Bobby Cannavale, At Home On Broadway.

January 9, 2013

Guest: Bobby Cannavale

TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Our guest, actor Bobby Cannavale, is starring on Broadway with Al Pacino in a revival of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross." Even if you don't recognize his name, you've probably seen him in a number of film and TV roles.

He was the violent gangster Gyp Rosetti in the most recent season of the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire." Here's a scene in which he's speaking to the residents of a small New Jersey town his crew has taken over to run a bootlegging operation.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BOARDWALK EMPIRE")

BOBBY CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. First things out the way, thank you for coming, those of you who were curious and those who were maybe escorted here. My name is Mr. Rosetti. My associates and me have taken an interest in your town and are going to be here for a while. So we thought it only neighborly to introduce ourselves.

(as Gyp Rosetti) In return for your hospitality and any inconvenience this may cause, we're offering a monthly giveback. Tell them how much we're offering.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: A double-C a piece.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) In English.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Two hundred dollars a month.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Which is a pretty square deal for keeping your mouth shut, wouldn't you say, Sheriff Ramsey? He's a good man, your sheriff, and he's going to keep on sheriff-ing, same as you all are going to keep doing whatever it is you do. Barbers cut hair, cooks cook, librarians keep checking out books, because it's very important to read.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What happens when Bible camp opens?

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Bible camp's cancelled. And I'm not really doing questions and answers right now, dear.

GROSS: You might have also seen Bobby Cannavale as the chatty guy running a coffee stand in the 2003 film "The Station Agent" or as a tough hospital administrator in the most recent season of the Showtime series "Nurse Jackie," or as Will's boyfriend on the NBC series "Will and Grace," for which he won an Emmy Award.

Cannavale's done plenty of theater, too. He earned a Tony Award nomination for his role in a play with Chris Rock, whose title can't be said on the radio, it's something like "The Mother with the Hat." He recently spoke with FRESH AIR contributor Dave Davies.

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

Bobby Cannavale, welcome to FRESH AIR. It's great to have you.

CANNAVALE: Thanks, Dave.

DAVIES: You're appearing on Broadway, in "Glengarry Glen Ross" with Al Pacino, playing the role that he played in the film version, the hotshot real estate salesman Ricky Roma.

CANNAVALE: Correct, yeah.

DAVIES: Is it true that this had something to do with you sitting next to Al Pacino at the Tony Awards for a different performance?

CANNAVALE: Yeah, two years ago, two Tonys ago - it was about a year and a half ago now - I was fortunate enough to be nominated for the Best Actor category, and so was Al, who I wouldn't have called Al six - you know, four months ago. But now I can call him Al. And I'd never met him before, and he's my favorite actor, and I'd always wanted to meet him. And I'd always wanted him to come to see a show.

And I always - it was kind of like a little thing I'd say in my head, Pacino's coming tonight, you know, whenever I'd do a play. And so I was - they sat me next to him, and I just leaned over to him, and I introduced myself, and he said: I know who you are.

And I said: I would love it if you could come see our show. And he said: I'm coming. I'm coming. And he came in the last show, and stayed in my dressing room for, gosh, over an hour, just talking to me. It was amazing. And when he left, he said: We're going to do it.

And then I got a phone call about three months later asking me if I'd be interested in reading and taking a look at "Glengarry" with Al playing The Machine and myself playing Richard Roma, yeah.

DAVIES: When he said we're going to do it, do you know what he meant? Did you know what he meant?

CANNAVALE: No.

(LAUGHTER)

CANNAVALE: No, but I just said yes, anyway.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVIES: Whatever it is. Now, "Glengarry Glen Ross," of course, is the David Mamet play about real estate salesmen in Chicago, you know, desperately competing for sales. Tell us a little about building the Ricky Roma character that you played.

CANNAVALE: Well, you know, it's one of those plays that actors talk about and say it's a perfect play. And it's a perfect play because it's about, you know, seven guys who desperately want something and need something in a time when people desperately want and need things.

It was written, you know, in 1982. I think it's a prescient play to do today. But let's face it, I mean, it's - I think great plays are about people wanting things and desperate for things. I think it's what makes great drama, and I think that's one of those things that's just always resonant. It's just what we are as a culture, and in America in particular.

So he sets it in a very specific place, as you said, this small real estate office, a little shabby real estate office in Chicago, in the world of sales and in the world before the Internet, by the way, where something like cold-calling - which Al's character Shelley describes as, you know, walking up to the door, I don't even know their name. I'm selling them something they don't even want.

