Stanley Tucci - David Tennant Does a Podcast With…

Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary: David Tennant Does a Podcast With… – Episode Featuring Stanley Tucci

Release Date: March 18, 2025

In this captivating episode of "David Tennant Does a Podcast With…", acclaimed actor Stanley Tucci joins David Tennant for an in-depth conversation that traverses personal experiences, professional insights, and profound reflections on life. Hosted by Sony Music Entertainment and No Mystery, this episode delves into Tucci’s illustrious career, his battle with health challenges, and his perspectives on aging and parenthood.

1. Balancing Parenthood and Career

Timestamp: [01:22] - [05:50]

David Tennant opens the discussion by talking about their children’s involvement in the podcast. Stanley Tucci appreciates the seamless integration of family life with his professional commitments.

Stanley Tucci [02:11]: "Oh, well, it was good. I mean it was long, but it was good and it made me. At the end I wanted to cry."

Tucci reflects on the emotional depth of their family projects, highlighting the blend of humor and heartfelt moments.

2. The Demands of Acting and Directing

Timestamp: [05:27] - [14:45]

Tucci shares his experiences with the rigorous demands of acting and directing, emphasizing the importance of maintaining authenticity in performances.

Stanley Tucci [13:10]: "Just instinctively, always. I mean, it's not that I won't get upset about stuff. I think the thing that... Well, I'll get irritated is about disorganization and when time is wasted."

He critiques directors who excessively cover scenes without a clear vision, advocating for efficiency and meaningful storytelling.

3. Health Challenges and Resilience

Timestamp: [05:27] - [62:08]

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on Tucci’s health journey. Diagnosed with a non-functioning thyroid due to radiation therapy years prior, Tucci discusses the physical and emotional toll of his treatment.

Stanley Tucci [06:28]: "It burned out my thyroid. So it's only just happening now."

Tucci candidly describes his battle with cancer, detailing the harsh realities of chemotherapy and the impact on his daily life and diet.

Stanley Tucci [57:24]: "Things become exaggerated and weird and sort of like after what people experience with COVID."

Despite the immense challenges, Tucci exhibits resilience, sharing how his experience has deepened his appreciation for life and influenced his work.

4. Reflections on Aging and Mortality

Timestamp: [63:02] - [69:37]

The conversation transitions to profound reflections on aging and mortality. Tucci contemplates the limited time ahead, balancing sadness with a fierce motivation to make the most of each moment.

Stanley Tucci [68:12]: "Yeah, I think I just appreciate it more."

He discusses the emotional weight of losing his first wife, Felicity, and how it has reshaped his outlook on life and parenting.

Stanley Tucci [69:15]: "I'm running the Boston Marathon, presented by bank of America. I run for Dana Farber Cancer Institute to give people like me a chance to thrive in life, even with cancer."

5. Public Image and Personal Style

Timestamp: [12:09] - [22:57]

Tucci and Tennant engage in a lighthearted discussion about personal style and public image. Tucci shares his preference for dressing well and maintaining a sophisticated appearance, contrasting with contemporary casual trends.

Stanley Tucci [22:09]: "And I just think that's weird."

He humorously addresses public perceptions and the expectations placed on public figures regarding their attire and behavior.

6. Artistic Control and Creative Process

Timestamp: [32:54] - [39:54]

Delving into the creative aspects of filmmaking, Tucci emphasizes the significance of casting in directing, attributing 90% of successful directing to selecting the right actors.

Stanley Tucci [37:09]: "I mean, look, 90% of it is casting."

He recounts the challenges of casting for his film "Big Night", highlighting the meticulous process that led to a stellar ensemble cast.

7. Impact of Personal Experiences on Work

Timestamp: [45:28] - [62:08]

Tucci reflects on how his personal tragedies, including the loss of his first wife and his own cancer diagnosis, have profoundly influenced his approach to acting and storytelling.

Stanley Tucci [46:00]: "Without question. I mean, just having children changes... that is there."

He discusses how these experiences have added depth and authenticity to his performances, allowing him to portray complex emotions with greater nuance.

8. Embracing Change and Letting Go

Timestamp: [67:10] - [70:45]

In the latter part of the conversation, Tucci talks about embracing the inevitability of aging and the importance of letting go of unattainable aspirations. He balances this acceptance with a continued drive to pursue meaningful work.

Stanley Tucci [69:37]: "It's just, there's, there's a kind of letting go."

Notable Quotes

Stanley Tucci [06:08]: "What happened was because I had radiation six, seven years ago. It burned out my thyroid."
Stanley Tucci [33:28]: "Just cast a nice set where people are having a good time and you can get in there, you trust each other..."
Stanley Tucci [55:05]: "It's just fear."
Stanley Tucci [68:12]: "I think I just appreciate it more."

Conclusion

This poignant episode offers listeners an intimate glimpse into Stanley Tucci's life, highlighting his resilience in the face of personal loss and health challenges. Through his candid storytelling, Tucci imparts valuable lessons on balancing career and family, embracing change, and finding strength in vulnerability. David Tennant facilitates a heartfelt dialogue that not only celebrates Tucci’s achievements but also underscores the universal themes of love, loss, and the relentless pursuit of passion.

Production Credits:

Produced by: Matt Smith
Assistant Producer: Rani Prescott
Mix Engineer: Ed Gill
Executive Producers: Alex Lawless, Sarah Camlett, Georgia Tennant

Next episode: Stay tuned for Season 3, launching soon!

