Stanley Tucci has been a chameleonic character actor for four decades, playing a wide range of roles, including many Mafia members. The actor has earned numerous accolades over his career, including six Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for playing a serial killer in The Lovely Bones. His recent roles include the Oscar-winning Conclave and Netflix’s The Electric State, which hasn’t been received as warmly by critics.

Since Tucci is of Italian descent, he has received many offers for Mafia roles over his career. Tucci has taken roles as a foot soldier, a don, and a Mafia ᴀssociate in тιтles such as Quick Change, Men of Respect, and Billy Bathgate. However, after playing a gangster in 1992’s The Public Eye alongside Joe Pesci – who continued to star in Mafia movies like Martin Scorsese’s Casino – Tucci grew tired of being typecast and took a 10-year hiatus from such roles. In turn, it took an exceptional offer to entice Tucci back into the Mafia milieu.

Road To Perdition Convinced Stanely Tucci To Play A Mafia Role Again

He Swore Them Off For A Decade

Road to Perdition convinced Stanley Tucci to play a mafia role after swearing them off for a decade. Directed by Sam Mendes, based on the DC Comics of the same name, the 2002 film follows a mob enforcer and his son on a quest for revenge against the gangster responsible for killing their family, set in 1931 during the Great Depression. Stanley Tucci plays mobster Frank Nitto alongside a cast that includes Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Daniel Craig.

During a recent appearance on David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, Stanley Tucci talked about what convinced him to play a mafia role in Road to Perdition after swearing them off for a decade. Tucci took on the role after Mendes reᴀssured him that the script portrayed all characters, Irish and Italian alike, as morally questionable, rather than stereotyping Italians as inherently bad. Read Tucci’s full explanation below:

I did it when Sam Mendes asked me to do Road to Perdition. Because it was Sam Mendes and nobody was good in the script. The Irishmen and the Italians were all questionable… It wasn’t like you’re bad because you’re Italian, which is normally the way Italians are portrayed.

What Road To Perdition Meant For Stanley Tucci’s Career

He Embraced His Italian Idenтιтy

Similar to his role in Billy Bathgate, where he portrayed the infamous gangster Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Tucci played real-life Mafia member Frank Nitti, Al Capone’s right-hand man, in Road to Perdition. His performance earned high praise, and recently, he explored another aspect of Italian idenтιтy by portraying Catholic Cardinal Aldo Bellini in Conclave, to much acclaim. Road to Perdition proved to Tucci that embracing Mafia roles can be a way of exploring his heritage, not diminishing it. By accepting all facets of his Italian idenтιтy, both its dark and celebrated histories, Tucci has brought depth and authenticity to his performances.

Source: David Tennant Does a Podcast With…