So it was a skill to sell something and put on a front and acting, in a sense. And so it makes the play very active. For Ricky, you know, he's on top, and desperate to stay on top.

DAVIES: And there are a lot of really intense exchanges here, some profane, you know, angry arguments that occur. And I wondered, since you do this, you know, night after night with the same crew, if the energy is sometimes different. You get something different from an actor, and it feels different, and you respond differently.

CANNAVALE: Sure. Oh, sure. You know, I think that is what makes it the living, breathing thing it is. And, you know, we joke about it sometimes, you know, like we'll get together at the curtain call. We all come out, the curtain's down, and there's the quick, four-word review from everybody, you know: not bad.

Last night, Johnny said - Johnny C. actually said: Solid B. Solid B, guys. And, you know, it happens. Maybe somebody's not as desperate, let's say. It throws off the - it throws it off. It throws it off, but not necessarily in negative ways.

You know, it just means that maybe one guy gets eaten a little easier than he did the night before. But we're definitely there to devour each other. It's just - sure, it's different levels. I guess, you know, people bring different things in with them. I know yesterday I was late because the train took forever, and so I was rushing the whole time and went out not quite prepared, and something else happened.

But it's ethereal. I can't really describe it. We talk about it, you know, actors talk about in theater in terms of degrees, you know, when you have a bad show. Really, if you're been working the show and you've rehearsed the show, we're talking about degrees that the audience won't notice, but you sure feel it. Those are the nights, you know, you opt to walk home rather than get in the car to think about it for a couple hours.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVIES: We're speaking with Bobby Cannavale. He appeared in the recent season of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire." He's now appearing on Broadway with Al Pacino in the David Mamet play "Glengarry Glen Ross."

You have an interesting background. You grew up North Jersey, right?

CANNAVALE: I grew up right across the river here in Union City, New Jersey, which is next to Hoboken, as a reference - so right across the Lincoln Tunnel.

DAVIES: And your dad was Italian-American, your mom Cuban-American, right? And they split when you were pretty young, and...

CANNAVALE: My mom's Cuban, born in Cuba. Yeah.

DAVIES: And then you lived in Puerto Rico for a time, and then Florida. Is that right?

CANNAVALE: Yeah. I grew up in New Jersey, and then lived for two years in Puerto Rico when my mom remarried. And we lived in Puerto Rico for two years when I was about seven - six, seven. And then came back to New Jersey, and then moved for Florida my freshman year of high school. And then I came back to New Jersey my senior year of high school and moved into the city a couple years later.

DAVIES: Were you always a performer as a kid, a cutup?

CANNAVALE: A hundred percent. Yeah, I was that kid that everybody, like, always said he's so creative, because I was always playacting and I had a very vivid imagination. And I started reading at a very young age. I was obsessed with reading. And I started reading plays at a really young age. I was just drawn to them.

There was a great library in my neighborhood on 15th Street in Union City, and they had an arts section. It wasn't very big. And what they had was the yearbook every year, the theater directory yearbook, the best plays of - it went as far back as, like, the 1930s. That's how I remember reading "A Streetcar Named Desire" and reading all those plays, "Death of a Salesman," and not really understanding them, but reading them.

And I was just drawn to them, because in my head, I heard the voices. I would do - I would act out the parts in my head.

DAVIES: And then after, you came to New York to live with your grandmother your senior year at high school. Is that right? And then...

CANNAVALE: Yeah, in my senior year in high school, I moved up - well, actually, what happened was I got expelled from high school in Florida for being a cutup. And so it was all part of my master plan to get back to New York - and honestly, it was. My mother actually said, fine. You want it? You want to go? Go.

And I was, like, yes. And back to grandma's house, and that's when I started auditioning, you know, going and getting backstage and going to open calls and going to readings. I was at - I'd go to Naked Angels. I'd go to the Public Theater. I'd go to the Circle Rep and, you know, sit in on workshops.

And then I'd get asked to read a part, or just read the stage directions. Or then I was asked to be a reader for auditions, and then I was cast as an understudy. And so it kind of feels like I went up in the ranks sort of naturally, without going to school.

DAVIES: You said you read a lot of plays at the library as a kid. Did you see theater?

CANNAVALE: Oh, sure, yeah. And I was in plays. You know, I went to Catholic school, and so I was - I wasn't allowed to do much outside of school and church. Luckily, they intertwined all the things that I kind of enjoyed. There was a theater company. There was a chorus, and I was an altar boy in an incredible monastery that was attached to a rectory.

