And as you delve into that food, 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.800 specifically in each region, what you're going to end up 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:54.160 delving into is the society. And every society has issues, 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.680 and there is a huge amount of poverty in Italy 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.960 to this day, not just in the South but in 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.599 the North as well. And there's a lot of prejudice, 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:12.680 there's a lot of um uh, sort of let's say, 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:17.039 governmental confusion as to what a safety net should be 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:21.320 and what a safety net shouldn't be. Um And you 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.559 want to in each episode sort of shine a little 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.080 bit of a light on that. I think you do 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.119 you know, I was I was going to say, Stanley, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.360 I was taken with how you showed sort of these 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.440 forces that were budding up against each other in an 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.960 episode when you talked about kind of gentrification or trying 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:47.520 to have new restaurants in this certain area and how 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.479 they were being bombed, and that to me was a 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.960 microcosm of some of the social issues that are happening everywhere, 0:05:55.120 --> 0:06:03.520 this reaction to multiculturalism, to disruption, etcetera. Yeah, it's it's 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.800 really interesting and it's very sad because to me as 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:11.880 as a as a as an Italian American um. You know, yes, 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.760 when Italians came over, they came over because they were 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.839 they were suffering terribly in Italy and the between the 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:23.120 wars or prior to World War One. But to think 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:28.960 that Italy would reject people in need when a lot 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:34.320 of countries, American particular, accepted so many Italians when they 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.200 were in need, is heartbreaking to me. And it's not 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.680 that when the Italians came to America that they weren't vilified, 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:49.880 that they weren't ostracized, that they weren't demonized, but ultimately 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.640 what they ended up doing was making our society so 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:59.279 much better. And in Italy there are those who really 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:06.080 see the benefit fits of of immigration and there are those, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:11.320 particularly in the North who don't uh. And one episode, 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.400 the episode of Milan, I interview and spend time with 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:21.240 the guy who is the sort of gamekeeper of of 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.720 Lake Como and he looks after the health of the lake. 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:32.000 He's a fisherman and he's an ardent environmentalist and yet 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.400 at the same time, and these things don't often go together. 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:41.640 He's he's anti immigration and he's part of the of 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:47.880 the League, which is the right wing um you know, 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:52.720 a political group headed by Salvini Um. So there's a 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.040 real dichotomy there and we had a good conversation about it. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:01.160 But you know, he's a lovely I have a great 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.520 family and everything. But you just think if you, if you, 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:11.520 if you could only see that the more diversity there is, 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.960 the healthier country is. How did COVID affect the production 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.760 schedule and what was it like kind of taking this 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.840 on in the middle of a global pandemic. Well, it 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.160 was We did the first four episodes prior to the pandemic. 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:31.040 The second you know, the second leg of it was 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:37.560 done just two episodes. It just makes it more complicated, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.600 it makes it harder. It's not it's not as much 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.720 fun Um, you want to be you want to follow 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:50.480 all the protocols and be really careful and and every 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.959 day you're learning something new at that point about COVID 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.160 and um, well still, but it was it was hard. 0:08:58.559 --> 0:08:59.839 It was hard. I mean, I have a friend of 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:04.160 my on who's directing a series here now excuse me, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:09.559 for Netflix, I think for Netflix something and he and he, uh, 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.160 one of those, one of those. He told me that 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:16.080 they've added seventeen million dollars to their budget simply for 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:23.840 testing and COVID protocols. I'm doing something here and I'm tested. Uh. 