JOHN TURTURRO ILLUMINATED

A 1998 Talk About Directing His Film, Illuminata

This week we celebrate the Emmy nomination of John Turturro for best supporting actor in a drama series in Severance, the kind-of-creepy Apple TV+ show. Turturro has been nominated twice previously for Emmy awards, and won as outstanding guest actor in a comedy series in 2004 in the role of Ambrose Monk, the older brother of star Tony Shalhoub's Adrian in the USA cable series Monk.

Turturro, of course, is one of the most versatile actors of his or any other generation, appearing in around 60 movies, as well as numerous TV shows, and on-and-off-Broadway plays. He is best known for multiple appearances and diverse characters in the ensembles of two great filmmakers: Spike Lee (starting with Do the Right Thing and many others), and the team of Joel and Ethan Coen, in which he's played everything from the tormented screenwriter in the title role of Barton Fink to the wildman gangsta/sex offender/bowler Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski.

I had the opportunity to interview Turturro in his ro…