The theater of the church is the most incredible theater, and in this church, it was beyond. It was this huge monastery. It's landmarked. It's a beautiful building. And I kind of had the run of it. And they did, like, three shows a year, and I was in all of them.

My first one, I was, like, 10 or 11. It didn't matter if there weren't any kids in the show, I was in them. Like, I was in "Guys and Dolls," playing a gangster when I was, like, 12. Then, you know, I was in "The Music Man" and "Flowers for Algernon" and "Man of La Mancha."

And I also had people who - in the theater company, it was always the same people who also were in the choir, as well. But they took it very seriously. And so I would have conversations about plays and be turned on to some plays, turn other people on to plays. And then, of course, I would beg my mom to take me into the city to see a play every year.

And, you know, I saw "Evita." I saw "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" with John Turturro. I saw a lot of things.

DAVIES: Looking back at those early days, I mean, you must have thought you were pretty good at this, or you wouldn't have sought it. Looking back on it, do you think you were?

CANNAVALE: I don't know. I guess, like, you know, when you're young, you know, there's a certain amount of naivete you have, which, you know, I don't knock naivete, to be honest, because I'm 42 years old and I still have - I mean, I've really had some great experiences. I could tell you way more great than not-so-great experiences in this business. And I've managed to do what I want to do.

So if it's naivete, fine. But I think I've always been optimistic about making a living in this business. You know, I worked in nightclubs for years, and I would go and do plays for nothing. You know, I'd go on a call for a showcase off-off-Broadway and get it. So I was getting a lot of parts. So, sure, I had confidence that I could do this, but, you know, I wasn't starving because I was - I'd do the play, and I'd go to work at 11:30 and work till 5 a.m. at a nightclub, and then sleep all day in grandma's house, and then come back in and do the play, you know.

So I would do whatever I had to do, and it just seemed natural and normal. I never thought I have to think about doing something else.

DAVIES: And you got a TV role, and that led to a role on a TV show called "Third Watch." I confess, I'm not familiar with this. But I know you played a paramedic. You were being paid well. I mean, you were now a successful, working actor in New York. And I don't know if this is true, but I read that...

CANNAVALE: With a baby.

DAVIES: Oh, yeah. By then you'd had your son, right. Right. Jake, right?

CANNAVALE: Yeah.

DAVIES: And I'd read that you felt confined, and you asked them to write you out of the role, to have your character killed off. Is this true?

CANNAVALE: Yeah. Well, it's kind of true. I mean, yes it's true, but what I went in for was to ask them if I was going to - if my character was going to have anything interesting to do. It is true that I literally went from, you know, having a great night behind the bar, $200, to making television money, and I had never even been on television.

You know, I was so happy to get that job that I really wanted to keep the job. And then I just realized that I'd kind of acted myself into a corner. You know, it's a big ensemble. There was, like, nine of us. And so everybody has to be a certain thing, you know, on a show like that.

And so I really couldn't really grow much, and, you know, a lot of that was my fault. And so when it seemed like it wasn't doing much but smiling a lot and hitting on the same girl for two years in a row, I asked them if there would be anything changing. And John Wells was great and kind, and he said: I don't think so. Do you want to be written out?

And I said sure, I would. And he said I will send you out big, which he did, and it was a really great story arc to act. And then he took care of me very, very well in many other ways and was just a gentleman about it. And to this day, I appreciate what he did for me, because after that, I really did try to do as many different things as I could.

I did "Oz" right after that. I did "Ally McBeal." And then I went and did "The Station Agent." I did "Kingpin," and I got - it really opened me up to be able to do many other things.

DAVIES: We're speaking with Bobby Cannavale. He appeared in the recent season of the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire." He is on Broadway now, starring in "Glengarry Glen Ross" with Al Pacino. We'll talk more after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: If you're just joining us, our guest is actor Bobby Cannavale. He's now appearing on Broadway with Al Pacino in the David Mamet play "Glengarry Glen Ross." He was also recently in the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire."

Well, let's talk about "The Station Agent." This was the film in 2003, directed by Tom McCarthy, got a lot of critical acclaim and a lot of critics awards. It's about a - I mean, I guess the central character is this man, a solitary train buff who is a dwarf. He's played by Peter Dinklage. He inherits an abandoned train station in a kind of a quiet corner of New Jersey, and he decides to just move into the place.