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:26.719 Once I start the job on Thursday, I think I'm 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.280 tested five days a week. So if you think about 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:36.040 hundreds of people, how much that costs. Um, it's going 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:39.920 to actually change the face of the film industry significantly. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.439 Because the movie that I made with Colin will will 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:50.960 be called Supernova, that we made for three million, three 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.840 million pounds. You won't see a movie like that for 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:58.559 quite a while. Why is that because of the protocols? Okay, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:06.120 I can't afford it. We'll talk about Supernova, but you 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:10.240 don't really you don't really talk much about the pandemic 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.600 in the series, which I thought was interesting. There would 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:17.760 be maybe a mask here, an elbow bump there, and 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:22.000 um was that a conscious decision because Italy was so 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.200 devastated and of course we watched in horror as so 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:31.480 many people were dying from from this disease. Did you 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.079 feel like it would date it or you know, how 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.400 did you decide to handle that? You know, I don't know. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.640 I don't know, Katie, I don't know why we didn't 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:47.000 do that. I think I think we were I think 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.120 we were all a bit shocked by it, and I 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:53.240 think we just wanted to try to move forward because 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:55.760 it was at a point where we thought that things 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:01.360 were getting better. And you know, you don't want to 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:06.839 skirt the issue, but you also don't. It's not an investigator, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.680 you know what I mean. It's not it's not that 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:15.520 you want to acknowledge it. But but I going forward, 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.120 I would I would like to talk more about that. 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.440 I would like to talk more about um, the loss 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:32.440 and also the success of the way the Italians UH 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.559 handled it from the get go. You may get a 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.480 chance to do that because I know you're doing another season. 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.040 Is it going to be searching for Italy or is 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:46.080 it going to be searching for the UK. What are 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.160 you going to be searching next, Stanley, Well, we're going 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:55.560 to search different regions. We're gonna do um, we're gonna 0:11:55.559 --> 0:12:01.400 do six different regions, six different regions of the world. Italy. 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:09.360 Oh you're doing more Italy though, Yeah, No, not at all. 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.160 I'm excited about it. In fact, I think for a 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.600 lot of people, we just got so much vicarious pleasure, 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.760 not only watching you eat. And I have to ask 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.559 how you stay so thin, Stanley, because it's freaking annoying 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.440 to watch you eating all that stuff and then to 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.040 watch you and you're like, look like you don't even 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.760 have body fat anyway. But I think people just love 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:37.920 watching watching it, especially because we are all desperate to travel, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.320 and I think for us to see you enjoying, you know, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:48.000 these beautiful, fascinating places full of incredible people. I think 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.080 I loved, you know, meeting the people behind the food. 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.319 I think I think it's sort of spirited us away 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.400 from our our pandemic blues, if you will. So I 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.920 love it, Lee, and I'm happy you're doing more. Um. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:06.680 I I'm excited just to to watch whatever you do, Stanley. 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.600 So thank you. No, no, because you're you're so fun 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.719 to watch and you're kind of easy to be with 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.640 on television. I can't explain it, but do you know 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.240 what I mean, you're just uh, you just feel like 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:23.120 a travel companion. So it's been really nice. But but um, 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.640 do you what's the response been or a lot of 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.240 people saying that to you, Like, it's just it's just 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:32.160 so much fun to to see the world, at least 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.680 a part of the world. It is, No, it is you, 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:36.960 don't you know? I was. You have to be careful 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.640 not to make it trite, as I said, not to 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.280 make it. Um. Isn't Italy the most romantic place in 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:47.280 the world. Yes, there's romance and its romance everywhere, but 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:53.880 you know there are darker aspects of every country. Uh, 0:13:53.920 --> 0:14:00.320 and we touch on them. But I for me, oh, 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.040 for me, it's really just about telling the truth of 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:09.719 that of that country through its cuisine. And the cuisine 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:17.680 is arguably, um, the I think it's the most beloved 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.920 food in the world. Um. If anyone, if you said 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.920 to anyone, do like Italian food? Have you ever met 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:32.000 a person who says no, no, no? When we come back. 