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Transcript743 lines

[00:00]
David Tennant
Hey, Georgia. Hi, David. Have you ever wished that you could slip into a disguise and travel anywhere in an instant? Is that a joke? No, no, seriously, Seriously. I'm talking about NordVPN. Oh, okay, I see. Georgia, look, I'm relocating. Relocating? You're literally on the sofa. Not physically. Digitally. I'm digitally relocating. Thanks to NordVPN, I can switch my virtual location to 111 different countries with just one click. So now I can access movies, shows, websites from all over the world. And I don't even need to teleport. And what about security? Well, NORDVPN encrypts all my online activity, protects against cyber threats, even gives dark web alerts to keep my personal data safe. And I want my personal data to be safe. Perfect for dodgy public. Wi Fi's right, because nothing screams hack me like a bloke at an airport clicking on free Wi Fi. Well, exactly, yes. Which is why we highly recommend downloading the NORDVPN app, especially for banking and sensitive data. Want to stay safe online? Just go to NordVPN.com tenant, use the code and get four extra months free on a two year plan. So you're basically getting premium cybersecurity for the price of a cup of coffee per month. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com tenant. Our link will also give you four extra months on the two year plan. No risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. Two or three of them really going for it.
[01:22]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[01:22]
David Tennant
Absurdly energetic.
[01:24]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about that one kid on the right? You know, from where we were looking.
[01:29]
David Tennant
He was quite something.
[01:30]
Stanley Tucci
That was extraordinary.
[01:31]
David Tennant
He was great.
[01:32]
Stanley Tucci
Extraordinary. Yours? How old?
[01:34]
David Tennant
Reception. So brand new. We did have one last year who was top end of that. She's gone. So we just had the reception. She was a robin. She did more than I thought. I was expecting a sort of internalized.
[01:47]
Stanley Tucci
Kind of staring out.
[01:48]
David Tennant
Not really paying. She's so long at least. Yeah.
[01:55]
Stanley Tucci
David Tennant does a podcast with Stanley Tucci.
[02:03]
David Tennant
Stanley, thank you for being here. We just hot footed it from our kids Christmas show.
[02:08]
Stanley Tucci
Yes, yes, very well.
[02:10]
David Tennant
What's your review?
[02:11]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, well, it was good. I mean it was. It was long, but it. No, it was good and it was. It made me. At the end I wanted to cry.
[02:21]
David Tennant
I think that's what it's meant to do. Yeah, isn't it?
[02:23]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, but it's also very, very funny at the same time. Yes, yeah. They're all insane. Yeah. I was insane.
[02:30]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[02:30]
Stanley Tucci
It is like watching crazy people on stage. But it's lovely.
[02:35]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[02:35]
Stanley Tucci
I love Christmas, so, you know, it's.
[02:37]
David Tennant
The way Christmas begins today.
[02:38]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Are you doing the show still?
[02:42]
David Tennant
Yeah, still. Hell, yeah.
[02:45]
Stanley Tucci
You are indefatig.
[02:47]
David Tennant
I've got a week left.
[02:48]
Stanley Tucci
A week left.
[02:49]
David Tennant
We're just getting to season. You're like, again, you know.
[02:53]
Stanley Tucci
I know, I know, I know.
[02:55]
David Tennant
I mean, I love it and I wouldn't want it.
[02:56]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah.
[02:57]
David Tennant
I think that. I feel like when you do a show, it's baked in. Like when it. When you're about 10 days out from the end, you sort of go, oh, no. Anymore.
[03:05]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, no, no.
[03:05]
David Tennant
But you could do it for six months and. Or you could do it for three weeks and it'd be the same point at which you sort of.
[03:10]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Are ready to, like, five weeks is the most. And I say this. Not have. Have it. Not having done a play for, like 20 years. Over 20 years.
[03:22]
David Tennant
Right.
[03:22]
Stanley Tucci
And I realized that. But every time I had done a play, I realized, like, when I got to the fifth week, I was like, okay, that's it. Because then I know that there's still, like, you know, there's still more to do.
[03:36]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[03:38]
Stanley Tucci
But you just. I want to leave it, like, on an inhale. Do you know what I mean?
[03:42]
David Tennant
Yes.
[03:43]
Stanley Tucci
I don't. I don't want to get to the point where I've gotten. Which is like, oh, watch me do it this way.
[03:48]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[03:49]
Stanley Tucci
Do you know what I mean? I know there's a laugh there when really there shouldn't be a laugh there. Yes. You know, but I know I. That is.
[03:55]
David Tennant
That is the real danger. You start to realize, oh, I could. I could pull a lovely face here. It wouldn't mean anything. It wouldn't be truthful. It wouldn't have anything to do with the story. But Jesus, I could bring that.
[04:05]
Stanley Tucci
I get a laugh. I don't know why I didn't think of it before her. Back.
[04:14]
David Tennant
20 years since you've done a play, did you ever do a long, long, long, long run?
[04:19]
Stanley Tucci
I did a six months on Broadway.
[04:23]
David Tennant
Okay.
[04:23]
Stanley Tucci
And that was the last time I did a play because it almost.
[04:26]
David Tennant
That was enough.
[04:27]
Stanley Tucci
It almost killed me.
[04:28]
David Tennant
Right. Yeah, yeah.
[04:29]
Stanley Tucci
It was too much. It was also became personal and messed up my life. It was just.
[04:34]
David Tennant
Yeah, right.
[04:35]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, it was. Yeah. It was too much. And then. And I was. You know, you get offered, like, amazing stuff, and I'm like, I can't do it. I just can't. Do it. And also with. With the little kids, I found it really hard because my kids were really little at the time. The older ones.
[04:51]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[04:52]
Stanley Tucci
And I just said, I can't.
[04:53]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[04:54]
Stanley Tucci
Do that anymore.
[04:55]
David Tennant
It's not a great. I mean, she get to take them to school so they see you.
[04:58]
Stanley Tucci
But then I see. I don't know how you do that. I couldn't do that. I couldn't get up and do that.
[05:04]
David Tennant
You've met Georgia. I don't have a choice. Yeah, no, which I actually. I think she. I think it's good. I like that she. But there's not a sense that, you.
[05:12]
Stanley Tucci
Know, that you're gonna have a lion.
[05:14]
David Tennant
I'm not in a separate room.
[05:15]
Stanley Tucci
No, no, no. Yeah, it's good.
[05:18]
David Tennant
You try and get a nap before. We might try and get a nap after this.
[05:20]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[05:21]
David Tennant
Sneak a little one in before the evening show.
[05:23]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[05:24]
David Tennant
Especially as one gets a little older.
[05:27]
Stanley Tucci
Yes. Well, I have to. I found out when I was doing the show in Italy this year that we did another 10 episodes. And I was like, I would be so tired in the afternoon, like completely exhausted by, like, by about 1:00. And I was like, something's wrong with me. And finally when it was all over, I think, or just before the last one, I had a blood test and I was like, I know something's fucking wrong with me.
[05:58]
David Tennant
Right.
[05:59]
Stanley Tucci
And my thyroid was like non functioning and.
[06:06]
David Tennant
Is that just because you're tired?
[06:08]
Stanley Tucci
No, it's from. I was like, what is it? Is it stress? Because I can have room stress and whatever. I was like, I don't know what's happening. And they kept saying, your cholesterol level is really high. I was like, why? Doesn't make any fucking sense. And what happened was because I had radiation six, seven years ago.
[06:28]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[06:29]
Stanley Tucci
It burned out my thyroid. So it's only. It's only just happening now. And I talked to my oncologist in New York. He goes, yeah, yeah.
[06:41]
David Tennant
I was like, shit happens.
[06:42]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. He goes, yeah, that. I think sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't happen. Right. And so he goes, yeah, that's because of the radiation. I was like, okay, as long as I know. Yeah, as long as I know it's not some sort of, you know, thing.
[06:56]
David Tennant
That new hideous thing.
[06:57]
Stanley Tucci
A hideous thing or some, you know, genetic sort of whatever. So then you take this pill Sin, which is basically Synthroid, which is a, you know, synthetic thyroid. Fine. I mean, I'm still. I'm getting another blood test because I think I might have to up it Right, right. Because I still get in the afternoon, I'm like, yeah, but I get that. Yeah, but that's a nor.
[07:23]
David Tennant
It's a human.
[07:24]
Stanley Tucci
It's human. But mine is like, literally you can't.
[07:29]
David Tennant
Right.
[07:30]
Stanley Tucci
Think. You can't move, you can't think, you can't. And once I started taking the pill, like it made a huge difference. But I'm still. I know I can want to get back to where I was. It is normal. And especially now I've just turned 64. Yeah, I mean, like. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there are times I don't want to do anything.
[07:47]
David Tennant
I mean, that used to be retire age.
[07:48]
Stanley Tucci
Yes, I know. It's not happening, is it?
[07:51]
David Tennant
No, neither would you want it to.
[07:54]
Stanley Tucci
No, I wouldn't drive you mad. No, I would go mad. I just don't want to do it. I want to do it because I want to do it, not because I have to do it. I mean, in work. You know what I mean?
[08:05]
David Tennant
Yes, yes. That's the, that's the golden retirement, I suppose. Were you.
[08:08]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[08:08]
David Tennant
Electing to work.
[08:09]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. And you're. And you're picking the right stuff and you're just like, no, I don't want to go away. I don't want to do that. You know what I mean? But there's all the other shit you want to do too. There's all the, you know, like, you know, I love painting and all that kind of stuff and I want to do, like, I want to spend time doing that and I want to direct a play again and I want to. I want to do a play again and you know, all that. Yeah. But. Yeah, I don't want to have to just because, you know the thing on the, on about making movies or TV or whatever. 80% of your time is waiting.
[08:47]
David Tennant
Sure.
[08:48]
Stanley Tucci
And that's the part that drives me crazy.
[08:50]
David Tennant
Right.
[08:50]
Stanley Tucci
Don't you find that. Do you go crazy or.
[08:53]
David Tennant
I see, I, I don't know that I do go crazy. Cuz I find when you're at home, it's so hectic you, you know, with the little kids that when you go to work and someone goes, just sit in that little shed for an hour and there's nothing will be required of you other than waiting. There's part of me kind of goes.
[09:13]
Stanley Tucci
No, I know what you mean.
[09:14]
David Tennant
Okay with that.
[09:16]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah, no, I know what you mean.
[09:18]
David Tennant
You know, it's not the worst thing.
[09:20]
Stanley Tucci
Well, you're helpless.
[09:21]
David Tennant
You're helpless.
[09:22]
Stanley Tucci
Right.
[09:22]
David Tennant
That's. Yes. I don't like the infantilization.
[09:25]
Stanley Tucci
No.
[09:25]