And it's this movie about the characters. Patricia Clarkson is an artist who's depressed about the loss of her son. And then you're a guy, Joe Oramas, I think is the name, who has this little vending truck nearby.

CANNAVALE: A hot dog truck, a coffee truck, yeah.

DAVIES: Right, that your dad runs, and he's sick, so you're running it. You love people. You're dying for company. And I want to play a scene here where you're trying to make friends with Fin, played by Peter Dinklage. And he's walking by, and you try to engage him. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE STATION AGENT")

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Hey, Fin, bro, you live here?

PETER DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) Yes.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Wow. We're neighbors. Nice. Hey, what happened to you?

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) Nothing.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Listen, you want to go down to the mill and grab a beer later?

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) No, thanks.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) What, you don't drink?

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) I do.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Oh, you just don't want to have a drink with me?

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) I don't like bars very much.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Oh, well, how about I go get a six, and we can have it right here?

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) No, thanks.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Well, what are you going to do?

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) I'm going for a walk.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) Oh, cool. Well, you mind if I come along, man? I need the exercise. I'm turning into a fat (beep) out here.

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) I usually go alone.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) I'm a good walker, bro.

DINKLAGE: (as Finbar McBride) I prefer to go alone.

CANNAVALE: (as Joe Oramas) OK, all right. Hey, maybe next time, all right? You know where to find me.

DAVIES: And that's our guest Bobby Cannavale with Peter Dinklage in the film "The Station Agent." You know, one critic said that your character lacked the ability to be rejected.

(LAUGHTER)

CANNAVALE: That's funny. Wow, it was really nice to hear that. You know, that's a really special, special, special experience, that movie, because it was - you know, it was so long in the making, like four years, for this four or five years of...

DAVIES: Now, you and Tom McCarthy, the director and writer, were old friends, right?

CANNAVALE: Tom McCarthy and I met acting in a play of Lanford Wilson's, a new play of his. We met acting in it about five years before we made that movie. And then Tommy wrote a play called "The Killing Act," in which Peter Dinklage was in, and then he just started writing this thing for us. And Patty we knew, and so it was like readings, doing readings. It was always us. It was always Patty and Pete and myself.

DAVIES: Patricia Clarkson, yeah. So you would just get together, and he would say, hey, I've written this scene, let's try it?

CANNAVALE: Yeah, and I've got some pages, and, you know - you know, it wasn't like scene-by-scene. Like, he'd written a draft, and then there was another draft, and, you know, things changed along the way. And then we'd do, like, a little public reading just for a few friends that he trusted. And it just was, you know, a classic tale of a script going through many options that it could have had.

Tommy could have made that movie with other people in it, let's say, but he just didn't want to. He wanted to make it the way he wanted to make it, with us. And so we finally got the money. And so when we made it, I don't think - we always thought it was a good movie, but I never thought it would do what it did.

I was just so excited to finally do it. And we made it in 17 days over the summer in New Jersey. Just to give you perspective, the last episode of "Boardwalk Empire" took 18 days to shoot. So we shot that movie for nothing and, you know, I'm wearing my own clothes - not all of them but some of them. That conversation reminds me of the first conversation I had with Pete.

(LAUGHTER)

CANNAVALE: So are there are elements of that movie that are very true - have a very true spirit about them.

DAVIES: The film had a great reception at Sundance and really took off. What did it do for your career?

CANNAVALE: It was really wonderful, and it took us all just by surprise. And it was literally, like, an overnight-type thing. I remember going up to Sundance and Pete and I getting on the bus from our condo to go into town to do something. I don't know, I think it was maybe just to get, like, sunglasses or something, just walk around. We'd never been to Sundance before.

And we got off, and the first person we saw was Pauly Shore, who - it was so funny. He was putting up - he was handing out flyers for his movie, and he said: Man, everybody's talking about your movie. And it hadn't even premiered yet. And so we went to the screening that night, and it was sold out, packed, and people went crazy.

And it was the first time we'd seen the movie. I'd never seen it until Sundance. And everybody wanted to - all these, you know, other artists. That's where I met Steve Buscemi and where I met Stanley Tucci, who are friends today and guys who I've always admired and respected and other filmmakers that were up there like Al Payne, and David Russell was up there.

And so it sort of offered me an entry into a place that I wanted to be. I did a movie right after that with John Turturro, who is one of my heroes, who loved "The Station Agent" and cast me in his movie "Romance and Cigarettes," and that relationship, to this day, is a great one.

So, you know, and it let me be sort of viable, for lack of a better word, in the indie world, which allows me to be able to stay at home, like I like to be, because, really, a lot of my favorite artists are in New York.