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.000 How did Stanley become such a foodie and how does 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:53.240 he stay so damn fit. That's right after this. How 0:14:53.240 --> 0:15:01.640 do you stay so skinny? Stanley? I exercise obsessively, um, 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:06.600 and I'm blessed with a very fast metabolism. Really, I 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:12.720 mean really, I toasta like every day. I hate people 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:18.120 like work, I work out. How did you become a 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.640 foodie in the first place, because this is not your 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:24.200 first rodeo when it comes to kind of exploring cuisines, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.240 can you take me back to your like food origin 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:32.320 story where you thought, I just I really love food 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.440 and who influenced you? Because I sort of know the answer, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:40.520 but some of our listeners may not. My family, my mother, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:47.520 my grandmother on both sides. Um, food, food was everything. 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:53.080 Sitting around the table at night was what you just did. 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:59.360 You were not late for dinner? Um. If you were, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:05.880 you were sort of roundly chastised. Um. And my mother 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.320 and I write about this in the book. And my 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:17.080 mother was is an incredible cook. I mean, she's the 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.960 she's the kind of person that I mean, had she 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.400 chosen to be a professional chef, she would have been extraordinary, 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.160 beyond beyond. And I'm not saying this because oh every 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.440 Italian boy loves his mother's coaching. You know, it's not 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:38.120 it's not like I've been around you know, uh, not 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:42.440 in that sense, Katie. But but you know, but you know, 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.600 you're just like whoa. No matter where I travel, no 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:52.600 matter where I go, I always go back to those 0:16:53.200 --> 0:17:01.800 flavors and that process and and when I find something new, 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:08.520 it's great. But ultimately that's the stuff that that really works, 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:14.240 I mean really works. Describe describe the Tucci family dinner 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:17.600 table growing up, because I just want to have people 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.840 get an image of it and what it was like, 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.640 where it was and kind of the commotion that would 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.639 take place there. I mean, we're just in Westchester and 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:32.800 in our house and excuse me, in Katona, and we 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:37.399 had this ranch house that that my parents had built, 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.560 which now would be I mean, you couldn't buy you 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.000 couldn't buy a car for the price of the house 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.199 and the whole thing, beautiful house on a cul de 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:53.399 sac in the in the you know, in suburbia. My 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.040 dad came out. He was at our teacher retired. It's 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.720 still alive. He's about to be. Wow, that's so nice 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.680 for you. That's great. It's great, probably better for him 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:12.080 because he still alive. But but I but yeah, it 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.399 was you know that my my mom worked in the 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:21.800 office at the high school where he taught uh in chatta, 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:27.680 and they went to work together a day, came home 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.680 every day, so my dad was home when we were 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:36.720 home after school, which was great. Uh. And then you know, 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:42.240 you do your homework or not do your homework. And then, um, 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.960 they were always cooking dinner. How many little how many 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.959 little two cheese were running around Stanley? There were there 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:53.520 were me and my two sisters, younger sisters. Um, And 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.720 it was wonderful, you know. I mean it wasn't the 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.160 time of you know, there was one black and white 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:03.440 television and my father used to watch the Huntley Brinkley Report, 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:12.920 right yeah, every night, and my mother cooked. My father 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.920 was a sush chef. There was no sort of like 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.639 the man does this, the woman does this. It wasn't 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.600 it wasn't like that, although she did do more of 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.920 the cookie uh because she was really good at it. Um. 