It’s Boo-sem-ee.

I’m sure everyone knows about Boardwalk Empire. If you don’t, then you need to crawl out from under that rock you have been living under. Boardwalk Empire stars the wonderful Steve Buscemi as Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson, a Atlantic City politician/gangster, set in the 1920’s. This isn’t the first time Steve has been in a series. He played Tony Blundetto, Tony Sopranos cousin in The Sopranos in season 5.

A lot of people say that they would watch any movie with Steve Buscemi in it, or at least say that Steve was the highlight, so it only makes sense to put him in a television series. And no one deserves it more. I think Boardwalk Empire will show people that he is more than the go to weird or odd guy, and that he is capable of playing the leader and someone serious.

If you don’t know who Steve Buscemi is then, you’re crazy, and I am 99% sure you have seen him in something. He was Rockhound in Armageddon, Crazy Eyes in Mr, Deeds, and several other Steve Buscemi movies that star Adam Sandler, Mr Pink in Reservoir Dogs, Donny in The Big Lebowski, or Norther Winslow in Big Fish. You’ve seen his face.

I first noticed Steve in 1998 in Armageddon. Rockhound was my favorite character (along with Lev). Even though he played the ‘hound’ (as they say), he was funny and although I didn’t realize it then, he intrigued me. Now that I think of it, I think I saw him in Ed and his Dead Mother on TV. I only remembered the ending when he was burying his mothers head. Once again he captured my attention, at least that scene did.

He was one of those actors whose face you knew, but just could never catch the name. I then saw him in Big Fish as Norther Winslow, one of my favorite characters in that movie. I do not remember him in any Adam Sandler movies, which is strange.

One day, way back in March 2010, his face randomly came to mind. I said to my brother, “You know who’s cool? The guy who played Mr. Pink.” “Steve Buscemi?” he answered. Yeah yeah, that’s him. I then got a weird look from my brother. I was right wasn’t I? Despite only seeing about five of his movies. A few weeks later I couldn’t get him out of my head, so I Googled him. Found out he was in Big Fish, one of my favorite movies. I started to watch more of his movies, but it was Reservoir Dogs that did it for me. I was hooked. That was March, it’s now September and I have seen over 60 of his movies. It’s like a mission to see everything he’s been in. I bought three movies, Trees Lounge, Living in Oblivion, and In the Soup. I knew nothing about them, but I liked what I saw on YouTube. They’re some of my favorites now.

Other than being a great actor, I don’t know what it is about Steve that I love so much. Maybe it’s his startling blue eyes, the fact that he makes even the worst movies tolerable, his devotion to independant films, or maybe it’s because he’s a cool guy. I don’t know, it might be all of them. Yeah, it is.

A Little about Steve

Steven Vincent Buscemi was born on December 13, 1957 on Friday the 13th, in Brooklyn, New York until the age of eight when his family moves to Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. He started acting in his last year of high school. Before becoming an actor he was a firefighter in Little Italy from 1980-1984. On September 12, 2001, after the attacks of the World Trade Center, he grabbed his old gear and helped his old crew in the search of survivors for five days.

Along with acting he is also a director. His first full length film was Trees Lounge, which he wrote, directed and starred in. He said that writing the movie took a lot out of him, and hasn’t done it since. Which is a shame because he has a talent for storytelling. He has also directed Animal Factory, Lonesome Jim and a remake of Theo Van Gogh’s film Interview. He has plans on adapting the book Queer by William Burroughs. He has also directed several television shows such as The Sopronos, 30 Rock, Nurse Jackie and Oz.

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