GROSS: Dave Davies will continue his conversation with Bobby Cannavale in the second half of the show. Cannavale is now starring with Al Pacino in the Broadway revival of "Glengarry Glen Ross." I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Let's get back to the interview that FRESH AIR contributor Dave Davies recorded with Bobby Cannavale, who's now starring with Al Pacino in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross."

Cannavale costarred in the latest season of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire." He was a tough hospital administrator in the most recent season of Showtime's "Nurse Jackie." He was nominated for a Tony for his performance in a play with Chris Rock, whose title I can't say on the air, but it's something close to "The Mother with the Hat."

DAVIES: Well, wanted to talk about the recent season of "Boardwalk Empire," where you played a New York gangster named Gyp Rosetti, right, short for Giuseppe.

CANNAVALE: Mm-hmm.

DAVIES: Quite a character. I mean, he had a very prominent role in the season. It will just be this season, those who've watched it will know. And I thought we would hear a clip.

This is a moment where you're meeting with the series' central character, Nucky Thompson, the Atlantic City boss. He's played by Steve Buscemi. And he is - well, your character Gyp Rosetti, is angry because Nucky Thompson has decided to sell his booze strictly to Arnold Rothstein, the New York gangster, as opposed to directly to your guy. So you, as Gyp Rosetti, responded by interrupting his shipments by taking over this little town in New Jersey, Taber Heights, so that Nucky can't get his booze through to New York. He's pretty annoyed and has come to Taber Heights, and you're sitting down at a restaurant to try and straighten things out. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SERIES, "BOARDWALK EMPIRE")

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Nucky, welcome to Tabor Heights. Police escort and everything.

STEVE BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) What do you want, Gyp?

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) I was thinking maybe the pot roast. How about you?

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) I didn't come up here for your vaudeville routine.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Well, Bible campaign ain't till summer. So why did you come?

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) Obviously, I offended you in some way. But since you're a man who can find an insult in a bouquet of roses, I'm not sure quite how.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Maybe it's got something to do with you jeopardizing my livelihood.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) It's a free market. I sell to whom I choose.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) To whom? Listen to you.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) I wish you'd start.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) I got customers, 20 blocks stretch of the lower West Side. They can't buy from me, they buy some place else.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) I'm not selling to Yale or Remus, either. And you don't see them acting like petulant children, right.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Right. You only sell to the Jew.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) I told you, I need to keep things simple.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Like this place, simple. Only one road in, one road out, Atlantic City to New York.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) I'll use the back roads through the Pine Barrens, Gyp.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) I don't know where the (bleep) that is, but I bet it's one hell of a slog. And if I was you, every inch of that road would stick in my craw.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) But I'm not you, Gyp. I learned a long time ago not to take things personally.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Everyone's a person, though, right? So how else could they take it?

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) In the interest of honoring what was once a fruitful business relationship, let's set the table over again. You'll be my guest in Atlantic City tonight. I'll send you home tomorrow with a full month's supply. You'll keep your head above water in New York and leave these nice people alone.

SHEA WHIGHAM: (as Eli Thompson) Stay a lot healthier that way.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) What happens after a month?

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) I don't consider that my problem.

CANNAVALE: (as Gyp Rosetti) Square enough deal.

BUSCEMI: (as Nucky Thompson) Then this is where you shake my hand.

DAVIES: And that's our guest Bobby Cannavale with actor Steve Buscemi in the recent season of "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO. This is such a great character you have, here.

CANNAVALE: Thanks. A very logical thinker Gyp, right? There's some logic in there. It made sense. He's right.

DAVIES: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

CANNAVALE: What else is it going to be, if it's not personal?

DAVIES: Right. Up to a point. But he is also, like, kind of - well, I don't know if I would say psychotic. But he opens the series - I mean, and I think the first time we see him, he beats a man to death with a tire iron because of some casual insult.

CANNAVALE: Right. Right.

DAVIES: And yet you also make this guy funny and likable. How did you approach building this character?

CANNAVALE: Thanks. Well, you know, first of all, I appreciated and understood where it's set, what the milieu is. We're set in the underworld, here. And this guy works for the mob, the mafia at a time when it was a very powerful thing in New York. And so, much like the salesman in "Glengarry," you know, he's got to do what he's got to do to stay on top - not just stay relevant. That's the thing about Gyp, is he doesn't want to just be relevant. He wants to be remembered and he wants to be feared.

