A lot has changed since Giancarlo Esposito and John Turturro last shared the screen together.
Back in 1989, when the actors costarred in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, New York City was a completely different place in a lot of ways — and many of the changes the metropolis has undergone are examined in their new film together, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.
The opportunity to reunite with Turturro, 69, in another film centered around the Big Apple was actually presented to Esposito, 68, while they were halfway across the globe.
“It was a dream come true,” he told Us exclusively at the New York Film Festival premiere of the Sony Pictures Classics film on Wednesday, October 7. “The way it happened was very auspicious.”
He explained: “I was at a fashion show in Italy for Zegna, and John said, ‘Hey, I’m doing this little movie. Would you come support me and be a part of it?’ And I immediately was running through my head and my schedule going, ‘I don’t know if it’s possible, but John, I would do anything for you,’ and it fit perfectly.”
Turturro stars as Harry, the titular pickpocket who finds himself in trouble when he steals from a young member of a crime family (Will Price). Esposito plays Detective Warren, an unexpected ally for the aging petty thief.
“Working with John is a special treat,” the Breaking Bad alum, who earned three Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Gus Fring in the hit show and its spinoff, Better Call Saul, from 2012 to 2020, told Us. “We’ve both matured quite a bit over the years, and to be in sync with him and not in a character that is against him or a protagonist … Do the Right Thing [was] a very different experience that we had of each other. It was gentle and lovely, but we weren’t on the same side.”
In Lee’s acclaimed film, Esposito and Turturro play characters on different sides of simmering racial tension within a Brooklyn neighborhood. In Pickpocket, nearly four decades later, the pair of actors play characters on much better terms.
“We’re not really on the same side here, but I looked for how I could really exhibit my compassion and understanding about another human being who, in our story, gets in a jam and needs some help,” Esposito continued. “So it was just magic to do this particular film, not only for John but for all the other cast members as well.”
Shot across all five boroughs, The Only Living Pickpocket is a love letter to New York City in many ways, exploring the vast ways in which technology has changed every aspect of city life since the time of Do the Right Thing.
“What drew me to the role was that it was a man who is bridging two different worlds: an analog world and a digital world, and he has great integrity, but his life has sort of gone by him,” Esposito told Us. “I related so much to [my] character because he was such a carbon copy of Harry. They seem to be in the same mode and there’s a respect that’s developed between them over the years.”
In the midst of much change, most importantly, The Only Living Pickpocket also portrays the true heart of New Yorkers, which has remained unchanged.
“I want people to realize that we may be honest, sometimes to a fault, but New Yorkers are the best,” writer and director Noah Segan told Us of the film’s takeaway, adding that it was important to him to accurately portray certain aspects of the city: “The subway, the human decency, the relationships with people. The fact that everybody’s kind of on their own trip, but we’re all in it together.”
He concluded: “You’re never alone in New York. You might be a little lonely sometimes, but you’re never alone.”
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York hits theaters nationwide on October 30.