David Tennant
That that is visited.
[09:27]
Stanley Tucci
But I do know what you mean. There are those times where you're like, you know, you're getting emails like Felicity, who's like, you know, on her computer constantly because that's her job. So she's also doing the home stuff and whatever she's doing and, you know, connecting with our office and connecting with. So she's sending out reams of emails. And she goes, did you read that email about the blah, blah, blah? And I go, no, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.
[09:53]
David Tennant
Do you just fess up straight away or do you ever try and obfuscate?
[09:56]
Stanley Tucci
No, I basically.
[09:57]
David Tennant
Which particular evil of the several that.
[10:00]
Stanley Tucci
I've obviously have read of that thread. Yeah, it's not a thread, it's a whole robe. You know, it's like, no, I, I didn't, because I'm bad on that stuff for the most part. But. But also I'm like. A lot of times you go, you start to look, you go, oh, I'm gonna look at this thing that came in for the new house. Then I'll look through the whatever, how much the costs and the thing. And as soon as you start doing it, they knock on your door and they go, should we give you a 20 minute warning? You go, okay, great, great. And they start to look again, then knock again. So sorry. So sorry. We're gonna have to change that to what? 10? 10, fine. 10. 10. Knock, knock, knock. Stanley, just want to check your wardrobe. And after a while you're like, fuck it, I'm not gonna read it. Forget it. I give it. I give up.
[10:48]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[10:48]
Stanley Tucci
And then I have a real excuse not to look at it.
[10:52]
David Tennant
Yeah, it is.
[10:53]
Stanley Tucci
It's a. Yeah, it is. But that is the infantilization too, is. Just want to make sure you have your blah, blah, blah. Do you need your. Are you dressed? Do you need help dressing? It's like, no, I can dress myself.
[11:06]
David Tennant
Yes. The every moment of your day has to. Even when it is downtime, it has to be monitored and continuous updates need to be given.
[11:14]
Stanley Tucci
Yes. Yeah.
[11:16]
David Tennant
I mean, it's. It, it's. It's not really.
[11:18]
Stanley Tucci
It, it's.
[11:20]
David Tennant
I. I don't think it's particularly gracious to complain about, but.
[11:23]
Stanley Tucci
No, it's not. It's not. I found. I feel terrible. Spoiled.
[11:28]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[11:28]
Stanley Tucci
Do you know what I mean?
[11:29]
David Tennant
Spoiled? Yeah. Can we. Sorry. No, no, no. Can I get you anything at all?
[11:33]
Stanley Tucci
Oh.
[11:36]
David Tennant
Literally anything. Anything from. From the world.
[11:39]
Stanley Tucci
Anywhere.
[11:40]
David Tennant
Yeah, Anywhere in the world.
[11:41]
Stanley Tucci
We're close to Herod, you know.
[11:43]
David Tennant
Yeah. You a giraffe? Can I get you a giraffe, anything? Yeah. But I. I don't entirely love that, being spoiled, because it does. It makes me realize how sort of pathetic I am.
[11:56]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. No. Yeah. No, it's true.
[11:59]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[11:59]
Stanley Tucci
And I don't. Like, I never. I don't ask for anything. Like, I very seldom ask for anything. I bring my own food.
[12:06]
David Tennant
You bring your own luncheon.
[12:08]
Stanley Tucci
I do. I bring my own food. The only thing I'll ask for is if you can just let me know, like, how close we are to my trailer where we're filming. Because I would like, just when we have a break, just to come home and come back and heat up my food. That's all. Yeah, that's all I need. I need that.
[12:26]
David Tennant
Then someone will want to do it for you.
[12:27]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. And I'm like, no, I can do. I like to do it myself.
[12:30]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[12:31]
Stanley Tucci
Which is weird, but. But not really because sometimes it makes.
[12:35]
David Tennant
Sense, you know, what you're doing.
[12:36]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I don't. I don't. I. I don't want. Because I. I have seen those people in the past who are constantly sort of going, can you do this? Can you do this for me? Can you do this for me? Can you do this? And I'm like, don't do that. No.
[12:49]
David Tennant
Don't.
[12:49]
Stanley Tucci
Those people have a job?
[12:50]
David Tennant
They have it.
[12:51]
Stanley Tucci
They don't. You're only one person.
[12:53]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[12:53]
Stanley Tucci
They don't need you.
[12:55]
David Tennant
They're already busy. Other than you. Yes.
[12:57]
Stanley Tucci
And they've been here since 4 in the morning.
[12:59]
David Tennant
Yes, quite.
[13:00]
Stanley Tucci
And they'll leave after you leave.
[13:01]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[13:02]
Stanley Tucci
And they're driving themselves.
[13:04]
David Tennant
Have you always been well behaved on a set or did. Have you learned.
[13:10]
Stanley Tucci
Always.
[13:10]
David Tennant
Always.
[13:11]
Stanley Tucci
Just instinctively, always. I mean, it's not that I won't get upset about stuff. I think the thing that. Well, I'll get irritated is about disorganization and when time is wasted.
[13:30]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[13:30]
Stanley Tucci
Do you know what I mean? When a director isn't making a decision about how to shoot something, when they're. Or when they're just doing excessive coverage and there's no. You realize that. There's no, like, clarity of vision. And you're just like, well, you know, what are you doing? Why are you even here? Do you know what I mean? So they do all the mathematical possibilities of angles and you're like, well, that's not actually directing, is it? That's just you putting a camera in different places.
[13:58]
David Tennant
Do you do that since you've been a director or have you No, I.
[14:01]
Stanley Tucci
Was always like that.
[14:02]
David Tennant
Right, right.
[14:02]
Stanley Tucci
And once I learned. Which doesn't take that long to realize, like, oh, that's just shooting the. Out of something. I find that. I find that really frustrating where there's. And then their direction to you is not even direction. You know what I mean? It's that kind of. That kind of. You know, it's the waste of time and energy.
[14:29]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[14:30]
Stanley Tucci
Because you think, well, if we really focus, we really break this down and look at what. What it should be, and if there's some kind of real vision for it, it won't take us that long. And it will be better because we'll have saved energy and we'll have put the energy into the right places.
[14:45]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[14:46]
Stanley Tucci
And then when you get into the editing room, you'll have something that's substantial, not just a bunch of shots of people talking. And then when you get into the. And then when you see the final product, when there's that excessive coverage, it's very cutty and not so then every scene becomes the same, and I have it. That's like a bugbear of mine, that when every scene in a movie is the same and even though the scenes are different, but then they end up being. Looking the same, being shot the same, being cut the same.
[15:16]
David Tennant
Yeah. You do have an effect on people, though, quite. Now, some of that will be to do with, obviously, the work you've done, the status you have acquired. But there's. I've seen you in the wild, as it were, and people are sort of are giddy around you now. I don't know if this has come. I don't know if this is. Since you've become famous also as yourself, which is relatively recent for you, isn't it?
[15:44]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. The last, like. Yeah. For.
[15:46]
David Tennant
For you sort of mixed a cocktail during lockdown, and the world's.
[15:50]
Stanley Tucci
The world is giddy.
[15:53]
David Tennant
The knees of the world trembled.
[15:55]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Yeah.
[15:55]
David Tennant
And that. That became a sort of slightly different. Yeah, you're viewed through a slightly different frame, I think.
[16:01]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. It's weird.
[16:02]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[16:02]
Stanley Tucci
It is weird.
[16:03]
David Tennant
Not unpleasant or is it unpleasant?
[16:05]
Stanley Tucci
No, it's great. Yeah, it's great. I mean, it can be uncomfortable sometimes. Yeah. Because you think. I don't. Like. I cannot think of myself that way.
[16:16]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[16:16]
Stanley Tucci
Like, I don't like. I. But I know. I know when I walk into a restaurant.
[16:23]
David Tennant
Oh, God. Yeah. It's like everybody goes. The chef.
[16:31]
Stanley Tucci
And I'm like. I don't really. I know what. I know the food that I really like. I know a fair amount about food. I'm not a chef, but this effect.
[16:40]
David Tennant
You have on people, it obviously comes from people that. Loving what you do, admiring the way you're. Admiring you as an actor, admiring how you talk about food and getting people excited. These sort of dual careers that. You know how.
[16:51]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah.
[16:52]
David Tennant
And clearly there. There are a lot of women folk out there who've decided you're the person they want to come home to. To have a cocktail shaken by.
[17:02]
Stanley Tucci
Yes.
[17:02]
David Tennant
And that's, you know, that's lovely.
[17:05]
Stanley Tucci
It is lovely.
[17:06]
David Tennant
But it's blocks as well. I mean.
[17:08]
Stanley Tucci
No, no, guys. Yeah, guys.
[17:10]
David Tennant
It's a sort of. There must be something impossible for you to comment on this, probably, but there must be.
[17:17]
Stanley Tucci
There's.
[17:18]
David Tennant
People get a sense of you really knowing who you are, of having a confidence, of having a swagger that they aspire to. Yeah.
[17:27]
Stanley Tucci
And I wonder how much they only knew.
[17:29]
David Tennant
Yeah, well, that's what I mean. I mean, how much of that are you recognizing? How much of that is a sort of. I don't know what I'm doing.
[17:37]
Stanley Tucci
It's a performance of sorts.
[17:39]
David Tennant
Sure.
[17:40]
Stanley Tucci
You know, you're performing yourself, right?
[17:44]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[17:45]
Stanley Tucci
So. And I notice it, too. Like, I know when. If somebody turns on a camera, like, literally, and I mean, I'm. You're probably like that. You put on a camera. You're waking me up at a dead sleep, and there's a camera right there. I'll give you whatever you want. Do you know what I mean? You go, like, we're done, and I'll go back to sleep. Yeah, right.
[18:06]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[18:07]
Stanley Tucci
In real. It's real life.
[18:09]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[18:09]
Stanley Tucci
That is terribly uncomfortable.
[18:11]
David Tennant
And yet you now have a version of Stanley Tucci.
[18:15]
Stanley Tucci
Yes.
[18:15]
David Tennant
That is public property. How close is that to the Stanley Tucci that Felicity married?
[18:21]
Stanley Tucci
It's close. Certainly closer than.
[18:23]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[18:23]
Stanley Tucci
Characters I play.
[18:24]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[18:25]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, it's definitely closer. Is it all me? No, it's not. Because no one would want to watch that. Do you know what I mean? They'd be like, oh, that's awful. He's not very happy, is he? See what I mean? Why is he so tired in the.
[18:39]
David Tennant
Middle of the afternoon? He just falls.
[18:40]
Stanley Tucci
Just falls asleep. That wasn't really a very funny joke. Do you mean? It's like, why is he so annoyed? Yeah, I think. Yeah, it's a part. It's a part of me. It's a big part of me, but it's not all of me. I think that. Yeah. I think part of the reason that people. First of all, people love food. Right. People love Italian food.
