Interview with Crash &
Burn
April 16, 2001
Crash & Burn, Federico's
webmasters over at CyberGrace Web Design,
sat down with him in his studio at
home on for the following interview...enjoy!
CyberGrace Web Design:
How are you handling all of the recent success that you’ve had -- whether it
be all the press, the people stopping you on the street and/or just the success
of the show in general?
Federico:
"I think the success is a great thing actually. Everybody, from when they’re
children, kind of has that thought of being famous or wanting fame and saying
‘I can’t wait until my friends see me’. But that thought is kind of a
fleeting thought. When you get down to it, it’s really the work that counts
and if I’m concentrating, focused and doing good work, then I’m going to get
noticed for that and that’s a great feeling. That’s why I don’t mind what’s
going on right now. I really don’t mind. I welcome it because it doesn’t
even happen that often in someone’s career, if at all, you know? People go
their entire career trying to make it as an actor and they never achieve this
type of notoriety or celebrity or fame or whatever you want to call it."
CGWD:
Was it what you expected it to be like?
Federico: "Actually,
it’s a little bit more than what I expected it be like! Because, I’ll tell
you, there were a couple of surprises. One of the surprises was that other
celebrities started knowing who I was, and I never brought that into the
equation. I never thought that Burt Reynolds, Michael J. Fox or Anthony Edwards
would know who Federico Castelluccio was. So if anyone asks me ‘Do you feel
like you’ve made it?’ – yeah, because that’s one of the things that
makes me feel like I made it, being these people are people that I’ve looked
up to in the field of acting."
CGWD:
What direction would you like to see Furio take if you had the opportunity to
pick and choose what he would do on the show? Where do you see your character
heading?
Federico:
"I see Furio always being an old world dedicated mob figure. Now I
definitely see him moving up in the ranks because he’s too smart for
everybody. I think Tony Soprano knows that and that’s why he’s kind of
laying low right now. Where I’d like to see him go is to maybe one day get his
button and start running things on his own and maybe be a liaison to his Italian
counterparts."
CGWD:
Our Message Boards on the website have exploded with the fact that Furio
needs a woman! Do you think that he is the one-woman type or a "Bing"
man like the rest of the guys?
Federico:
"Oh God - now, we’re talking about Furio, right?!!"
(laughs)
"Furio Giunta is definitely
not a one-woman man. He’s definitely going to take what’s going to come his
way if it looks right to him. He does like voluptuous women from what we’ve
seen and what we’ve heard on the show, right? But at the same time, you know,
I think it has to be someone that’s going to look right next to him, visually,
esthetically. Before that though, work always comes first before any of the
girls. You can tell the guy is straightforward and dedicated to his work."
CGWD: Who
do you think – you, Federico Castelluccio – should kill Ralphie?
Federico: "Really,
you want me to answer that? I think Furio should kill him and he should die in
the same manner that maybe a gladiator dies because he’s so obsessed with the
movie. I think that he should die in the style of a gladiator. He’s just
stirring up too much trouble lately! Of course, I’m sure that everybody that
would be asked this question would want to say their character would love to
kill him."
CGWD:
Are you finding it a challenge to play Furio, especially in scenes where you’re
being violent or you’re doing drugs?
Federico:
"One thing I do welcome is diversity. Being an actor, you want to play
characters that are complete opposite of yourself, and I think it’s
challenging as an actor to do different, diverse things. You’re referring to
when they had asked me (in a previous interview) about the drug scene before
Livia’s wake? That is something that I never got into in my personal life. I
know a lot of people who got into it around me and they do what they want to do
– I don’t have any opinions on that. For me though, personally, I had a
really hard time doing the scene because I’m so against it. But Furio – I
had to ask myself ‘okay, would Furio do it?’ and I said to myself ‘absolutely’,
so I had to put all my morals aside."
CGWD:
What did you use for that scene by the way?
Federico:
"It was a substance that they use in films – like a baby laxative or
something like that!"
CGWD:
No kidding! Did you get sick from it or anything?
Federico:
"No, my nose starting running but that’s about it."
CGWD:
How has the success affected your family and friends?
Federico:
"That’s an interesting question because it seems like my family has kind
of become famous as well with their friends and in a vicarious manner. Their
friends are looking at them like they could be stars themselves. It’s really
funny how people react to you."
