Steve Buscemi on Fat City
Steve Buscemi on Fat City
The actor known for bringing eccentric characters to life discovered John Huston's Fat City in the early '80s.
The first time I met Steve was at the Sundance Directing Lab in the early nineties. He was a cast member for a project called Reservoir Dogs, by an ambitious young director named Quentin Tarantino. While casting for Lab projects rarely transfers to the completed films, Steve brought something magical to Quentin’s story and famously gave life to Mr. Pink. The rest is history. Independent film history, anyway. Throughout his remarkable career, Steve has brought us so many indelible characters. It was a joy to spend our time with him, as himself, and to hear his take on Fat City. - J.C.
As an NYFD firefighter working the overnight shift at Engine Company 55, Steve Buscemi popped a VHS tape into the station’s player and experienced John Huston’s Fat City for the first time. Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name and adapted for the screen by its author Leonard Gardner, the film centers around boxing and life in the hard-scrabble central California town of Stockton. Former champ Tully (Stacy Keach) sets his sights on returning to the ring when he meets Ernie (Jeff Bridges), an eighteen-year-old who he takes under his wing. As their friendship and rivalry unfold, we meet the sherry-loving Oma (Susan Tyrell), Ernie’s pregnant girlfriend Faye (Candy Clark), and boxing manager Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto), all of whom round out Huston’s tale of hope, desperation, and dignity.
We learn about Steve’s real-life encounter with Susan Tyrell, what he learned from his time as a teenage usher at the Belair Theater in Valley Stream, NY, and how Fat City inspired his own directorial debut, Trees Lounge.
About the Film
Fat City (1972)
“Two men, barely 10 years apart in age, one with a lifetime of emptiness ahead of him, one with an empty lifetime already behind.” - Roger Ebert
Directed by John Huston
Written by Leonard Gardner, based on his novel of the same name
Primary Cast:
Stacy Keach (Tully)
Jeff Bridges (Ernie)
Susan Tyrell (Oma)
Cinematography by Conrad L. Hall
Editing by Walter Thompson
Music by Marvin Hamlisch (credited as Music Supervisor)