← The Rubin Report
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- [00:01]
Amazon Music Announcer
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- [00:34]
Dave Rubin
Oh, hey. Welcome to gift wrapping.
- [00:36]
Chazz Palminteri
Whoa.
- [00:36]
Dave Rubin
So is Saldana.
- [00:37]
Amazon Music Announcer
Hey, can you wrap these please?
- [00:39]
Chazz Palminteri
Wow.
- [00:39]
Dave Rubin
IPhone 17s.
- [00:40]
Amazon Music Announcer
You splurged at T Mobile. You can get four iPhone 17s on them. The new center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. It's the perfect gift for everyone.
- [00:48]
Chazz Palminteri
I'm the worst.
- [00:49]
Dave Rubin
I only got my mom a robe.
- [00:51]
Amazon Music Announcer
Well, it's better than socks.
- [00:52]
Dave Rubin
So I have to trade in my old phone, right?
- [00:55]
Chazz Palminteri
No.
- [00:55]
Amazon Music Announcer
AT T Mobile, there's no trade ins needed when you switch. Keep your old phone or give it as a gift.
- [01:00]
Dave Rubin
Incredible.
- [01:01]
Amazon Music Announcer
In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my aunt Rosa. Forget that. Aunt Liz will be jealous.
- [01:05]
Dave Rubin
Sounds like my family drama.
- [01:07]
Amazon Music Announcer
Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going?
- [01:11]
Chazz Palminteri
To T Mobile.
- [01:12]
Dave Rubin
The holidays are better. AT T Mobile get four iPhone 17s on us. No trade in needed when you switch plus four lines for just 25 bucks a line. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits and four eligible board inside essentials for well qualified customers. Bottle pay plus taxes, fees and $35 device connection charge credits ended up pal do if you pay off earlier. Cancel contact US Finance Agreement. 256 gigabytes. $830 required.
- [01:33]
Chazz Palminteri
Visit t mobile.com back then they made movies where the artist made the movie. You know. Now you have to be so careful of what you say in a movie. If it doesn't fit a certain criteria, they won't show it you. It's. I, I hope it gets away from that, you know, I really do. I hope it does because I mean, Godfather couldn't be made today. Midnight Cowboy couldn't be made today. You know, a lot of great movies couldn't be made today. So that's what's sad. I mean, I'm hoping that. I'm hoping one day it changes back, you know.
- [02:28]
Dave Rubin
All right, I'm Dave Rubin and joining me today is an Oscar nominated actor best known for his roles in A Bronx Tale, the Usual Suspects, Bullets Over Broadway and many others. Chaz Palminteri it is good to talk to you. How you doing?
- [02:40]
Chazz Palminteri
All right? I'm pretty good. David, how are you?
- [02:43]
Dave Rubin
I'm all right. I have to say, I was going through the long list of movies you've been in. Those were the three that I picked. And I know Bronx Tale, particularly has a special place, too. And I rewatched, Watched it last night. So I want to talk about that a bit. But should I have thrown something else in there if I just had to pick three films? Should analyze this? Have been in there? What. What else should we have thrown in there?
- [03:02]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, well, I mean, those are all good movies. Some more, you know, Guide to Recognizing as Saints is one of my favorites. The cast was pretty amazing. We won the Sundance Award for best cast. Robert Downey Jr. Myself, China Tatum. It was a great cast. But, yeah, no, I. Mulholland Falls, maybe. I made a lot of great movies. You know, I'm very fortunate.
- [03:29]
Dave Rubin
So I'm thrilled to talk to you because my audience knows I'm a big fan of Mafia movies in general. I just had a long flight back from Australia, where I watched Godfather. I watched Godfather 2. I watched Goodfellas last night. I rewatched Bronx Tale, which I probably haven't seen for about two or three years. First off, I did not know that you wrote it. I thought you just starred in it. So tell me a little bit about where the story, which I know is at least semi autobiographical, came from.