And I would think that in that business, that's a pretty good business to go into if what you want out of life is to be respected and feared. And so he, you know, I thought of him as somebody who attacks that part of it with relish. Where it comes from psychologically he's really well-built - I think, in the series - as being - in the portrayal of him as a person who's far away from home, as a person who always had ambition, as a person who is not respected in his own home - as evidenced in the scene with his family - and has always felt like he doesn't get the credit he deserves.

And so, you know, the killing aside, that kind of a character I - is attractive to me because it's somebody who, again, desperately wants something. Then you add the physicality that they've written of him committing murder as much as he does. You know, given the milieu, again, of what the series is about and where it's set, it's very exciting to play a role like that. I've never gotten a chance to play a part like that.

DAVIES: Right. And as the series develops, we learned that your guy has some very kinky sexual preferences.

CANNAVALE: Right.

DAVIES: How does that - was there a backstory in your head for this guy, I mean, that accounts for something like that?

CANNAVALE: You know, yeah, you know, I mean, I'm always hesitant to talk about exactly what it is, because it's not anything that you can really - you know, all we have really is the words and the end product, the film itself. And I will just tell you that, you know, I did a lot of research about what that particular sexual peccadillo is and what psychologists think it's about, and then I sort of go from there and make up my own thing.

DAVIES: Right. Well, just so we're not coy about it for the audience, I mean, what we're talking about is the fact that he likes to be choked when he's in an intimate relationship with a woman.

CANNAVALE: Right.

DAVIES: And did that inform your performance in scenes which had nothing to do with sex in, you know, in his confrontations with other people and his expressions of violence?

CANNAVALE: Oh, sure. Oh, sure. Yeah. I mean, look. I think Gyp's the kind of guy who needs to feel physically stimulated all the time, and so he does that by making a joke that scares somebody that doesn't know it's a joke. He does it by exerting, being the loudest person in the room when he wants to be. He does it by cracking jokes in the brothel. He does it by talking seductively to Gillian and - in one breath, and then putting - laying the hammer down on her in the next.

I think for him, it's a power issue and a control issue, and I think he gets physical sensation out of that. So that would - it's sort of an indirect lead-in to why he enjoys sex that way. I think he gets physical stimulation from murdering people. He does it himself, you know. He's usually the guy doing it. And so, you know, whatever the psychosis behind that is is, you know, what I think it is.

DAVIES: Well, whatever it is, it's convincing. I wouldn't want to run into your guy. This is a real period piece. You know, we broadcast out of Philadelphia, which is not far from Atlantic City, so I've been there. And one of the things I like about the show is the careful reconstruction of Atlantic City in the 1920s and...

CANNAVALE: Yeah.

DAVIES: ...everything from the clothes to the boardwalk. Is that something that you connect with...

CANNAVALE: Man, with this show in particular, the production values in this show are unbelievable, and every day felt like I was coming to work in a theme park because everything around you, every stitch of clothing I wore was handmade with vintage fabric from the time and all - you know, every prop is from its time, the lighters that are very difficult to work and the cars. And, you know, they spare no expense, so it's not like you see the same car driving back and forth in the background. There's 30 cars, Packards and Model-Ts, and everybody's dressed in the period. And so it definitely makes it a very immersive experience, easier to work when you're surrounded by it all like that. And I think that pops really, really nicely in the final product.

DAVIES: We're speaking with Bobby Cannavale. He starred in the "Station Agent," and more recently in the recent season of "Boardwalk Empire." He's now on Broadway in the David Mamet play "Glengarry Glen Ross."

We'll talk more after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: If you're just joining us, our guest is actor Bobby Cannavale. He appeared recently in the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire." Right now, he's on Broadway with Al Pacino in the David Mamet play "Glengarry Glen Ross."

You've kind of made your own path in the business, and I've read that you still don't have a publicist. This is true?

CANNAVALE: Yeah.

DAVIES: So how do you - you just function on your own. Or, I mean, you have an agent, of course, but...

CANNAVALE: What do you mean function, though? I mean, I function fine.

DAVIES: I don't know what I mean.

(LAUGHTER)

CANNAVALE: I walked here. I walked to the studio. I didn't need people - you know, they sent a car and I just canceled it and walked. You know, like, you can run your own life. Look, I'm not George Clooney. I'm not like - I don't have - I would think that, like, a publicist for me wouldn't be to get my name put in places. It would be to, like, stop, get people to stop, you know, bothering me. You know, that would be a good reason to have a publicist and, you know, do the things that I want to do, like I wanted to come on FRESH AIR. I listen to FRESH AIR. I love it.