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.720 And then everready pitched in and cleaned up, and you 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:34.600 sat around the table and you had wonderful conversations or 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:39.000 you had arguments or you had whatever. And it was 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.840 but every night was I mean, I remember my mother 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:48.320 just sort of making Paea. That was extraordinary. Were suddenly 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:53.240 you know, making you know creps, you know, with a 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.840 shamil and chicken and you know, just and you thought, 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:03.800 she's go onto work. She's worked all day. Then she 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.240 comes home and she does all this stuff. My dad 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:11.399 helps her, and then you know it was it was 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:19.760 an amazing, amazing, uh culinary experience every week every week. 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.639 So she really infused in you and your dad, I 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:27.080 think a love of food. And so that's kind of 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.920 from an early age, how you became kind of uh 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.119 enamored with cuisine? And did they speak Italian? How did 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:39.480 you become so proficient in Italian? No, they didn't really speak. 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.760 My father spoke some Italian, my mother spoke Italian, but 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:51.439 more dialect. Um. I learned in Florence when I was twelve. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:53.359 We lived there for a year when I was twelve, 0:20:53.800 --> 0:21:00.320 and then um uh of course you know your you 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:05.920 speak fluently because you don't have much else up there. Yeah, 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.879 so you know you've become the sort of you know, 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:18.680 lingual sponge. But then I when I was doing Big Night, 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:24.320 I studied Italian again for about a year, and now 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:26.960 before the series, I studied again. So every time I 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.480 go you know, it comes back suddenly, it starts to 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.360 come back. But I have to make a conservative effort 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:41.199 to to learn it properly because it disappeared. Well it 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:44.240 sounds like you know what you're talking about. All I 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:49.960 know is like Karazi and Grego and shall No, that's 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:54.760 good enough. I'd like to I'd like to learn Italian. Uh, 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:57.040 maybe I'll do that. I think it would be good 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.840 for my brain to actually a new language. To do 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:06.000 it is I do with a guy online. Um, he's Italian. 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.840 He was teaching here in England. We had like two things, 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.080 excuse me, two sessions in person, and then it was 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.120 like I was like, don't drive all the way here, 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.760 and he was in you know, North London or so 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:22.439 I was like, we'll just do it on that. You know, 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:27.240 this is pre pandemic. Uh. And now he's moved to 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:32.000 Spain where his wife is and um, we just do 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.440 it you know on zoom like this, and it's great 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.480 and it's really really great. It's really great and we 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:43.960 just like he does not allow me to speak in English, 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:48.720 which is really painful for both of us. Yeah. Um, 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:51.399 I want to talk about your the new book that's 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:53.399 that's coming out but first I want to talk to 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.639 you about super Nova. And this this this this small 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:02.080 but very moving movie that you did with my bff 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:07.119 Colin for for the uninitiated, and it is the story 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:12.480 of two men who have been a couple for twenty years. Uh, 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.000 and it's it's it's a very quiet story that unfolds 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:23.240 and and obviously your character is in early stages of dementia. Yeah, 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:36.720 teach me what that now? Why? God want? All right, 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:44.320 I want to be able to find it? H try Okay, So, um, 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:51.359 first you have to find the the what do you 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:55.160 call it? It's a shape, the shape, the shape triangle 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:03.600 and you have to find the three bright lights there 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:09.240 that make the triangle. At this one contraw a line horizontally, 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:16.679 that's right, And that's where the milky way is. What 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:19.080 drew you to the role. And why did you say 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:21.919 you must get a million script? Stanley? Let's be honest. 