- [03:56]
Chazz Palminteri
Basically, I was nine years old. Just like you saw in the movie. Exactly. I was sitting on a stoop, and I saw these two cars parking. And I thought they were fighting over a parking space. And one guy got out with a baseball bat, smashed the window. Then he got out of the car. He was going to hit him again. And then the guy's friend came over with a gun and killed the man with the baseball bat, you know, And I kind of, like, stared at him. He stared at me. And it was kind of surreal. And my father. Next minute, I knew my father dragged me up steps. He came running down and grabbed me by my arm and. Exactly. Like the movie. Exactly. And. And then the cops came, and I didn't identify the man. I knew, even at that age that you don't rat, you know. And kind of like the next day when I saw him, he kind of looked at me and I looked at him, and it was like, I know, you know, and. You know that I know. And. But he took a liking to me for some reason, I mean. And I started hanging out in the barn, and my father always Tell me, get out of the bar. You can't go in there. But I would go there, cut up the lemons and the limes for the bartender, and help make the guys cappuccino. And, you know, they gave me a lot of tips, and that's how it started.
- [05:25]
Dave Rubin
So what do you think it is about Mafia movies in general that hold such a special place for everyone? You know, obviously, there's sort of. There's something about the music, there's something about the food. I'm a New Yorker originally. Most of my family was from Jersey. There's something about the rhythm of the space speaking, but I. I think there's something much deeper than that, obviously, about family and also deeply connected to the American dream about just getting what is yours.
- [05:47]
Chazz Palminteri
Well, Bronch Tale is really. You know, people say it, but it's really not a Mafia movie. It's a family movie. It's really about a father who doesn't want his son to go in that direction. But the thing that makes it different is that Sonny didn't want me to go in that direction. Sonny was telling me the same things as my father was telling me. It's just like my father kept saying, you'll be influenced because of what he does and who he is, and you could be hurt by just being around him. But, you know, when you're young, you don't see it that way, you know, so.
- [06:24]
Dave Rubin
So what was it? Was it just the flashiness that you saw? I mean, you know, De Niro, who plays your father, obviously, he's making that point like you. It's just by you being around it, you're going to fall in love with it.
- [06:37]
Chazz Palminteri
Well, yeah. Well, I mean, you know, we had. We didn't have any money. My father was a bus driver. We didn't have a car at that time. My father worked hard for a living. These guys had all the shark skin suits, all the pretty girls, all the flashy cars. You know, you're young and you're impressionable. You. You think that's like, wow, you know, Sonny had all the power. You know, power is an aphrodisiac, man.
- [07:06]
Dave Rubin
Do you think it has something to do with also the code that. There is a code that these people live by so that you can end up rooting for people who do terrible things, whether it's Tony Soprano or any of these people that do terrible things in these movies, but yet you're rooting for them the whole time. So there's that sort of antihero component to it.
- [07:24]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, well, if they're not too bad. Yes. I mean, the thing about Sonny and a character like Tony Soprano, there's. There's a good. They're good guys in a lot of ways, but they're still bad guys now. You got to remember that they still could kill. Sonny was a great guy to me, and he wanted to see me really do well in life, but I knew that Sonny, deep down was a bad guy, too, you know? So it's. It's. They're kind of a paradox, these guys. You know, you're really. They're funny, they're charming. Not all of them. Some of them, they're smart, and they have big balls, you know, so it's a combination that's a lot of people would like to have.
- [08:19]
Dave Rubin
What do you make of the general state of moviemaking in 2025? Because I have to tell you, it is very hard for me to find a new movie that I walk out and I'm just knocked out by, you know, every. It does happen every now and again, but something. You know, back in the day, it was just like every week there were five new movies, and four of them were great. And it just doesn't seem like it's that way anymore.
- [08:42]
Chazz Palminteri
No, because back then, they made movies where the artists made the movie, you know, now you have to be so careful of what you say in a movie. If it doesn't fit a certain criteria, they won't show it. You. It's. I. I hope it gets away from that, you know, I really do. I hope it does, because, I mean, Godfather couldn't be made today. Midnight Cowboy couldn't be made today. You know, a lot of great movies couldn't be made today. So that's what's sad. I mean, I'm hoping that. I'm hoping one day it changes back, you know?
- [09:29]
Dave Rubin
Do you think it will? Do you think that's. That's. That the people got more politically correct or afraid of art? Or is it that the studios were doing it first?