[19:04]
David Tennant
Absolutely.
[19:05]
Stanley Tucci
In particular, I think, and we have this romantic idea of Italy, but hopefully in the show we should, you know, we sort of show that Italy isn't always great and romantic and there are issues as there are in lots of countries, but so it's trying to give you a sort of more well rounded look at the country through the prism of food. But I think part of like that cocktail thing and all that is our society has. Our world has lost an elegance, but it's lost in elegance. Not like we can look at stuff and we can see somebody in a tuxedo on the Orient Express and all that sort of stuff. And that's like, there's that and then there's the way everybody else dresses. There's nothing in between.
[19:58]
David Tennant
Right.
[19:59]
Stanley Tucci
Anymore.
[20:00]
David Tennant
Right.
[20:00]
Stanley Tucci
Do you know what I mean?
[20:01]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[20:01]
Stanley Tucci
It's like sometimes maybe, but when you see people walking down the street, I mean, no one is really dressed like people used to dress. Not like beautifully all the time, but there was something about people, the way people comported themselves. When I grew up, you know, my dad was an art teacher, went to school in a suit, a suit and a tie. Right into the 70s, you know, he might wear pants and a jacket and a tie or whatever, but that was just it still, people were. There was this conscious choice of how you, how you, how you show yourself, how you comport yourself to people and it shows a respect for you and a respect for. For the world, I think, and for other people. And I write about this in the book that I really have difficulty with people walking around with. In tracksuit bottoms and.
[20:53]
David Tennant
Right.
[20:54]
Stanley Tucci
Everyone is dressed like a nine year old. Do you know what I mean? And I just think that's weird.
[20:58]
David Tennant
Yeah, I think it's weird because you're always beautifully turned out.
[21:01]
Stanley Tucci
I love, I love to dress well. It's only recently in the last few years that I actually will wear like sneakers or trainers on a. Yeah. On like when I travel like on a plane. I would never, never always wore a jacket, always shoes, always like I would a lot of. For years I would just travel in suits.
[21:20]
David Tennant
Right.
[21:21]
Stanley Tucci
Just because I found them really comfortable. Right. It was kind of easier.
[21:24]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[21:25]
Stanley Tucci
Just throw in a suit. The idea that somebody puts on a pair of pants. And this was commented on. On the. In Instagram. On the Instagram. Yeah. Yeah.
[21:36]
David Tennant
Just undermine your cool a little bit.
[21:38]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. That the, you know, I had like a pair of pants on and a, like a polo thing, like a knit polo thing and a belt.
[21:49]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[21:50]
Stanley Tucci
And one woman commented, she. He's Wearing a belt. Who wears a belt? Like, literally that. Like, he's not like. And he's in his own house. So in other words, when you're in your own house, you just don't wear it. Like, you just dress in whatever. Yeah, whereas I.
[22:10]
David Tennant
If at all.
[22:11]
Stanley Tucci
If at all.
[22:11]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[22:12]
Stanley Tucci
Whereas. Yeah, I'll wear my tracksuit bums or whatever when I'm exercising and whatever, and I can spend the day in them after I've worked out, which is gross. But you're like, I got stuff to do. But then I. Like, for dinner, go up, take a shower, put on a pair of pants.
[22:28]
David Tennant
You dress for dinner. That is.
[22:29]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. I mean, not dress, dress, but I'll. Pants, shoes.
[22:33]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[22:34]
Stanley Tucci
Shirt.
[22:34]
David Tennant
And do you. Is every night, cocktail night in your house?
[22:38]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[22:38]
David Tennant
Every single night.
[22:39]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Not for everyone. Just me. Yeah, sure. I don't need them.
[22:44]
David Tennant
I suppose that's it. You. You've become synonymous with a lifestyle that people.
[22:49]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, but it's a lifestyle that I always wanted to live. It's. Now I'm like, oh, I actually can live this lifestyle.
[22:55]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[22:56]
Stanley Tucci
You know, within reason.
[22:57]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[22:57]
Stanley Tucci
And it was a lifestyle that, of course, you know, my dad would come home, he'd have a drink, then they'd have wine with dinner. And when they had dinner parties, you know, everybody got dressed up. Christmases, everybody was dressed up. Thanksgiving, everybody dressed up. Everything decorated beautifully, table set beautifully. And there was no money. Like, we didn't have money. It was just. They had taste.
[23:25]
David Tennant
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[24:04]
Stanley Tucci
No.
[24:05]
David Tennant
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[24:49]
Stanley Tucci
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[24:51]
David Tennant
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[24:59]
Stanley Tucci
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[25:03]
David Tennant
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[25:09]
Stanley Tucci
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[25:22]
David Tennant
How it. How Italian did you feel as a kid?
[25:25]
Stanley Tucci
Very.
[25:26]
David Tennant
Right. Very more American or more Italian?
[25:29]
Stanley Tucci
I felt American in the sense that there was, you know, you had so many possibilities. Yeah, right. And growing up in Westchester, which was really bucolic and, and, you know, it was the suburbs, but where I grew up, initially it was a dirt road. We're on a cul de sac, you're surrounded by woods. It was really, really pretty. So you had this, especially in the 60s and 70s, you just felt there was this amazing freedom and hope, the Italian thing. So I felt very American. And when I went to Italy as a kid, when I was 12, I felt very American.
[26:09]
David Tennant
Sure.
[26:10]
Stanley Tucci
Really?
[26:11]
David Tennant
Because you didn't speak Italian?
[26:12]
Stanley Tucci
No, not a word.
[26:12]
David Tennant
Right.
[26:13]
Stanley Tucci
Not a word. But within two months, I spoke fluently.
[26:15]
David Tennant
Right.
[26:15]
Stanley Tucci
Because you had to.
[26:17]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[26:18]
Stanley Tucci
And then when I came back, I felt like the two sort of came together.
[26:25]
David Tennant
Okay.
[26:25]
Stanley Tucci
Do you know what I mean? You sort of. Everything gelled these two separate sides of me. But I felt very Italian before I went to Italy in the sense that I knew that what the things that my family did on a Sunday, on a Saturday or whatever, or were very different than a lot of the Other kids who weren't Italian.
[26:47]
David Tennant
Okay.
[26:48]
Stanley Tucci
In other words, certainly the food, because I'd never had a good meal at a friend's house my whole life. Right. People like to come to our house and eat.
[26:56]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[26:57]
Stanley Tucci
But also, there were all of those obligations. You know, you. First of all, you went to church.
[27:02]
David Tennant
So Catholicism was a big thing.
[27:04]
Stanley Tucci
You went to church. You went to see your grandparents on Sunday.
[27:07]
David Tennant
Right.
[27:08]
Stanley Tucci
One or the other. And spend time with cousins. Christmas, Thanksgiving was only about family. You know, it was very separate. Like you didn't invite a friend to be with you on a holiday. Like it was only family.
[27:26]
David Tennant
How quickly did you move on from the Catholicism that came with that world?
[27:32]
Stanley Tucci
Pretty quick.
[27:32]
David Tennant
Right. You weren't. You weren't sort of blighted by Catholic guilt all your life?
[27:37]
Stanley Tucci
No, no, no. I have. No, no. I mean, I suppose so, because it's sort of part and parcel of being Italian.
[27:44]
David Tennant
Right.
[27:44]
Stanley Tucci
You know, you're made to feel guilty, you know.
[27:46]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[27:47]
Stanley Tucci
For what? I'm not going to do whatever. Being alive. Yeah.
[27:51]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah.
[27:52]
Stanley Tucci
My first wife, she was a Unitarian.
[27:55]
David Tennant
Okay.
[27:56]
Stanley Tucci
So, you know, we tried to go to Unitarian stuff. And then I realized that I. I was more like Groucho Marx in the end that, you know, I don't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.
[28:05]
David Tennant
Right.
[28:06]
Stanley Tucci
So I. I didn't want to do that anymore.
[28:08]
David Tennant
Okay. What is Unitarians? What kind of.
[28:10]
Stanley Tucci
They're secular humanists. So they're not really praying to a God. They believe more in, I suppose, the beliefs. I'm sure lots of people listen to this and go like, he has no idea what he's talking about. And I don't. But that. That really. That people are the thing to believe in.
[28:28]
David Tennant
Okay.
[28:29]
Stanley Tucci
Right. That there probably is maybe a higher power, but it's not.
[28:34]
David Tennant
But we're not committing.
[28:35]
Stanley Tucci
We're not committing.
[28:36]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[28:36]
Stanley Tucci
I think. And it really is a. It was quite lovely. I thought it was about community more than anything. And I think that's a great thing. And I think that's what churches do, what religion can do. But I think it's. Yeah, yeah. It's really more about, unfortunately, power and stuff.
[28:55]
David Tennant
Yes. Well, you've just done this movie about conclave is all about that. Right?
[28:59]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[28:59]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[28:59]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. That's fascinating, the fact that that process is still happening.
[29:03]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[29:03]
Stanley Tucci
You have, like, 200 old men. Only men.
[29:07]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[29:08]
Stanley Tucci
Voting to vote in another old man.
[29:11]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[29:12]
Stanley Tucci
Do you mean who's going to make decisions for 1.6 billion people who are, you know, Catholics.
[29:20]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[29:21]
Stanley Tucci
And you're like, don't you want to sort of mix that up a little bit?
[29:26]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[29:28]
Stanley Tucci
Like women. Yeah, that'd be good. That'd be a star.
[29:31]
David Tennant
Yeah. So we're in all this.
[29:34]
Stanley Tucci
In all this.
[29:34]
David Tennant
It doesn't sound like there were a lot of precedents for going into acting around you as a child or your parents were creative, obviously.
[29:42]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, my father. My father. My mother. Creative in the kitchen. My father. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[29:46]
David Tennant
But where did acting come from?
[29:48]
Stanley Tucci
I don't know, really. Just literally don't know. I don't know.
[29:53]
David Tennant
Were you doing it at school? Was there?
[29:55]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, when I was a kid, I remember doing this play when I was, like, in sixth grade or something. And I had this teacher who had been. He had done off Broadway, off. Off Off Broadway stuff. He had written a musical called about the tortoise and the hair, like a little thing. And I did it, and I had done a little play before that that he had done. And I realized that when it was weird, you know, I walked on stage and I was like, oh, this is where I'm supposed to be in that moment. Yeah. As a kid.
