“I hated him on Do the Right Thing, to be honest with you, and he probably hated me to a certain extent,” Esposito told interviewer Brian Davids, laughing. The actor, currently starring alongside Turturro in Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket In New York, then added cryptically, “But I loved him all in the same emotional feeling because I recognized him.”
That’s all the backstory Esposito gives in the wide-ranging interview, although it’s not hard to see how the emotionally charged atmosphere of Lee’s multi-racial pressure cooker might have spilled over into some Method animosity. As fans of the film know, Esposito plays Buggin’ Out, the bespectacled neighborhood activist whose drive to force Danny Aiello’s Italian pizza shop owner Sal to put photos of Black celebrities on his all-Italian Wall of Fame helps spark the full-on race riot that ends the film. Turturro, playing Aiello’s hotheaded racist son Pino, seethes right back, as the two young men stare daggers and hurl racial epithets.
Still, the two New York natives’ bond has both mellowed and deepened over the nearly 40 years since Buggin’ Out and Pino’s confrontation, with Esposito explaining how a pivotal scene in their new movie turned unexpectedly emotional . As Esposito explains, “We were on the set of Pickpocket in [Esposito’s character] Detective Warren’s office, and in the middle of a take, he took a deep breath. I knew he hadn’t forgotten his lines. He’s a consummate professional, as I am, but he just had to stop. And in the middle of a take, he stared into my eyes and said, ‘You’re my uncle. You’re my father. You’re my family.’ And it brought tears to my eyes because I felt the same way. We’re both Italian, and we’re linked somehow in our genetic structure, in who we are and where we come from. So he had to acknowledge that for a minute because he had this déjà vu of being in a room with all of his family.”
Attempting to explain the intensity of the moment, Esposito stated, “There’s something about working with someone who’s very present as an actor that I always welcome and wish to have. But I realize that I can only see you if I’m very present and willing to show you who I am. And if you can see me, then you can see yourself as well. So there’s a mirror reflection going on, and that makes for a good partnership on screen.” The Only Living Pickpocket In New York marks the first time the two actors have worked together since they both appeared in Lee’s Jungle Fever in 1991.
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