- [09:37]
Chazz Palminteri
I think it was both. You know, I think both of them did, you know, now you have to have. Don't get me wrong. I think there's a renaissance. Is that the word? I don't know if I'm saying the right word, but where they're using a lot of African American and Latinos and Asians in movies, and they're pushing that. And that's good. I find that to be good. I think it's good. But you still got to be allowed to make another movie where, like, if you don't have enough of one ethnic group in the movie. They kind of like shy away from it. And you can't dictate art like that. You know, I think, I just think it's wrong, you know, but, but again, like I said, I think it's good that you look, the African American people got shut out for a lot of years where they couldn't get a part. So I have no problem like being in the forefront right now. I think it's good. When I write a movie, I always put a, you know, where I could, I could try to like, let me find a role, let me put this. A person of color, Hispanic or Asian or whatever. I do that purposely because I want to do that. But you can't stop a movie. Like if you make a movie from the deep south and you use an old rednecks now, you can't make that movie because you don't have ethnic people in it. I mean, that's wrong to me. See, that's wrong.
- [11:22]
Dave Rubin
Right. Well, the ideology shouldn't supersede the art. What do you like doing more? Do you, do you like writing more? Do you like acting more? Does it kind of change over the years?
- [11:32]
Chazz Palminteri
I like both very much, but I think I get, I think I get more satisfied by my writing because writing, you know, David the writer, like, you remember the plays of Shakespeare, right? Yeah, but a lot of great actors played Hamlet, but, but you really remember Shakespeare. He wrote it. Yeah. You know, there's something about the writer I, I love when I see a play with other people doing my words, you know, or a movie. I. It's, it's real personal. It's real personal.
- [12:18]
Dave Rubin
How did you decide to go about being public about what your beliefs might be as a, as a Hollywood star? Because, you know, as I was watching Bronx Tale last night, you know, on my show all the time, we play clips of De Niro now. And he's obviously become very, very outspoken on the left and, and really hates Trump and all of that stuff. And I find when I watch movies of him now, it's very hard to watch. Then I watched Godfather 2 with him and I was like, oh, he's much younger. For some reason. I can kind of. It's easier for me to watch in a way because he looks so different. But, but all of these guys that have become so political and outspoken and I think alienated so much of their audience. How did you decide to do, to speak or not speak during your career?
- [13:00]
Chazz Palminteri
Well, I just stay away from politics, you know, I really do. I Stay away from it. I, I think my vote is my own choice. That's why, that's why voting is in a booth where you close the curtain, you know, and everybody has their own choice and I respect that. Everybody. And, and people want to speak up, I think they should speak up. Listen, I, I, I, I don't agree with everything that, you know, that either party says Sometimes, you know, I'm an independent, I'm my own person, you know, and I just think it's, you know, as they say, democracy is a flawed system, but it's the best system we got. That's it.
- [13:50]
Dave Rubin
How come, how come more actors don't realize that and realize that if they would just kind of be a little more quiet, that they've, they've kind of removed some of the mystery around, around themselves, which I think in the old days was good.
- [14:02]
Chazz Palminteri
I, I don't know, maybe some actors are really genuinely concern and I think that's good. And maybe some actors just do it to be, you know, to have that self adulation on them. I don't know. I don't know.
- [14:18]
Amazon Music Announcer
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- [14:38]
Chazz Palminteri
I find things to be, you know, like, I, I don't speak about politics too much. I think when Charlie Kirk got killed, I, I, I didn't really know too much about him and, but I said, all right, well if everybody's saying these terrible things, let me look, you know. And I, and I got on and I did a deep dive into him and I said, well, okay. So I could see where people find some of the things he said divisive. But he really just wanted to have conversations and let's see if we could work it out. And I thought that was like, okay, I didn't agree with a bunch of things he said, but I, I can respect him for saying it, you know, I'm not going to kill him. I don't wish him dead. I don't want anybody to shoot him. And he has two children. I think that's, I think sometimes people just take it too far, you know?