I went on Joe Franklin yesterday because it's Joe Franklin, for God sakes. He's 92 years old, you know, he wants to have me on the show. I'm going to go. But I know what I want to do and what I don't want to do. And I feel like that about the material that I choose. Now, I know I'm lucky, too. I get to choose things. Not as much as some people and maybe not as much as somebody who wants to be a movie star would think. But in my world, the theater, the little projects that I do, workshops, it makes me happy to do the things that I really want to do. And so for me - that's just for me. For my taste, I don't know what a publicist would - where I would put them in my life.

DAVIES: And you don't want to move to Hollywood and become a movie star?

CANNAVALE: I don't want to move to Hollywood. No. I want to stay in New York.

DAVIES: You know, you've done a lot of television. You've done movies and a lot of theater. They're obviously different media. Do you think you're a different actor on stage than you are, say, on a TV set or a movie set?

CANNAVALE: I guess so. I mean, it's - I don't approach it any different. I just know that, like, for me, the biggest difference between the stage and film and television is that I get to use my whole body. And I really like - I really love acting on stage, because I can do anything. There's a stillness that doesn't - isn't required as much as it is on camera. And for me, when I go to the theater, I go to a lot of theater, and I just - I love going to the theater. And when somebody pulls me in and they have a thing that just pulls me in and pulls me into their world, that's why I'm going. And on stage, I feel like I'm more in control of that than I am on film. That's why really love it so much.

DAVIES: Right. So much is in the hands of the cinematographer and director. On the stage, it's you...

CANNAVALE: Sure.

DAVIES: ...and the audience.

CANNAVALE: Yeah. Yeah.

DAVIES: Well, Bobby Cannavale, good luck with the play, and it'll be fascinating to see where you go next. Thanks so much for speaking with us.

CANNAVALE: Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me.

GROSS: Bobby Cannavale spoke with FRESH AIR contributor Dave Davies. Cannavale is starring with Al Pacino in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross."

Speaking of acting, next week we're going to feature interviews with Ben Affleck and Dustin Hoffman, who have each directed new films. A couple of weeks ago, I saw Dustin Hoffman receive one of this year's Kennedy Center Honors on the telecast of the gala. And as part of the tribute, Laura Osnes sang "I've Grown Accustomed to His Face." Coincidentally, I'd just been listening to her over and over on the cast recording of the revival of the little-known Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Pipe Dream." The revival was presented by New York City Encores.

I wanted you to hear a song I especially love from that recording. Here's Laura Osnes singing "Everybody's Got a Home but Me."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYBODY'S GOT A HOME BUT ME")

LAURA OSNES: (as Suzy) (singing) Scooted out of Frisco over route 101. Bummed a ride as far as San Jose. Rode aboard a Greyhound till I run out of dough. Landed on my can in Monterrey. But I seen a lot of things along the way. And I did a lot of thinking on the way.

(as Suzy) (singing) I rode by a house, with the windows lighted up, looking pretty as a Christmas tree. And I said to myself, as I rode by myself, everybody's got a home but me. I rode by a house where the moon was on the porch and a girl was on her fella's knee. And I said to myself, as I rode by myself, everybody's got a home but me.

(as Suzy) (singing) I am free, and I'm happy to be free, to be free in the way I want to be. But once in a while, when the road is kind of dark and the end is kind of hard to see, I look up and I cry to a cloud going by, won't there ever be a home for me somewhere? Everybody's got a home but me.

(as Suzy) You live in a house around here?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Top of the hill. You can see it from here.

OSNES: (as Suzy) All I've seen is something looks like a little warehouse.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well, that's it. It used to be for storing fishmeal. Now I and eight other fellers live there. We call it the Palace Flophouse.

OSNES: (as Suzy) The Palace Flophouse.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It still smells like fishmeal a little, but we live there.

OSNES: (as Suzy) Sure. You hardly ever meet somebody who doesn't live somewhere. Well, see ya.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Where you gonna go?

OSNES: (as Suzy) I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I guess you'll land on your feet somehow, huh?

OSNES: (as Suzy) I am on my feet.

(as Suzy) (singing) I am free, and I'm happy to be free, to be free in the way I want to be. But once in a while, when I talk to myself and there's no one there to disagree, I look up and I cry to the big, empty sky, won't there ever be a home for me somewhere? Everybody's got a home but me.

