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Daily Record, Morris County, NJ - Sunday, March 26, 2000
www.dailyrecord.com

Morris Actor has the Look, Sound for 'The Sopranos'

(Click for larger image)

One shouldn’t bother a hit man while he’s eating at his favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant. Interrupting a feast of a cold antipasto, silken roasted red peppers, slabs of creamy mozzarella, calamari salad, chicken with broccoli rabe, and rigatoni with proscuitto and peas could be, well, stupid.

But Federico Castelluccio is a hit man of a different stripe.

Enjoying just such a heavenly lunch at Attilio’s Kitchen in Denville last week, while music from his favorite film, "Big Night," played in the background, Castelluccio was interrupted many, many times by well wishers and those who wanted to ask him or thank him for some favor.

Yet, each interruption was met by a smile, a hearty laugh, a kind word, a twinkle in his blue eyes – and at one point, with awe.

Tempting Dishes

That’s when Gino Pesci, co-owner of Attilio’s, who had been plying him with tempting dishes all afternoon, sat down to share a glass of vino. He pointed to Castelluccio’s chair. "I put you in my cousin’s chair," he said quietly, smiling and nodding. "That’s where he sits when he comes here."

Castelluccio’s eyes widened for a moment. "Really?" Then he grinned and raised both fists just above the table top, thumbs up. "Wow! I’m honored."

The cousin referred to is Joe Pesci, whose Academy Award-winning violent portrayal of a mobster hit man spinning out of control in "GoodFellas" is one Castelluccio greatly admires.

In that seat, in his favorite restaurant, Castelluccio had "arrived."

The 35-year-old Morris County actor and artist took a plunge into instant fame on February 8. That’s when he made his debut as Furio, a hit man from Italy who comes to work for Tony Soprano, on HBO’s hit television comic soap opera "The Sopranos."

Castelluccio came to acting only in the last dozen years. He’s been painting seriously, and getting paid for being an artist, for far longer. But the studio is a solitary art. Acting plays to his more gregarious side. And as Furio, he’s finding that fame can be both heady and overwhelming.

He just returned from California, playing the second lead in a new action drama film called "Fire." And he’s reading a new script, "Made," written by Jon Favreau (who played himself on a recent "Sopranos" episode), that he hopes to film.

Heady Experience

Attending the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards in Hollywood was a heady experience when Michael J. Fox and other actors he’d admired for years congratulated him on his work.

Now, people driving by on the highway yell to him when he passes by: "Hey, Furio!" And Castelluccio always waves back.

"It’s when they yell Federico," he said in an amused tone, "that I go, ‘Hey! How are you? Do I know you?’"

But they don’t. They just saw him on "The Sopranos."

In fact, his instant fame is such that Castelluccio had to get an unlisted phone number. "I try to be nice to everyone, but it gets crazy sometimes," he said. Which is why he doesn’t like to say where he lives.

Fans likely will find Castelluccio continuing to wreak havoc on the show, "The Sopranos," which continues this season through April 9, has just been renewed for two more seasons.

"They’re making me a regular next year," Castelluccio confided. "I don’t know if I can mention that. We’re supposed to be signing the contracts this week."

He’s also excited that the series creator, David Chase, who uses plenty of New Jersey locations, may be setting a couple of episodes in Boonton.

"They might film some of it right here," Castelluccio said. "That would be fun."

Furio is a small part. But Castelluccio is already a standout: Steely, blue-eyed gaze. Long dark ponytail. Rugged physique – like he could knock you down in one blow. Charming smile. Brooding good looks. A chilling way with a bat. A calm intensity capable of erupting like a volcano.

Not to mention his sterling Italian accent, a Naples dialect so authentic that actress Edie Falco, who plays Carmela Soprano on the show, could be forgiven for being confused when she heard him speak impeccable American English off-camera.

"She thought I really was from Italy," he said, clearly tickled at the joke. "I’m a very good observer and mimic. I drive my girlfriend (model Stephanie Norwood) crazy, because I do impressions of the crazy little things she does."

Actually, Castelluccio is from Italy, and only recently became an American citizen.

Born in Naples, he moved with his family to Paterson when he was 4. He spoke only Italian at home, English at school and on the streets.

Pieces of Canvas

His father, a musician, used to bring home pieces of canvas from the textile and dye factory where he worked for little Federico to paint on. His mother, who put her eye for color and shape into her cooking, would encourage and critique her son’s work.

So Castelluccio developed into a serious artist, winning a four-year scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he graduated in 1986. He worked as a graphics illustrator all through art school, for six years.

His oil portraits have the feel of the Renaissance to them, in the combination of glazes and alla prima technique, and the rich patina of color. And in the dignity and strength of the ordinary people whose lives, history and worth Castelluccio strives to capture on canvas: An Italian mason with rolled kerchief for a cap and a cathedral, like those he’s repaired, in the background. A white-smocked butcher, forced to sell his family-owned business, standing against a factory wall in which Castelluccio etched the ghost of a steer in the cracked facade.

Many of them, including the still life paintings he is currently working on, have a religious theme, as well.

"Maybe it’s my upbringing," he joked. "Yeah, I was an altar boy. Everything. Could you imagine? An altar boy, and now (I’m) shooting somebody’s kneecap off?"

Learned Quickly

But it’s not really ironic, he insisted. In his neighborhood, he learned pretty quickly that nobody was going to watch his back for him. All his boyhood friends developed their own tough guy personae and learned to fight, if they had to.

He said his parents wanted him and his two brothers and sister to steer clear of the people "connected" to the mobster scene in Paterson, where he grew up. But he was drawn to them.

"I knew a lot of these kind of characters. I grew up around them," he said. "I don’t want to name names, but I loved listening to them. The way they moved. I didn’t even realize what I was doing back then, but just ended up imitating them."

He ended up doing portraits for them, too.

"They’d come and ask me to paint their sister. ‘She’s a nice Italian girl. So do a nice painting, OK?’ So I did."

Being an artist and actor allowed him to be an observer, rather than a player. In "The Sopranos," the mobsters have a certain image of themselves. On some level, Castelluccio still seems enamored of the lifestyle he portrays, as he talks about his "connected" friends who tell him what they like and don’t like about the hit TV show.

"My answer to them is, it’s Hollywood," he said, hesitantly explaining that there are elements of the show that his friends don’t think are true.

"You have to give the audience what they want to see."

Which is why he doesn’t see the violence on "The Sopranos" as anything to feel guilty about.

Creating Something

"If I were really doing it in real life, yeah," he said. "But when you’re working as an actor, it’s almost like you’re creating something. Like a painter.

"There should be no walls. No barriers. Everything for the art, because it should be believable and true. That’s why, when you see me do what I do, I don’t care, I’m that character."

He loves working on the show. He already knew Vincent Pastore, who plays Big Pussy Bonpensiero on the show, from a film they did called "Eighteen Shades of Dust." And he knew Michael Imperioli from the New York theater circuit. The pace of filming each episode in eight days doesn’t leave much time for hanging out.

"It’s more like working in the theater," he said, explaining that when you spend so much time rehearsing a play, you become like a family. "This is like my second family, the Sopranos."