[30:32]
David Tennant
Right.
[30:32]
Stanley Tucci
Like nine.
[30:34]
David Tennant
Okay.
[30:34]
Stanley Tucci
I was like, oh, this makes perfect sense. It was weird. Like, it was. I've never had an experience like that since where I was so sure. Yeah, that this is what I'm supposed to do. This is where I'm supposed to be. This makes perfect sense here. Things make sense here. I'm secure. Once I get off the stage, I'm not as secure.
[31:03]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[31:03]
Stanley Tucci
Let's put it that way.
[31:04]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[31:04]
Stanley Tucci
Quite nervous, shy. And I walk on the stage and knew exactly what to do. Wow. And then as I started doing plays in high school, like, I knew exactly how to stand on stage, how to be there, how to move something along, to move the pace along of something. And I had this great teacher in high school who directed really sophisticated play. We did. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead in high school.
[31:36]
David Tennant
Wow.
[31:36]
Stanley Tucci
If you can imagine.
[31:37]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[31:38]
Stanley Tucci
And I remember I designed the set for it, and I was like, oh, I think I need to have a platform. Can we build a platform in the middle of the audience so that we can jump from the stage onto the platform and then we can have certain scenes take place right there on the platform. And he was like, yeah, that's a great idea. So you were already directing in a sense. Yeah. Like, I saw. Like, I could see it very clearly, and I was so comfortable. And I still am, like, really comfortable. And then you walk off stage and you're like, oh, now what happens. But you know what, you know, movies and, you know, theater, they're about. In our lives, we cannot control space, we cannot control time. On stage. In a film, you can control space, time and emotion. It's the perfect place to be. It's, you know, it's why they say, you know, art makes order out of chaos. And that's what it is. Our lives are fucking chaos. Yeah, right. You get on stage and you can just. Everything is framed. Everything is. There's a beginning, there's a middle and an end. You can improvise within that structure, but there's still a structure.
[32:54]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[32:55]
Stanley Tucci
You know, it's going to end. You know how it's going to end. Happy or sad, whatever. But, you know.
[33:00]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[33:01]
Stanley Tucci
And so it's a very, very safe. It's about control.
[33:08]
David Tennant
Yes. Which you obviously had a. Because quite reasonably early in your career, sort of as soon as things started to take off for you, you made a movie which you co, wrote, co directed and co starred in, which does indicate control was quite tempting.
[33:27]
Stanley Tucci
Very. Yeah, yeah.
[33:29]
David Tennant
And also that, that was at a point in your career where you were. You weren't a sort of known face particularly, but. No, were you.
[33:37]
Stanley Tucci
So.
[33:37]
David Tennant
So getting that off the ground. Mustard.
[33:39]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Was not needed. It was not easy. It took it. Well, it took two years, which seemed an eternity and now I know it's nothing. It's nothing.
[33:47]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[33:48]
Stanley Tucci
The last movie I directed took 13 years.
[33:51]
David Tennant
Right.
[33:51]
Stanley Tucci
You know.
[33:52]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[33:52]
Stanley Tucci
So. But you know, you. You're asking people. I did it with Campbell Scott. Co directed with Campbell and Campbell was, you know, quite well known at the time, so that was incredibly helpful. And. And then he was able to bring in Isabella Rossellini.
[34:09]
David Tennant
Sure.
[34:10]
Stanley Tucci
And. And that made a big difference. And Mini Driver, who had just made Circle of Friends, so she was the one who actually we got the green light because of many.
[34:21]
David Tennant
Right.
[34:21]
Stanley Tucci
Interesting. And so. Yeah, but that. And that happened and it turned out much better than we ever could have imagined. And at the same time, I had done this thing called Murder One.
[34:35]
David Tennant
Sure.
[34:35]
Stanley Tucci
And that was a big hit and you know, we got, you know, awards and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, yeah. And that started to. So those two things happening together.
[34:45]
David Tennant
Right.
[34:46]
Stanley Tucci
You know, and then your career goes like this and then it goes like that.
[34:49]
David Tennant
Sure, sure.
[34:51]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[34:51]
David Tennant
Yeah. Takes a lot of cues from your own life, that movie, doesn't it? I mean, when I was reading your memoir and I was re. Watching Big Night, it felt like there was a lot like the, like the Timpano and even the games that are played. And the whole Italian immigrant experience was. That was obviously something you were. Had access to.
[35:17]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, nobody had a restaurant or anything, but.
[35:20]
David Tennant
No, sure.
[35:20]
Stanley Tucci
But the idea was that we wanted to show the Italian immigrant experience in a way that it really hadn't been shown before. In other words, there was no mention of the Mafia. That doesn't exist. Right?
[35:33]
David Tennant
Yes.
[35:33]
Stanley Tucci
It's one of the only films made about Italian Americans where the Mafia doesn't exist.
[35:39]
David Tennant
Had you been playing a lot of mafiosa up to that point?
[35:41]
Stanley Tucci
I had, yeah. Yes. Because that's where you'd get your work.
[35:44]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah.
[35:45]
Stanley Tucci
You know, and after a while you were. And I went through a 10 year period where I just didn't do it.
[35:49]
David Tennant
Okay.
[35:49]
Stanley Tucci
And then I did it when Sam Mendes asked me to do Road to Perdition because it's summoned because nobody was good in the script.
[35:58]
David Tennant
Right?
[35:59]
Stanley Tucci
Yes. The Irishman.
[36:00]
David Tennant
Okay. Yeah, yeah.
[36:01]
Stanley Tucci
And the Italians were all questionable. Do you know what I mean?
[36:05]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[36:05]
Stanley Tucci
So it was like, that was great. It wasn't like, you're bad because you're Italian.
[36:10]
David Tennant
Yes.
[36:10]
Stanley Tucci
Which is normal normally, the way Italians are portrayed. Yeah. And so we wanted to show that and we wanted to show basically what's that. In every movie I've made is the same thing. They're about identity and about an artist's identity in a way. And where. What. How does that artist fit into society? And that's what so much of Big Night is about, you know, within the context of that immigrant experience. And. And, you know, it turned out to be really successful. And it's like, weird. I never. We never knew. But the producers left us alone. They never.
[36:48]
David Tennant
Oh, right.
[36:49]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, they didn't. They were doing bigger movies. It was this company called Reicher Entertainment. They were doing these big movies. They thought ours was like. And we would invite them into the editing room. They go, nah, it's all right, don't worry, we'll see. Yeah. And then that was it.
[37:05]
David Tennant
Do you think that directing is often about vibes rather than anything you actually do?
[37:09]
Stanley Tucci
Yes. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, 90% of it is casting.
[37:14]
David Tennant
Sure.
[37:14]
Stanley Tucci
Right. The other 10% is your DP and vibes. Yeah, it is. I mean, you just kind of create a nice set.
[37:24]
David Tennant
Sure.
[37:25]
Stanley Tucci
Create a set where people are having a good time and you can get in there, you trust each other, and then you. You're like, okay, let's. What time is it? Yeah, let's go home. Did we get it? You got it. Let's get out of here.
[37:40]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[37:40]
Stanley Tucci
You know, I hate those guys right now. I think we need to. The seriousness of it. And you're like, it doesn't pay off.
[37:48]
David Tennant
I don't. This may come out wrong. I didn't really want it to, but there's something about your acting which feels.
[37:53]
Stanley Tucci
Very effortless, like, I don't give a shit.
[37:55]
David Tennant
Like you don't give a shit, but. And yet it's always. You sort of burn through the screen. You. Absolutely. So is it about very.
[38:03]
Stanley Tucci
David, I can't believe. You're very kind.
[38:04]
David Tennant
No, it's true.
[38:05]
Stanley Tucci
It's true.
[38:05]
David Tennant
And I. Well, you mentioned Murder One, which is the first time I remember seeing you. And I remember you kind of. You're dazzling in that. And I remember going, who the fuck is this? And then Big Night came out and I went, oh, this is who this is. And. And yet there's a sort of. There's an ease to. To watching you, which is very compelling. Is that conscious or is that just how you do it? That's just.
[38:27]
Stanley Tucci
No, it's just how you do it. I think that for me. For me, it has. You have to. The older you get, the more you do something, the less energy you realize you need in order to do it. Everything becomes distilled. Right. So the things that you. Where you used to put a lot of energy into, that energy wasn't really going anywhere. It was just you trying to do something as opposed to just doing it sometimes. Not like a Nike ad, but, you know, just do it. Just. Just do it. Don't talk about it. I hate talking about it.
[39:10]
David Tennant
Do you?
[39:11]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, when I was younger, yeah, I would. A little bit more. And there are lots of actors who talk it to death. I'm like, why? Yeah, just do it. Or, you know, when you do a take and then somebody says, yeah, I wonder if this could be this. And then this conversation starts and you.
[39:27]
David Tennant
Think, so we do it again. I'll just do it again.
[39:29]
Stanley Tucci
Just do it. Yeah, just do it again. I'll do it again.
[39:32]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[39:32]
Stanley Tucci
And I'll do it a different way.
[39:33]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[39:33]
Stanley Tucci
And I'm gonna do it a different way. And then if. If you want me to do it this one way, and I don't agree with that, I will probably say, no, I don't. I. I don't think that will be right. And I will. I'll push back on.
[39:48]
David Tennant
Okay.
[39:48]
Stanley Tucci
Because I'll be like, I don't want them to use that.
[39:51]
David Tennant
Yes. Because once they've got it.
[39:52]
Stanley Tucci
If they got it.
[39:53]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[39:54]
Stanley Tucci
But for the most Part. No, to me, it's. It's. It's. You know, when you. When you see people as they get older, you just see the performances start to become calmer. Calmer.
[40:06]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah.
[40:07]
Stanley Tucci
No matter what. No matter what. It's more focused. It's. It's distilled, you know? And that's when you think about when you first started. Right.
[40:17]
David Tennant
Chewing the scenery, desperate to try and make an impression. Yeah.
[40:20]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, me too. I mean, I was like, I'm gonna. And it's like, no, no, you don't have to.
[40:26]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[40:27]
Stanley Tucci