CGWD:
Are they welcoming it or are they feeling they have no more privacy?
Federico:
"No, no, no. It’s very much welcomed. They really get a kick out of
seeing how people react to me when we’re out."
CGWD:
Well, we always knew it was going to happen!! Who are your biggest acting
influences?
Federico:
"Well, one of my main contemporaries that has influenced me – I just
recently met him too – is Sean Penn. Sean Penn and Gary Oldman."
CGWD:
Who have learned the most from on the set of
The
Sopranos?
Federico:
"Being that I work with Gandolfini mostly, I learned quite a bit from him.
I’ve been observing his work for many, many years and have been learning from
him not only now, but from other films and plays that he’s done. So I’d have
to say that it’s got to be James Gandolfini because he is a very generous and
giving actor, as well as a person."
CGWD:
Generous in what way as an actor?
Federico:
"As an actor, when I say being generous -- when you have an actor that’s
giving you something when you’re working together, it makes your work that
much easier to do because he’s giving you the emotions and you’re working
off of that emotion. That’s the way I like to work -- I’m a moment-to-moment
person, a moment-to-moment actor. I get a different reaction and different
result every time."
CGWD:
I have questions about TV, Film and Theatre because I know you’ve done all
three. Is there one specific medium that you enjoy the most?
Federico:
"That’s really tough, you know, because my heart lies in theatre. That’s
where I started and studied and still have an incredible desire to go back to
theatre now, I mean, as we sit here tonight. I couldn’t wait to get back to
painting but there are so many obstacles in the way that I’m finding it very
difficult to sit down and paint. It’s the same thing with theatre…right now
I’m developing a project with Vinnie Pastore. It’s his project and we’re
currently work shopping it actually. But when it comes up on its feet, it’s
going to be done off-Broadway and I’m going to be playing a part in it. I can’t
wait for that and I’m glad that I’ve got it and have committed to it. But
Film is my ultimate goal. Film really intrigues me – the whole process.
Theatre is a great foundation for an actor. Theatre helps an actor realize a
character. It also it helps you see the arc of a character come to life in two
hours and see it come to a change, have it in front of an audience and get an
immediate reaction. Film and Television are very different – you’re working
and doing different scenes at different times. It doesn’t have to be in
sequence and the editor puts everything together and makes his magic. So, it’s
two very different mediums."
CGWD:
It must be nerve-wracking to do live theatre as opposed to film…
Federico:
"It is, it is."
CGWD:
…You have timing; you have the reaction from the audience that’s live. Do
you thrive on being live in front of that audience?
Federico:
"Yeah, I do thrive on that. It’s the greatest feeling in the world but it’s
the most nerve-wracking. It’s the scariest feeling that you’d ever want to
experience. It’s like walking a tightrope and if you’ve never walked a
tightrope before and you’ve got to get to the other side, that’s exactly the
feeling. This is an analogy that has been used in theatre for many years – ‘it’s
like walking a tightrope’. And those butterflies that you get -- let me tell
you, every single night, every performance! I don’t care what actor it is, it
never goes away until you actually go out and step onto the stage and you’re
in the performance. Once you relax, that’s when all your best work comes out
– that’s why relaxation exercises are so important in acting classes. It’s
to release all that negative energy so you can be relaxed in order for you to do
your best work."
CGWD:
If you had to pick a favorite Sopranos episode so far, which would it be?
Federico:
"Actually, you know which one it is? It’s the very first episode.
That episode, and I’m sure there are other ones, but that’s the one that I
was really blown away and intrigued by because I felt that it was so deep. There
was so much more to this show, to this series than just a regular television
show. It was deep – with the ducks and with the therapy and this and that; the
killing, and it was like "Wow man, this is so amazing" and that’s
what made me watch it and want to be a part of it – that first show."
CGWD:
And now some questions on something else close to your heart – painting.
Why did you choose your current artistic style – Renaissance? Have you always
wanted to paint in that style?