GROSS: That's Laura Osnes from the cast recording of the 2012 Encores production of Rogers and Hammerstein's musical, "Pipe Dream."

The two actresses who star in the ABC series "Nashville" are nominated for Golden Globes. Coming up, Ken Tucker reviews the new soundtrack recording, which features them singing. This is FRESH AIR.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

The TV show "Nashville" is in the middle of its first season. Set in the country music mecca, it follows a number of storylines about various musicians, and its music is sung by actors, including Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. The show's music director is T-Bone Burnett.

Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review of "Nashville's" soundtrack album.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TELESCOPE")

HAYDEN PANETTIERE: (as Juliette Barnes) (singing) Yeah. Won't do no good if you run from me. There ain't no cheating scheme that my heart don't see. You left your troubles in my head, in my head. You left your secrets in my bed, in my bed. You're like the cover of a book that's been read, baby. I know what line is coming next, coming next. You can't hide from me. There ain't no tricks that you can try on me. I know your every move before you even breathe, baby, thinking you know something I don't know, but my eyes, my eyes, my eyes are like a telescope.

KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: That's "Telescope," the fictional hit single by the fictional country star Juliette Barnes on "Nashville." The song was sung by the actress who plays Juliette, Hayden Panetierre. And if it didn't become a real-life hit when the song was released a few months ago to country radio stations, it wasn't for lack of catchiness, courtesy of producers T-Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller.

Of course, neither Burnett nor Miller - each exemplary performers and songwriters themselves - aren't mainstream country stars, either. It may be that they excel at a rather darker, grimmer level of country storytelling, as on this song "If I Didn't Know Better," produced by Miller.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I DIDN'T KNOW BETTER)

CLARE BOWEN: (as Scarlett O'Connor) (singing) If I didn't know better, I'd hang my hat right there. If I didn't know better, I'd follow you up the stairs. Stop saying those sweet things you know I like to hear. The horns are blowing louder and the bailiff's drawing near. Why do I keep drinking, wasting my time on you? If I didn't know better - well damn it, I do.

TUCKER: That song was sung by Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen, who on "Nashville" play two young singer-songwriters trying to break into the industry with songs that are more folk-influenced, and whose music dramatizes their tangled love lives.

In the real world, that beautiful song wouldn't be a country hit, either. These days, the mainstream industry doesn't like tangled and dark. It likes lighter anthems. No matter: Exploring the various strata and struggles of the music industry is what makes "Nashville" a compelling TV show, and this album displays a few superlative match-ups between actor and material.

Take, for example, "No One Will Ever Love You," sung by Connie Britton, who plays the country star Rayna James, who in turn is trying to sustain a career in an industry that prizes youth over the hard-won wisdom symbolized by a song and a vocal such as this.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO ONE WILL EVER LOVE YOU)

CONNIE BRITTON: (as Rayna James) (singing) Don't you try to tell me someone's waiting. They're not waiting for you. Oh, and don't you try to tell me that you're wanted, that you're needed, 'cause it's not true. I know why you're lonely. It's time you knew it, too. No one will ever love you. No one will ever love you. No one will ever love you like I do.

TUCKER: You "Friday Night Lights" fans never thought the coach's wife could sing like that, did you?

In the TV show, Rayna's middle-aged melancholy is positioned as more authentic than Juliette's pop-country cynicism. But in the real Nashville, a song as good as this Juliette tune "Love Like Mine" would be embraced as a stadium sing-along in the manner of female-led hit acts such as Little Big Town and Sugarland.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE LIKE MINE")

PANETTIERE: (as Juliette Barnes) (singing) So you think that you're the one who's up in score just 'cause you're the first one walking out the door. Well, take it when you leave. I don't need sympathy. I might stay up drunk a while and hurt like hell enough to cry black mascara tears. I might lock my door and sleep with my phone and miss your bed for a month or so, but let me tell you something, my dear. I'm gonna be just fine, but you're never gonna find another love like mine.

TUCKER: The "Nashville" soundtrack album is a success on its own terms. You rarely question the abilities of the actors as singers and the material, which is performed by superb musicians, including guitarist Doyle Bramhall, Sam Bush on mandolin and overseen by Burnett as the show's musical director. Right now, "Nashville" the TV show could use bigger ratings, as more viewers need to get past their own parochialism about the Nashville setting to see the ways that the various plots connect to their own lives - you know, just the way the best country music has always done.

GROSS: Ken Tucker is editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly. He reviewed the new album featuring music from the TV series "Nashville."

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