My friend who's a director who passed away, he was a Romanian guy, and he said. He taught me a huge amount about acting. He directed me in a few plays. And he said, you know, actors forget. We were doing a production of Skeppin, like an updated version of Skeppin, and I'd walk on stage and I wanted to do something at the beginning. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just stand there. And I was like. And I go, no, no. But I have to do say. He goes, you don't have to do anything. Just stand there. You're going to be doing a lot later, number one. And second of all, actors forget that one of the reasons they're actors is because they're interesting and people want to watch them. So don't.
[41:15]
David Tennant
Right.
[41:16]
Stanley Tucci
Just don't.
[41:16]
David Tennant
Right.
[41:18]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. And he was so right.
[41:20]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[41:21]
Stanley Tucci
It would have thrown off the balance of the play because Scat Pyle through the play goes, you know, plays different characters, does all the different things, the more still it is at the beginning. And that taught me a huge, huge amount. Huge amount. It's that time of year when I.
[41:42]
David Tennant
Literally have Nothing to wear.
[41:44]
Stanley Tucci
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[41:50]
David Tennant
And the A and F meal address.
[41:51]
Stanley Tucci
Is at the top of my list. Use code Spotify AF at checkout for an extra 15% off almost everything through April 14, 2025, in stores and online in US and Canada. Exclusions apply. See details online.
[42:03]
David Tennant
30% off all dresses is valid in.
[42:05]
Stanley Tucci
Stores and online through April 14, 2025, in US and Canada. Excludes clearance online.
[42:10]
David Tennant
Price reflects discount. Interestingly, you've said 90% of directing is casting. And in Big Night, you've got yourself and Tony Shalhoub playing Italian immigrants. You've got many driver, you've got Isabella Rossini, and then you've got quite. I mean, it's a brilliant performance, but it's. It's A Ian Holm, the late, great Ian Holmes, is playing the Italian restaurant owner around the corner, and he's from Essex. So how do you get.
[42:42]
Stanley Tucci
Because I'll tell you why. Because Giancarlo Giannini was supposed to play that role.
[42:47]
David Tennant
Okay.
[42:48]
Stanley Tucci
And for whatever reason, it didn't happen. I. I don't. I never did find out the reason, and we were already in pre production, and I had to cast somebody, and it was like. It was the hardest role to cast, right? Yeah, hardest role because he's not. He's actually not even Italian. The character's written as Corsican, so he's almost like a false Italian. Ah, ah, Right.
[43:13]
David Tennant
So that's your way into Essex.
[43:15]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. So they're right. And he's based on a guy that I had met and who had these incredible blue eyes and who was Corsican, but he ran Italian restaurants and he was fascinating and he swore constantly and he was. But there was something really magnetic about him. It was something you just didn't trust.
[43:37]
David Tennant
Right, right, right.
[43:39]
Stanley Tucci
So I were looking at all these different people. My God, it went on forever. And then I looked at somebody, brought up Ian, and then I. All I had to do was look at Chariots of Fire.
[43:53]
David Tennant
Okay?
[43:54]
Stanley Tucci
You look at Chariots of Fire because also I wanted the behavior to be like, Italian. Ish. Do you know what I mean? Because the Corsican, that sort of Mediterranean, There are certain gestures and certain things.
[44:07]
David Tennant
That almost self consciously.
[44:09]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah.
[44:09]
David Tennant
Mediterranean.
[44:10]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. In a way. And I looked at him do that, and it was. There are, like, very few people who will play Italians in movies that I go, he's Italian.
[44:22]
David Tennant
Yeah, right, right.
[44:24]
Stanley Tucci
Most people who play Italians. And this is another, I think, for me, interesting conversation about Italians in film. But the. A lot of people play Italians, I don't believe for a second that they're Italian. That's basically 95, 99% of people play Italian. I go like, you're not Italian. Marlon Brando in the Godfather still. You're like, that is incredible.
[44:50]
David Tennant
Right?
[44:51]
Stanley Tucci
Like, that is like you'd believe that person is Italian. And Ian Holm in Chariots of Fire.
[44:58]
David Tennant
Right.
[44:59]
Stanley Tucci
It's incredibly subtle what he does, but you look at him and you're like, I would believe he was Italian.
[45:06]
David Tennant
Okay.
[45:07]
Stanley Tucci
I have. I'm hard pressed to find another performance.
[45:11]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[45:11]
Stanley Tucci
Where I think somebody's like, oh, he's Italian.
[45:14]
David Tennant
Yeah. And he is brilliant.
[45:15]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[45:16]
David Tennant
But it's not the. The obvious place you misses. Did you push back from the Italian Corsican actors going, hey, yeah, yeah, right. What's Going on.
[45:23]
Stanley Tucci
Not in those days. Yeah. All one of him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[45:29]
David Tennant
Do you think that. That life alters your work as well? I mean, you've spoken very. You've been very open. I don't want to intrude on difficult stuff. But you've talked very openly about how you lost your first wife to cancer, and that obviously will sort of. That's a devastating life moment. Are you aware when you live through something like that that your work changes?
[45:52]
Stanley Tucci
That you're. That it.
[45:55]
David Tennant
Does. As you change as a person, does that alter your acting?
[46:01]
Stanley Tucci
Without question.
[46:01]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[46:02]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, without question. I mean, you know, just having children changes. Well, quite right, sure. Losing somebody you love. Yeah. And somebody really close. Close. That you're raising children with, and then you see that person in your children, you know, all the time, every day. I mean, that's like. Yeah, it changes everything. The way you approach somebody gives you a, you know, like the movie I did with Colin Supernova, which, you know, is about early onset dementia. This, this. This couple. And one of them has early onset dementia. And, you know, he's starting to slip away and there's a. There's a thing at the end where I say to him, because I have. It's possible that I'm going to commit suicide, so I don't have to suffer and I have to make him suffer. And there's a scene at the end where I say, look, I just. In essence, I want you to be okay. Don't. You know, it's all right. Something. It was much easier than I thought it would be.
[47:09]
David Tennant
Right.
[47:09]
Stanley Tucci
Because all. All that stuff is there. Yeah, it's just there. It's just in you, you know, the idea of saying goodbye to somebody, the idea of watching somebody fade away, even though she was fading away in a different way, it's just there. It informs. It informs everything you do in life and certainly in your work.
[47:33]
David Tennant
Right.
[47:33]
Stanley Tucci
Your dreams are different. I mean, last night I had again, dreams that she's in.
[47:41]
David Tennant
Right.
[47:42]
Stanley Tucci
She's in a lot of the dreams. A lot of dreams. And then I write that in the new book about, you know, it's just like. It'll always be there.
[47:50]
David Tennant
Right.
[47:51]
Stanley Tucci
And it's. Watching this kids thing today.
[47:54]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[47:55]
Stanley Tucci
Was really, you know, I'm watching Millie, who is with. You know, I have. With Felicity.
[48:04]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[48:05]
Stanley Tucci
And she reminds me so much of my youngest daughter from Kate, Camilla. She reminds me of her quite a bit. And just, you know, you have all these images and memories of watching high school, you know, little grade school plays and stuff like that. With her in it. And I'm seeing it again and you just know. But now you know how it changes, how fast they change and how disappears so, so quickly and how life is so short. And I think, particularly now. I woke up the other night in a panic. I was like, okay, So I have 15 years. I got about 15 years. Unless if I'm like my father middle of the night. Right, 15 years.
[48:57]
David Tennant
Right, right.
[48:58]
Stanley Tucci
64 if I live to 80. That's great. And then I calculate the ages of the kids, which, because I can't do maths, took me quite a while.
[49:06]
David Tennant
So then you're really awake.
[49:07]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, then I'm really awake.
[49:08]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[49:09]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. That's a nightmare. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta get up. I gotta get a calculator, you know, and I. Yeah. And you're just. I think, okay, well, she'll be this old and he'll be this old, and the other kids will be this old. They'll probably have kids by then. So that's nice. That's good. I wonder if they'll. Because you don't want them to be too young when you die.
[49:33]
David Tennant
Sure. Do you think you're hyper aware of that because you were dealt this? Because, you know, Because Catherine shouldn't have died when she did, by all accounts. You know, you should have been. You should have grown all together. Do you think that sort of, that bolt from the blue, that devastation at that point in your life, do you think that makes you more aware of mortality at all?
[49:57]
Stanley Tucci
Without question. Yeah, without question. That just happens inevitably as you get older, but that just heightens it. And I was always very aware of death because Italians are very aware of death. They speak a lot about death.
[50:11]
David Tennant
Right.
[50:11]
Stanley Tucci
It's not like Americans or the Brits, who don't really talk. You don't talk about it that way.
[50:17]
David Tennant
Pretend it's not going to happen.
[50:18]
Stanley Tucci
You pretend it's not going to happen. It's like it's happening. You know, there's another. It's going to happen.
[50:22]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[50:22]
Stanley Tucci
And process.
[50:24]
David Tennant
Process is occurring. Right.
[50:25]
Stanley Tucci
It could happen when you walk out the door, you know, my grandmother, who was incredibly funny, my mother's mother, after my grandfather died, we went to visit her one day and she said. My mother said, okay, bye, bye, bye, bye. She's leaving. My mother goes, do you want me to close the door or do you want me to keep it open? It was the summer. Do you want me to keep it open? Without even looking, she's sitting on the couch looking at the television. She goes, leave it open. Maybe somebody Will come in and kill me. I laughed so hard, I was probably in my early 20s or whatever it was. I thought, that is genius. That's.
[51:15]
David Tennant
Was she trying to be funny?
[51:16]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, yeah.
[51:17]
David Tennant
Oh, she was.
[51:17]
Stanley Tucci
And then she had. Then she had. My mother just looked at her, started laughing, and my grandmother just went. Had, like, a little smirk like that. Never looked at anybody, just looked at the television.
[51:30]
David Tennant
Right.
[51:31]
Stanley Tucci
And it's like, that is so healthy.
[51:36]
David Tennant
Right?
[51:36]
Stanley Tucci
Say that like, that's so healthy.
[51:38]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[51:38]
Stanley Tucci
That's the way she felt because she missed my grandfather. Yeah.
[51:42]
David Tennant
I mean, it's kind of lovely. Yeah, yeah, it's lovely. Yeah. Yeah. But it's like.
[51:50]
Stanley Tucci
It's like Liam. You know Liam Neeson? Do you know?
[51:53]
David Tennant
I don't know.
[51:54]
Stanley Tucci
