Name Dropping

Has there been a better character actor than Steve Buscemi over the past two decades? Not really. A wiry and weirdly endearing presence in a spate of Independent films, and a favorite of filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino (beginning with Reservoir Dogs) and the Coen Brothers   —he was the bungling kidnapper deposited head first into the wood chipper near the end of Fargo.
Buscemi is a uniquely riveting and idiosyncratic performer, making an art of portraying characters who seem somewhat menacing, if forlorn, wild-eyed eccentrics. I love the range he has and his dramatic sense, and also his sense of humor, Martin Scorsese (who directed him in the first episode of HBO’s sensational Prohibition-era drama Boardwalk Empire) told a gathering of TV critics this past summer. There’s something that’s very, very strong on camera. .  with Steve as a character, whatever he plays.

Buscemi has been Emmy-nominated before. He was Tony Soprano’s doomed trying-to-go-straight cousin in The Sopranos , and he directed several episodes in that series, including the much-acclaimed season-3 Pine Barrens. Considerable Sopranos writing and directing talent is involved with Boardwalk Empire, and halfway through its 12-episode first year (a second season is on order), it seems almost a foregone conclusion that the next round of Emmy nominations will present the lion’s share of nominations in all major categories, including Best Drama, to (again) Mad Men (created by another Sopranos alum, Matthew Weiner)  and Boardwalk Empire.
Veteran character actors can sometimes make the sudden leap to top-line star. Certainly James Gandolfini  did just that in The Sopranos, and on the big screen, Anthony Quinn and Walter Matthau are among a handful who used an Oscar win to instantly propel them to marquee attractions. In Quinn’s case, a revitalized career followed supporting Oscars for Viva Zapata! and Lust for Life; for Matthau, it came after a supporting Oscar for The Fortune Cookie. By the same token, some of our best character actors remained forever just that—wonderfully invaluable, below-the-title performers essential to their films. But unable to carry them.


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