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:26.840 And and you know no, you come on, you do listen. 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:29.679 It's the Tucci Sons. It's the Tucci sons. Come on 0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:35.120 maybe now, yeah, but but but but I'm curious, what 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:38.960 what what has to happen to really to really suck 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:41.000 you in and to say I'm going to devote a 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:43.240 lot of time making this movie. And what was it 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:47.520 in this case? It was the purity of the script 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:52.800 and the poetry of it and the absence of drama 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:57.680 and melodrama. Uh, it was gorgeous. It was the script 0:24:57.680 --> 0:25:00.320 that I that you read and you go wish I 0:25:00.359 --> 0:25:04.280 had written that. It's beautiful. But I was not going 0:25:04.359 --> 0:25:08.359 to play that role. I was going to play Colin's role. 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:13.280 And then when I read it, I loved it so much. 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:17.639 And I watched Harry's movie, Harry McQueen, who wrote and 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:20.360 directed it. I watched his first film, which he had 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:25.840 made for ten thousand pounds. Wow. So if any filmmaker 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:30.000 thinks that they need a lot of money to make 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:33.199 a movie, well only when they have expensive actors like 0:25:33.280 --> 0:25:36.840 you Stanley. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. But he made this 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:40.159 really beautiful movie for ten thousand pounds. And then I 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:42.320 watched him that I met Harry, and he was as 0:25:42.359 --> 0:25:46.880 wonderful as his as his writing and his filmmaking. Uh. 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:49.240 And then I said, I think Collins should play the 0:25:49.280 --> 0:25:53.159 other guy. Now, unbeknownst to Harry, I slipped it to Colin, 0:25:53.880 --> 0:25:57.520 and um, Colin read it and he called me up. 0:25:57.520 --> 0:25:59.600 He goes, oh my god, it's so beautiful. I said, 0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:04.760 I know, I know. So then Colin signed on, and 0:26:05.720 --> 0:26:08.920 very soon afterward, of course the money came through. With 0:26:09.000 --> 0:26:11.840 me signed on, I'm not so sure what would have happened, 0:26:12.359 --> 0:26:17.280 but once that happened, we started talking with Harry and 0:26:17.520 --> 0:26:20.080 you know, talking through and everything. And then Colin called 0:26:20.119 --> 0:26:22.600 me and he goes, I think we have to switch roles. 0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:28.280 And I said, I'm just thinking the same thing, but 0:26:28.359 --> 0:26:31.480 I don't know why. I was gonna say why. I 0:26:31.560 --> 0:26:35.639 mean that I don't know, Katie, I don't know. It 0:26:35.800 --> 0:26:39.560 just didn't feel right. So then and you can this 0:26:39.640 --> 0:26:44.119 doesn't this doesn't happen. I mean, you can only do 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:48.760 that with your like best friend, and you know, if 0:26:48.840 --> 0:26:52.920 you can't go hey, by the way, you know, when 0:26:52.960 --> 0:26:54.359 you were signed up for a bro I think we 0:26:54.359 --> 0:26:57.760 should switched role, you know, and the studio goes, what 0:26:58.080 --> 0:27:02.000 you know, no, um, So we go to Harry, and 0:27:02.080 --> 0:27:07.720 poor Harry, you know, blanched and and he's and he said, 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:10.960 all right, well, let's you know, on typical sort of 0:27:10.960 --> 0:27:16.080 British fashion, let's read it. So we read five scenes 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:20.360 and then we switched roles because it was more right. 0:27:20.680 --> 0:27:25.800 I don't know why. There was something rhythmically more right 0:27:25.960 --> 0:27:30.040 about it being this play and the first scene is 0:27:30.320 --> 0:27:33.399 is Colin and the two of you. I think I 0:27:33.440 --> 0:27:38.520 would say in a semi spoon in bed your semi spooney. Yeah, yeah, 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:46.280 not a full spoon, but yeah, And uh, I don't 0:27:46.280 --> 0:27:48.840 know what was it? Was it fun doing this this 0:27:48.920 --> 0:27:51.600 movie with someone who you're very close to and you 0:27:51.680 --> 0:27:53.879 really like, and you play a gay couple, so you know, 0:27:54.400 --> 0:27:56.199 I think it must be an added extra if you 0:27:56.480 --> 0:28:01.560 actually like your screen partner helps, if you trust and 0:28:01.680 --> 0:28:06.000 love the person that you're working with. Um, it's always 0:28:06.000 --> 0:28:11.520 difficult to play the same sex person if you're you know, 0:28:12.080 --> 0:28:17.640 that's always more complicated. But in the end, you just 0:28:17.720 --> 0:28:24.119 want to tell that story truthfully. UM, And you know 0:28:24.400 --> 0:28:29.639 it's it's complex, but ultimately it's the story that makes 0:28:30.000 --> 0:28:34.280 makes the difference. And I feel like this is illustrative. 0:28:35.040 --> 0:28:36.760 I don't know, I mean, you would know much more 0:28:36.800 --> 0:28:41.080 about this than I. But of this opening up of 0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:46.320 of art and film too. You know, I hate to 0:28:46.320 --> 0:28:50.000 to use sort of uh you know, modern vernacular that 0:28:50.280 --> 0:28:54.920 is sometimes overused, but to make it more representative, more inclusive, 0:28:55.200 --> 0:29:00.280 more UM, you know, such a variety of experience, says, 0:29:01.160 --> 0:29:03.560 I don't know. Do you do you feel that is 0:29:03.680 --> 0:29:09.520 really happening? Um, in in in a in a significant 0:29:09.520 --> 0:29:13.360 way now, because just as a casual observer, I do, 0:29:14.080 --> 0:29:17.080 and I think it's so exciting and wonderful and it 0:29:17.160 --> 0:29:22.280 makes you realize how how myopically one sided or one 0:29:22.320 --> 0:29:27.280 dimensional a lot of our culture was. And um, and 0:29:27.320 --> 0:29:30.120 I'm just curious that if looking at the big picture, 0:29:30.200 --> 0:29:35.360