Last year at Cinevegas, your co-star Sarah Silverman mentioned the impact of your “presence” in a scene. I think I know what she meant, but I’m curious what you think she meant.
[Long pause] All it means to me is that I’m present. I’m present with anybody I’m working with. For me, that’s part of the fun of making movies or being an actor: Sharing that experience with other people. Years ago I used to do stand-up, which I liked. But I stopped doing it because I didn’t like the aloneness. I realized that I would rather be working with other people and having a shared experience. I really value that. Maybe that’s what she’s talking about.
She’s good in this film, but we’re not used to seeing Sarah Silverman really “act.” Did she solicit counsel from you at all?
No. She’s a real actress.
How hilarious was it on set with her?
She was wonderful. Of course, she’s very funny in real life, as she is in her comedy. But she’s also very, very sweet. And she can sometimes be shy and vulnerable. I found that really endearing. I thought she brought those qualities to the character as well. I thought she was just wonderful.
You’re stuck with Romany Malco’s character for much of this film, during which time he’s pretty adversarial. Yet it feels like a buddy movie in a way. Where do you think it fits on that spectrum?
It’s not really a buddy movie. It’s a road movie, and in a way, it seems like these guys are going to become friends. But they never do. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think what Virgil does in the film is kind of protective of John, because he knows what John is going to do. Virgil knows where all this is going. I think it would have been more crushing to John if he and Virgil had made a real connection. They didn’t have to become friends, but I think they still learned from each other. John probably learned more than Virgil.
The first Boardwalk Empire teaser debuted a few weeks ago. That looked great. What can you tell us about that, and what do we have to look forward to?
It was great to work with Scorsese, and that was a great appeal. But even if he were not part of it, it was Terence Winter, who was one of my favorite writers from The Sopranos, and Tim Van Patten also worked on The Sopranos as a writer/producer/director. But I just love that whole time period of the ’20s. I didn’t know much about Atlantic City in the ’20s, and it’s been great reading about it. All the characters are really rich, and the cast is amazing. It’s just a period of time i the country when prohibition, women still didn’t have the vote, and before there were a lot of media, corruption was a lot more prevalent and accepted. A lot of people knew what was going on but didn’t care as long as they were being taken care of. And so I play a guy who does take care of people, cares about the town, and cares less about what he has to do to make everybody happy.
It’s been almost 20 years since you made Reservoir Dogs, which is arguably the most influential American film of the intervening period. What are your thoughts about that influence — on you, on Quentin, on the other principals or just in general?
Well, it’s not 20 years yet. But do I think about it? No. I mean, I think about it as a film I loved working on, and I’m quite aware and grateful for what it did for me and led to after that. It certainly opened a lot of doors. But more than that, I just think of how much fun it was to make that film. Again, going back to working with first-timers, to be able to have that chance to work with Quentin when it was his first time? That’s a nice memory to have. I’m really happy for him, and proud of him and where his career has taken him. As far as the film’s place in the culture, I don’t really think about that. I’m glad that people know it and see it, but beyond that? I don’t give it much thought.