Well, he's the loveliest, loveliest guy. And his wife Natasha, we were very good friends.
[51:59]
David Tennant
Sure.
[51:59]
Stanley Tucci
And she passed away a month before Kate passed away.
[52:03]
David Tennant
All right.
[52:04]
Stanley Tucci
Right. And I saw Liam. This is quite a few years ago now. I saw him at some event, and I said, how you doing? He said, yeah, I'm good. I'm good. And, you know, because we, you know, he came and saw Kate, like, basically on her deathbed, and I was. Kate went to Tasha's funeral, and I said, how you doing? He said, good, good. How are you? I said, good, good. You know, it's hard, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[52:36]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[52:36]
Stanley Tucci
And he goes, yeah, I know. He goes, you know, Tosh, it's. It's funny. It's weird. It's hard, you know, he goes. He goes, I talk to her. I talk to her every day. And I said, you. You do? And he goes, yeah. He goes, I don't miss her, but I talk to her. And I thought that was just one of the funniest things. I mean, obviously, obviously, it's not true.
[52:58]
David Tennant
Yeah. Yeah.
[52:58]
Stanley Tucci
But it's just. It's that kind of humor. Yes, again, the Irish do.
[53:02]
David Tennant
Yes.
[53:03]
Stanley Tucci
Right. Like Italians. Yes. That they. You. You're acknowledging it.
[53:08]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[53:08]
Stanley Tucci
My father always used to say about certain things. He goes. I go, well, when we do the blah, blah, blah, when this happens. And he goes, yeah, well, I'm not going to be here.
[53:16]
David Tennant
Right.
[53:16]
Stanley Tucci
And I always thought, jeez, you know, and now I say it all the time.
[53:20]
David Tennant
Right.
[53:20]
Stanley Tucci
I'm like, well, I won't be here, but, you know, good luck with. I was never really a runner. The way I see running is a gift, especially when you have stage four cancer.
[53:37]
David Tennant
I'm Ann.
[53:38]
Stanley Tucci
I'm running the Boston Marathon, presented by bank of America. I run for Dana Farber Cancer Institute to give people like me a chance to thrive in life, even with cancer. Join bank of America in helping Anne's cause. Give if you can@b of a.com supportann what would you like the power to do? References Charitable Organizations is not an endorsement.
[53:57]
David Tennant
By bank of America Corporation. Copyright 2025 how are you processing the fact that less than 10 years after Kate dies, you're then diagnosed with cancer yourself? What does that. Is that. How do you objectively deal with that moment?
[54:16]
Stanley Tucci
I don't know. It was hard.
[54:18]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[54:19]
Stanley Tucci
Thank God for Felicity. I mean, she was incredible. Yeah, she was incredible because by then.
[54:24]
David Tennant
You'Ve met Felicity, you've remarried, you've got.
[54:27]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah.
[54:27]
David Tennant
Matteo's tiny and. Yes.
[54:29]
Stanley Tucci
And she was on the way. She's on the way. She was incredibly pregnant.
[54:33]
David Tennant
God.
[54:35]
Stanley Tucci
And. Oh, it's awful. And I was adamantly against standard of care because I saw the damage that it had done to Kate and I looked at statistics for so many cancers and I was like, what are we doing? Like, I don't. Chemotherapy. Really well.
[54:54]
David Tennant
Interesting. You write, you write in your book about putting off the appointment with the specialist. You knew something was wrong, you were in pain. What was that about? What was it?
[55:04]
Stanley Tucci
Fear.
[55:05]
David Tennant
Right.
[55:06]
Stanley Tucci
It's just fear.
[55:07]
David Tennant
But were you able to just sort of put it out of your mind?
[55:09]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, no, no, no.
[55:10]
David Tennant
You were living with.
[55:11]
Stanley Tucci
No, you're living with the terror, but.
[55:12]
David Tennant
Still not doing anything about it.
[55:14]
Stanley Tucci
Not really. Wow. Yeah. It was really dumb. And now I'm like hyper vigilant. And the thing is, do you have to remember also because we had explored so many alternative treatments for Kate, Right. Alongside of the standard of care, we had some standard of care treatments where the doctors were amazing, amazing. And others where they were just like, you're just a number.
[55:36]
David Tennant
Right.
[55:36]
Stanley Tucci
And whatever. And basically you're not going to make it so.
[55:40]
David Tennant
Right.
[55:41]
Stanley Tucci
Whereas others weren't like that. So I became really, really interested in alternative treatments. But then when we looked at the statistics of my kind of cancer, the cure rate.
[55:56]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[55:57]
Stanley Tucci
Which was state stage one, small cell squamous. I never remember which order those words. Okay. Carcinoma, base of tongue. No metastasis.
[56:16]
David Tennant
Right.
[56:17]
Stanley Tucci
That's the key thing.
[56:18]
David Tennant
Yes.
[56:19]
Stanley Tucci
I looked at the curate, you know, I looked at the protocol and then their curate and I was like, I can't argue with that. Which was. It was like close to 92%.
[56:31]
David Tennant
Right, right.
[56:31]
Stanley Tucci
And I was like, it's really hard to argue with. I want to argue with it, but I can't.
[56:36]
David Tennant
So there was a Part of you was like, I'm just. What will be. Will be.
[56:40]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Part of me was like, I'm gonna do these alternative treats because I have, like, these machines at home that I used on Kate that I still think are really, really interesting, but I don't alter. Then people were saying, no, just do the. Go to this place in Mexico and drink fruit juice. I'm like, well, no, I can't drink fruit juice anyway.
[56:58]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[56:58]
Stanley Tucci
So I'm not, you know, I'm not going to Mexico.
[57:01]
David Tennant
Right.
[57:03]
Stanley Tucci
And then you just looked at it and I was like, all right. And I did it.
[57:07]
David Tennant
And now you write about the treatment. It sounds like a medieval torture. Just you're sort of strapped into a machine or.
[57:15]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah. They take like. They make a mask of your face, a webbed mask. Right. They put this mold on you and they do that.
[57:25]
David Tennant
So, like you're having prosthetics taken for exactly the same thing where they cover your head in a kind of gloop.
[57:30]
Stanley Tucci
Exactly. So they do that. And I'm claustrophobic.
[57:33]
David Tennant
Sure.
[57:33]
Stanley Tucci
So they do that right away. I'm like, hate that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, do that. And make a webbed mask. Yeah. Then they have a. Like a board that has. You get. Pinioned. Is that the right word?
[57:47]
David Tennant
Yeah, sure. To held down.
[57:49]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. So you put your head like this. They put on the mask, they snap you in and then open your mouth. It has a hole right here. And they take a piece of plastic, like a plastic, like tube. It's about that long. Yeah. About that big, but a couple of inches into your mouth. And you hold that in your mouth so you don't move your jaw. And then you stay like that. You're in like a chair, like that thing kind of. I can't remember. And then this machine comes around like this. Goes back again, goes back again.
[58:27]
David Tennant
Just whizzes around, back and forth. And it's zapping your. Zapping the base of your tongue.
[58:31]
Stanley Tucci
It's getting all this. After the first treatment, you're like, oh, that's not so bad. You do 35 days of it.
[58:37]
David Tennant
Every day.
[58:38]
Stanley Tucci
Five days a week.
[58:40]
David Tennant
Right. How long does it last?
[58:43]
Stanley Tucci
Years.
[58:44]
David Tennant
No, I mean, oh.
[58:46]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, no. Like five minutes.
[58:47]
David Tennant
And you're just locked in place.
[58:49]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, Right. Five minutes or so.
[58:51]
David Tennant
Okay.
[58:53]
Stanley Tucci
And you think, it's not so bad. You do it again. You do it again. By the third day, I was like, I couldn't.
[59:01]
David Tennant
Right.
[59:02]
Stanley Tucci
Get out of bed. I couldn't. And then you're doing seven. Seven rounds of low dose chemotherapy.
[59:10]
David Tennant
Right.
[59:11]
Stanley Tucci
But not Pleasant.
[59:14]
David Tennant
No.
[59:14]
Stanley Tucci
You know, then they start trying to find veins again and veins are starting to collapse and all that sort of stuff. So within three days, I couldn't eat, and that was that. And then I put off getting. I put off for like five weeks getting a feeding tube. I didn't want one and. But I just couldn't eat and I had to. And I was just wasting away. And so they put a feeding tube in here into your.
[59:41]
David Tennant
Straight into.
[59:42]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, straight into there. And then you just start putting stuff in, but it. You up and then your mouth is so destroyed. You have sores all over your mouth.
[59:53]
David Tennant
For someone who spent their life.
[59:54]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[59:55]
David Tennant
Cherishing food and this is like a sort of cruel Jew.
[59:59]
Stanley Tucci
Horrible. You couldn't. You can't eat. You can't. Everything tastes like shit. Nothing tastes like anything. Your beard. My beard completely fell out. And you still can't swallow. Right. Certainly you lose your saliva. So I don't have all my saliva back still. So, yes, I have to eat things that are soft, things that have moisture. Eating a sandwich can take. You know, it's because wasn't there a.
[60:21]
David Tennant
Period even after you were cured, there were still. You still couldn't eat properly and everything?
[60:26]
Stanley Tucci
Months.
[60:27]
David Tennant
Stank of shit.
[60:28]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, yeah, months and months and months. Right, Months. And then eventually I couldn't take those protein things because they just up your stomach and, you know, so I ended up making my own food and putting it into a blender, adding a little more moisture to it so I could get it through the syringe.
[60:49]
David Tennant
Right.
[60:50]
Stanley Tucci
And you put on the thing like.
[60:51]
David Tennant
This and then put it in your feeding tube.
[60:53]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, put it. And I'd go into the feeding tube. I'd make myself, like pasta with beans.
[60:58]
David Tennant
Right.
[60:59]
Stanley Tucci
And really puree it and put it in there. So I was getting the food that I needed and I liked, and that would sit well with my digestive system.
[61:09]
David Tennant
Right, right.
[61:09]
Stanley Tucci
And then what happens is, it's interesting when you don't eat for that long a period of time for like, six, your system resets. So any allergies that you've had kind of disappear.
[61:21]
David Tennant
So that you lost. Is that right? You lost a gluten intolerance through this process.
[61:26]
Stanley Tucci
I don't think I was quite gluten intolerant, but my stomach. Stomach wasn't really functioning well.
[61:30]
David Tennant
Right.
[61:30]
Stanley Tucci
I was definitely lactose intolerant.
[61:32]
David Tennant
Oh, okay.
[61:33]
Stanley Tucci
So I would. Suddenly, as I was able to eat more and more, I could eat, like, anything. It was weird. Like, my system was like, yeah, all right, you can have that and then eventually it starts to figure itself out again. Yeah. And now I don't really dairy. You know, I. I don't really like, I'll eat goat and sheep's cheese, but I can know I can eat mozzarella now. Like I never could really before. Right. It's really weird.
[61:58]
David Tennant
It's like a little free gift you're giving.
[62:00]
Stanley Tucci
It's a little. Having been through the medieval torture and now my. Because you lose your taste and smell, it takes a long time for them to come back properly.