Federico:
"Yeah, actually, yeah. It was from the first moment that I knew that I
wanted to paint – I thought in terms of representation. Representational art,
I should say. Growing up in an Italian family in Italy, I have a very vivid
memory of the things we used to have on our walls, which were a lot of classical
paintings and impressionist paintings. They were mainly prints and different
things like that. I was exposed to it at a very young age from my parents and
from my brother Antonio and my sister Ines because everybody really can draw in
my family. Everybody has some artistic ability. What was interesting was that
when I first picked up my oils, they were my brother’s oil paints from when he
was going to art school. I picked up the oil paints because I loved the smell of
them. My brother was using them and I always wanted to go into his room and
watch what he was doing and I would learn by watching him paint. I took this one
painting by Joshua Reynolds and I looked at it and I said to my mother "you
know, I could do that" – I knew that I could do that painting and that I
had it in me. And here I was a little kid, what was I – maybe 7 or 8 years
old? I took that and tried to do a reproduction of it. And it was a painting of
a little boy with a straw hat. I did the painting and I hated it and threw it up
on the dresser drawer. About six months down the road I went up there; I was
thinking about it and said, "let me see how that looks" and I had
hated it because the oils didn’t dry – I didn’t know that they didn’t
dry and they were still wet for a very long time. But six months later, I went
and got it back and took it down and I’m looking at it and I’m like
"you know, it’s not that bad." I had a fresh eye on it, a fresh look
at it and it really actually looked pretty good for that age."
CGWD:
Was that the first painting that you did?
Federico:
"First oil painting, yeah. Then there was another one that I did for my
brother and my sister-in-law of their cat and it was my second oil
painting."
CGWD:
Did your brother paint in the same style?
Federico:
"No, he had a really interesting style of painting – it was more
impressionistic and representational at the same time. He used impressionistic
colors but with a representational style."
CGWD:
As an artist, how do you decide what your next painting is going to be?
Federico:
"It’s a feeling, it’s an inspiration. I get inspired by different
things. I just went to see the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on
Dutch painters and it features a lot of paintings by Jan Vermeer and a lot of
the major Dutch painters of that era – the 16th century Dutch
renaissance. I got so inspired that I wanted to just go home and paint but I had
other plans. So everything that I saw in that show I have to go back and look at
and do something very similar to that. That era inspires me. I feel like I could
have easily lived in that time period. But yeah, exactly, inspiration comes from
a film or a person or anything for me."
CGWD:
This may be a silly question because I’m sure each painting varies, but how
long does it usually take from the first brushstroke to the completion?
Federico:
"Yeah, that is a question that’s very difficult to answer because every
painting has different degrees of complexity. So if I do a painting that’s
about 2 or 3 inches and there’s a lot of detail in it, it’ll probably take
me the same amount of time that a big painting would take. I don’t think it’s
any less than 4 weeks to really complete an oil painting of any size. I say any
less than 4 weeks because of the technique – it’s a glazing technique; you
have to let that dry and then go back into it with opaque painting and then
glazing again. Glazing is tint of color that goes over a certain area. If I were
to put a red gel over a light, it would turn red right? Well, that’s the same
concept. If you took a black and white painting and you put a red gel over it,
it would turn that whole thing red but you’d still see the values underneath,
you still see the gradations and everything. That’s the elementary concept of
glazing and that’s one of the major techniques that was used back in the
renaissance."
CGWD:
Okay, some quick, fun questions that I am sure everyone is curious to know the
answers to...
What is your favorite color?
Federico:
"Red – I’m a Taurus, you know – the bull, the red?!"
CGWD:
What is your favorite Food?
Federico:
"Oh, it’s got to be a plate that my mother makes – it’s spaghetti
alla marinara – it’s with olives and capers and red sauce – especially the
way my mother makes it!!"
CGWD:
Cappuccino or Espresso?
Federico:
"Espresso"
CGWD:
What is your favorite Film?
Federico:
"Cinema Paradiso – it’s one of my favorite films. It’s so
great – what a great film. Got to be, absolutely! Such a great story –
beautifully done."
CGWD:
What is your favorite word?
Federico:
"My favorite word? I can’t tell you that word!!!!" (Laughs)
CGWD:
Really?! Are you serious?
Federico:
"Oh man, yes, when it comes down to it! No, no, no. That question’s wide!
I’ll come back to that!"
CGWD:
Okay Federico. Thanks a million for the time.
Federico:
"You're quite welcome. It’s my pleasure."
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