NEED TO KNOW
John Turturro remembered how nervous he and Martin Scorsese were working with Paul Newman in 1986’s The Color of Money
Newman ended up winning an Oscar for the role
Turturro said that he eventually became friends with Newman, who gave him good advice about acting
John Turturro says working with Paul Newman was a dream come true — a very stressful dream come true.
Turturro appeared on the Aug. 18 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, which was recorded at New York City’s 92nd Street Y. Host Josh Horowitz spoke to the Severance actor about his long career, including the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money.
The movie was a sequel to 1961’s The Hustler, which saw Newman reprise his role as “Fast Eddie” Felson, a successful pool hustler. In the movie, he takes Tom Cruise’s Vincent Lauria under his wing. Turturro, 68, plays Julian, another hustler.
During their conversation, Turturro and Horowitz watched a clip from the movie. “He’s a handsome man, Paul Newman,” Turturro gushed. “I mean, wow. Come on. No matter how you looked at Paul Newman, up his nose, behind his ears, he’s so handsome. My god.”
Touchstone Pictures/Getty
Paul Newman in ‘The Color of Money’
Turturro remembered that when they made the movie, they rehearsed it all with a video camera because Newman, who died in 2008 at 83, had done that for the 1981 Sidney Lumet legal drama The Verdict. Since Turturro’s role was small, he played a lot of the parts.
“Scorsese was nervous around Paul Newman also,” Turturro remembered. “He was really nervous.” He remembered Scorsese, now 82, telling these “very long” jokes and then looking at Turturro when Newman didn’t laugh at the punch line. “He’d be like ‘Funny, right? It’s funny!’ ” the actor remembered, impersonating the director.
Turturro remembered filming his first scene on day one of shooting and that he was “so nervous.”
“I was nervous, I was working with Paul Newman,” he said. After their first take, Scorsese came to talk to him about the scene.
“I said, ‘Listen Marty, I’m a little nervous because every time I turn, I look at Paul Newman and I see Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Hustler, Hud,’ ” Turturro said, referencing some of Newman’s biggest roles. “And Marty goes, ‘You think you’re nervous?’ He goes, ‘I’ve got to direct him. You don’t understand. Every [Newman] movie goes right across my head.’ ” Turturro was “dying laughing.”
Stephen Lovekin/Variety/Penske Media via Getty
From left: Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese and John Turturro
Eventually, they got to know Newman, who was “great.” Turturro said they became friendly and did some charity work together. “He was such a lovely guy,” he said.
“He was telling me one day, he said it took him like 25 years to learn to really relax on screen. He said, ‘I was always working too hard.’ He just was, really, an interesting guy. It was a thrill,” Turturro said. The movie was “a big experience” in Turturro’s journey as an actor, and he never forgot how “very kind” Newman was.
Meanwhile, The Color of Money finally won Newman his Oscar. It was his seventh acting nomination. The movie received three other Oscar nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
Scorsese told PEOPLE when Newman won the Oscar that the actor took on a “personal” challenge by reprising his role as Eddie from The Hustler.
“Now you see Eddie with a few knocks,” Scorsese said. “He has toughened up, wised up, but he still has a way to grow, and he does. Paul gave a special performance that was controlled yet emotional. His Oscar was no consolation prize.”
Read the original article on People