[62:09]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[62:09]
Stanley Tucci
Things become exaggerated and weird and sort of like after what people experience with COVID Oh, okay. And like fruit. Like a piece of fruit would be like, it's disgusting.
[62:20]
David Tennant
Right.
[62:21]
Stanley Tucci
And then. Or you. But then I have like. Like all I wanted for oil was cornflakes, so we'd just eat corn flakes all the time. Like it was weird. Like it's. And then eventually it figures itself out. And then all of those. Those two senses, the taste and smell for me now are heightened beyond. So it's like I'm like a super smeller or a super taster. But, you know, I can tell you instantly of like, Fee always goes, smell that. I go, no.
[62:52]
David Tennant
Right.
[62:53]
Stanley Tucci
Taste, Taste that. Nope. Yeah, that's fine. That will last two more days.
[62:58]
David Tennant
So there's been a. So you're post. Post the cancer, you've been sort of rebirthed.
[63:02]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[63:03]
David Tennant
As a sort of super gastrodome.
[63:05]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Which is great. Perfect for what I'm doing.
[63:07]
David Tennant
Yeah. Because now your career has been slightly rebirthed since then. Is that because was that. Is this all chance or is there a part of having had that life moment you've kind of gone. I'm going to concentrate on the stuff that is exciting to me. That is.
[63:23]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. I think I just appreciate. I just appreciate it more.
[63:27]
David Tennant
Right.
[63:28]
Stanley Tucci
Do you know what I mean? I know what it's like not to have it. I know what it's like not to be able to eat. I know what it's like not to be able to sit with your family and your friends and be upstairs in a bed for months.
[63:39]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[63:40]
Stanley Tucci
On end. Listening to them talk to each other, spend time with each other, have fun with each other, hear the clinking of the glasses and the cutlery and all that. It's like. It's like a dream almost. Or really a nightmare that you can't get into. Do you know what I mean? Like, you want to get in there, but you can't get in there.
[63:58]
David Tennant
If I got this right, that you were in the same hospital that Millie was born in. You were being treated as Felicity was giving birth.
[64:07]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, the doctor walked me over for the birth. We were there, had the birth. I went, congratulations, see you later. And I went back to bed because I couldn't. I couldn't even. I could barely stand up.
[64:24]
David Tennant
That must give you a perspective on being a dad of young children in. I mean, I'm not saying you would wish it had happened, but it must give you a sense of deliciousness about having the chance to be with them.
[64:39]
Stanley Tucci
Yes, I felt. Yo. Yeah. Yeah. I like every day when I see them, it makes me like, so happy. So happy. And they're funny too, which is. Which is good. Otherwise we'd have to divorce them.
[64:55]
David Tennant
Sure, we'd have to.
[64:56]
Stanley Tucci
But. No, it does. And I think. I think the frustrating thing for me was obviously, you know, having had children and seeing. Seen my late wife, you know, nursing twins, for God's sake. Which is like I said to her, when do you sleep? She goes, you don't. Yeah, we didn't sleep for three months.
[65:13]
David Tennant
Right, right.
[65:14]
Stanley Tucci
And she especially.
[65:15]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[65:15]
Stanley Tucci
But not to be able to really be there for Felicity, you know, during that time with Mateo as, you know, a young kid and having Millie, not to be able to be there for her and have. Basically, I became like another baby. And that. That I really feel. You feel terrible about it? Feel awful about it. There's literally nothing you can do.
[65:39]
David Tennant
No, sure.
[65:39]
Stanley Tucci
Nothing, sure. Nothing. You're just vomiting all the time. You're.
[65:44]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[65:44]
Stanley Tucci
You're in so much pain. You're taking morphine and you know, I was on morphine and that's bad.
[65:51]
David Tennant
But you got through it and now they do go through it.
[65:53]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, I still take morphine. No, I'm kidding. Just around the holidays.
[65:59]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[65:59]
Stanley Tucci
You know.
[65:59]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[66:00]
Stanley Tucci
Family and all that. Yeah. But no, now I'm through it and now it's okay. I mean, I still get myself checked all the time. I'm sure careful and all that, but I'm in better shape than I was before. And I just had you pull.
[66:15]
David Tennant
How'd you had. Cuz you met Felicity. You worked with her sister.
[66:20]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[66:21]
David Tennant
Emily on devil wor. That you met. Felicity's a. A bit younger than you did you.
[66:26]
Stanley Tucci
She's 21 years younger. And that's makes me angry to this day.
[66:29]
David Tennant
Sure. It's rude.
[66:31]
Stanley Tucci
A lot of people be like, you know, younger. I never wanted to marry a younger woman.
[66:36]
David Tennant
Right.
[66:36]
Stanley Tucci
You know, I'm so happy that, you know, she's getting some gray hair. Oh, I don't look as good as I'm like, it's fine. No, no, I think she's. She, you know, she's. She's gorgeous. Yeah, she's gorgeous. And again, she's just so mature.
[66:56]
David Tennant
Right. More mature than you are.
[66:57]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, without question. Without question, sure. You know, she's so solid and so sure of herself. She's so sure of herself. That's, I think, what I admired.
[67:10]
David Tennant
Right.
[67:11]
Stanley Tucci
Most of all, she.
[67:12]
David Tennant
She's rather a high powered literary.
[67:14]
Stanley Tucci
Yes.
[67:15]
David Tennant
Agent. And indeed is your literary agent.
[67:17]
Stanley Tucci
Yes.
[67:18]
David Tennant
Does she give you notes on your writing?
[67:20]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[67:21]
David Tennant
Right. And do you take them? Are you good at taking them? Yeah.
[67:24]
Stanley Tucci
With her, because they're so smart. It's not like there's a huge amount of notes. If there were, I would be upset.
[67:31]
David Tennant
She knows exactly the emotion.
[67:33]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, maybe.
[67:34]
David Tennant
Yeah, yeah.
[67:34]
Stanley Tucci
She goes, no, you know what? Maybe here, you need to do this, expand that there, you don't need that bit. Blah, blah, blah. And I go, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. And a lot of times I'll be writing and just sort of go, I don't know what to do now. I'm stuck. She goes, remember the story about the blah, blah, blah when we went to the. I go, yeah, is that interesting? She goes, yes, because you told me about the blood. I go, oh, right, I remember that. Okay, thanks. See you later.
[67:59]
David Tennant
Right.
[67:59]
Stanley Tucci
You know.
[68:00]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[68:01]
Stanley Tucci
Her memory is astounding.
[68:02]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[68:03]
Stanley Tucci
Mine is fading. Yeah.
[68:06]
David Tennant
Do you, do you think you're a better parent second time round, as it were?
[68:11]
Stanley Tucci
Yes.
[68:11]
David Tennant
You are.
[68:12]
Stanley Tucci
Yes.
[68:12]
David Tennant
Right.
[68:13]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah.
[68:13]
David Tennant
And do your older kids recognize that?
[68:16]
Stanley Tucci
Probably. And they're probably upset by Furious. Yeah, no, I think I am. And I think it's good for them to see me with the little kids. And I can see sometimes they go, well, why is he doing that? And I go, he's doing that because he's this age.
[68:30]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[68:31]
Stanley Tucci
And he's feeling this. That's why. And you did exactly the same thing, so shut up.
[68:34]
David Tennant
Right.
[68:35]
Stanley Tucci
You know.
[68:35]
David Tennant
Right, yeah.
[68:36]
Stanley Tucci
And. Yeah, whatever. Yeah.
[68:38]
David Tennant
You sort of mentioned this before. That, that sense of you kind of. And did you. In your most recent book, you write about this, this sense that you're now in your 60s and you, you, you think, I've got 20 years. Maybe I've got 30 years if I'm lucky.
[68:53]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Yeah.
[68:54]
David Tennant
And being 60, you know what 20 years is? You know what 30 years is in a way that you didn't when you were 20.
[68:59]
Stanley Tucci
Right.
[69:00]
David Tennant
How much of that makes you sad and how much of that makes you hungry to motivate every moment.
[69:13]
Stanley Tucci
A hundred percent sad. 100.
[69:15]
David Tennant
Motivated both the things all the time. Yeah.
[69:19]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah. Isabella said something in an interview that I, I saw because Isabella's almost, I think she's 73 now. Maybe she's a little Isabella Rosaline. Yeah. And she said, she said that people don't really ever talk about the lightness of aging.
[69:38]
David Tennant
Okay.
[69:39]
Stanley Tucci
And I thought that was a really beautiful thing. She said. It's just, there's, there's a, a kind of letting go.
[69:46]
David Tennant
Right.
[69:46]
Stanley Tucci
In essence of aging. And I have to have started to welcome that, embrace that to a certain extent with certain things. And then at the same time, there are things you're clinging to. You know what I mean? And that can be a good thing, but that can also just be. Let it go. That's all right. You're never going to have that thing. You're never, that's never going to work for you. That's gone.
[70:16]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[70:17]
Stanley Tucci
You had it. Now it's gone. You know, I'm not talking about sex drive.
[70:22]
David Tennant
We don't need to talk about.
[70:24]
Stanley Tucci
No, no.
[70:24]
David Tennant
We can draw a veil.
[70:25]
Stanley Tucci
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[70:26]
David Tennant
You seem very much alive. You seem to be living life a full, at full throttle. And I, I, I'd say you've probably got 40 years at least.
[70:35]
Stanley Tucci
Oh, God, I hope so. Look, as long as you're cognizant.
[70:39]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[70:41]
Stanley Tucci
To point B. Yeah. Otherwise. No.
[70:44]
David Tennant
Yeah, exactly.
[70:45]
Stanley Tucci
No, no, no.
[70:45]
David Tennant
Yeah.
[70:46]
Stanley Tucci
This is so much fun.
[70:47]
David Tennant
This has been great.
[70:48]
Stanley Tucci
You're great. Did I talk too much?
[70:50]
David Tennant
No, you never. We could have done this for hours.
[70:53]
Stanley Tucci
You're amazing.
[70:54]
David Tennant
I gotta go and do a show, unfortunately. Otherwise we could have kept going.
[70:56]
Stanley Tucci
You're insane. No, no. Call in sick. Thank you.
[71:01]
David Tennant
Thank you so much.
[71:02]
Stanley Tucci
You're amazing.
[71:02]
David Tennant
This was, you're, you're very good at this. Thank you. Thanks.
[71:05]
Stanley Tucci
Thanks.
[71:22]
David Tennant
David Tennant does a podcast with is a Sony Music Entertainment and no Mystery production produced by Matt Smith. The assistant producer was Rani Prescott. The mix engineer was Ed Gill. The executive producers are Alex Lawless, Sarah Camlett and Georgia Tennant. Next time, suddenly you realize that there was a shark's mouth and another section just passed aside. Absolutely. On the side of the road. The tail and the body and the, and the mouth. And my friends knowing my obsession with sharks. Oh, seals.
[72:05]
Stanley Tucci
Get out.
[72:06]
David Tennant
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