Steve Buscemi is known for many of his recognizable roles, but he was not able to secure a part in Barry Levinson‘s 1987 comedy Tin Men, the actor recalled on Wednesday’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The host asked Buscemi if there were any roles he auditioned for that stung when he didn’t secure them.
“I was always hot and cold. I never knew, like, if I should wing it ’cause sometimes I’d be good if I went in the room and I didn’t really prepare,” he said about his experience with auditions. “And then the next time I’d do it, I would fail.”
Buscemi then recalled his audition process for Levinson and said he knew he couldn’t wing it. “I studied the sides, the script and went in there and did my reading, did my audition and he looked at me and he went, ‘That was really good, that’s really good, Steve. All right, let’s do it again,’” he said. “He gave me a very specific note and I don’t remember what that was.”
The Wednesday actor explained that Levinson wanted him “to add a different color to it or shading.” He continued, “I went, ‘OK.’ And then I read it again, the exact same way I just did it.”
“There was this silence and we both just looked at each other,” Buscemi continued as the audience laughed. “I think I even said, ‘That was the same, wasn’t it?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, it’s OK, it’s OK.’ Needless to say, I did not get that part.”
Another audition he recalled was with director Mike Nichols and casting director Juliet Taylor. Buscemi explained that he didn’t want to audition because he already booked another job that had a conflict with the shooting schedule. However, his agent at the time encouraged him to go to the audition so he could meet Nichols and Taylor.
“I went in, I do the audition and they love it,” he said. “They were laughing, they were like, ‘That’s great! Yeah, good.’”
Following the positive responses from Nichols and Taylor, Buscemi asked when they were filming the project. He then told them that he wasn’t available, and he was met with a memorable response. “And again, this, like, silence,” he said. “And I could see Juliet Taylor just looking at me going, ‘What is wrong with you?’”
Despite not securing some of the roles he auditioned for, Buscemi has been able to make a name for himself in both comedies and dramas. Some of his most notable movie roles include parts in Reservoir Dogs, Fargo and The Big Lebowski, while he also starred on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
