John Turturro says ‘The Only Living Pickpocket in New York’ resonates with him on a ‘different level’

John Turturro is an old-school analog hustler living in a fast-paced digital world in the new film The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.

The actor has built a career of varied choices in celebrated independent films, including memorable performances in classics by Spike Lee and the Coen brothers. He’s also well known for his work in TV shows like Monk and Severance.

But there’s something different about his leading performance as Harry Lehman in director Noah Segan’s latest film. The character is a native New Yorker living in a time gone by, who supports his disabled wife Rosie (Karina Arroyave) by pickpocketing. After a theft goes awry, Harry sets out on a mission to return the stolen goods.

The role found him at a “different level” of his life, Turturro told ABC Audio.

“I’m of a certain age where … I know what it is to be married. I know what is to have children, to lose a lot of people — my parents and brother … and also to be a guardian of someone,” Turturro said.

These are all things that his character, Harry, also has to deal with. “It resonated to me so much,” Turturro said, though he notes that it wasn’t all similarities.

“Unlike me, he’s struggling to survive in a world [where] everything has changed. Personally, professionally, the technological world around him, he has difficulty navigating. And he doesn’t have a lot of resources either,” Turturro said.

The actor called Segan’s screenplay a gift, one “that is so well structured and full of propulsive action, and at the same time, there’s a real tenderness and there’s a sense of experience and life lived.”

Segan is a fourth-generation New Yorker and set out to feature every borough in the film, all shot entirely on location. And while there are many films about New York, and many films that feature the city’s name in its title, there aren’t many films that can claim that feat. It was a challenge Segan and his crew gladly took on, eventually completing the shoot in 24 days.

“You don’t wanna let your city down. You don’t want to let your ancestors down. You don’t want to let John Turturro down,” Segan said. “The thing about New York and New Yorkers are that they will gas each other up. We will keep each other going. I think that when we got to New York and we were like, ‘We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna shoot it here. We’re gonna be on the street. We’re going to go everywhere,’ it became sort of a rallying cry for the movie and it became a challenge that we all got excited about.”

After studying the art of pickpocketing, Turturro now walks those streets of New York a little differently. 

“I’m very aware of it. I was really aware of it during the movie when I was learning about it and practicing. But I am still aware it. Of seeing, like, ‘Well there’s a watch that would be very hard to take,'” Turturro said.

Segan said he got nervous that something would happen to Turturro after the stories he’d tell on set.

“He’d come into the office, he’d go, ‘You know, I was on the subway on the way here, and I saw a lady, and, you know, her bag was open, and I really just thought for a minute,'” Segan said. “And we’re thinking, ‘Are we gonna have to bail John out as part of his rehearsal process?'”

Luckily, Turturro didn’t go full method. “He behaved himself,” Segan said.

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York has expanded to wide release and is now available to watch in theaters everywhere.

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