- [15:43]
Dave Rubin
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- [17:02]
Chazz Palminteri
Oh, yeah, anytime. That was one. That was one of the most fun times I had on a set. Because the fun thing about wise guys in comedy is you have to play it real. You have to play it real because the realer you are, the funnier it is. If you start trying to be funny as a wise guy, you look like a dope.
- [17:28]
Dave Rubin
Right. It's like inherently over the top in some sense. So you don't need to go that far over the top.
- [17:32]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, but the more real you are, the, you know, the better it is, you know, And I loved it. I mean, that's why at the very, I think at the very end we had that scene where I, Billy Crystal and I, we, we went off on a improv thing and Alec, Harold Ramis, God rest is so great director.
- [17:56]
Dave Rubin
Yeah, yeah.
- [17:58]
Chazz Palminteri
So I started going, Mikey Gaga. Vinny. Yeah, yeah, he is in May. And then he went off and sometimes magic happens and it's great.
- [18:09]
Dave Rubin
How, how much is the director? I mean, Harold Ramis. Yeah, he was, he was phenomenal. And he, he went too soon for sure. How much is just the director giving you the right cues versus letting you do that kind of stuff?
- [18:20]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, it was, you know, he was a very smart director. He knew some guys who could improvise and some guys who shouldn't improvise. So he let me improvise and he let Billy improvise and he picked the best of the stuff that we were doing, you know, Very smart guy with comedy. Well, he was a comedy all his life. I think he was in Second City.
- [18:41]
Dave Rubin
Yeah.
- [18:43]
Chazz Palminteri
So he was really, truly a bright. Right guy.
- [18:47]
Dave Rubin
How. How was it working with Crystal? I mean, I would imagine it was kind of like a Robin Williams situation. Like you hand him a script, but then he's just going to do whatever the hell he wants with it.
- [18:54]
Chazz Palminteri
Really? Yeah, yeah. Billy's funny, man. He's funny. He's very brilliantly funny. You know, he knows what's funny. You know, look, there's funny people and not funny, and that's just the way it is. Some people are just funny and some people are just not funny. They don't have that timing, that sensibility. I can make a joke. I find everything funny. You know, that's me. I can make a joke of everything. And so could, you know, that's what funny people do. I mean, the worst thing is when you have somebody who thinks he's fun and he's not fun.
- [19:37]
Dave Rubin
I've interviewed a lot of those. Trust me.
- [19:40]
Chazz Palminteri
Well, yeah, you know, if you. If the worst thing is you. If you interview a famous person who's very famous, a big star or whatever, and they think they're funny, but they're not funny.
- [19:54]
Dave Rubin
Yeah.
- [19:55]
Chazz Palminteri
Oh, my God. You see, because people laugh at their jokes. They have to laugh because they're famous, but they're not funny.
- [20:04]
Dave Rubin
Yeah.
- [20:04]
Chazz Palminteri
That's like a nightmare.
- [20:05]
Dave Rubin
And you don't want that stare from them when they. When you don't laugh and then you just get the stare. That's. That's what you really don't.
- [20:13]
Chazz Palminteri
They truly think they're funny. I did a movie once that was like that. Oh, my God, it was terrible. I mean, terrible. And. And the director kept saying, yes. Oh, that's funny. I mean, when the movie came out, he cut all of it, cut everything out.
- [20:30]
Dave Rubin
What was your worst. I mean, I said, maybe. You just told me, but what was your worst sort of filmmaking experience like, just in terms of just the whole. The whole production. You don't have to throw anyone under the bus, obviously, but just in terms of the whole experience, you know, maybe walking into something, think you were making something great, and then it didn't turn out the way you wanted or something like that.
- [20:49]
Chazz Palminteri
I probably. I think it was. I had a great time doing it, but I hired the director myself because I wrote the movie. It was a movie called Fateful F A I T H F U L. And it was a funny movie. It was a play. Then I wrote the movie and we just banged heads and. And I hired the guy and he was very insecure, and it was a struggle. Through the whole. Through the whole movie, it was a struggle, but it came out okay. But it was a struggle.
- [21:22]
Dave Rubin
Yeah. Was that. That was mostly just the talents didn't match or it was personalities or create.
- [21:27]
Chazz Palminteri
The creativity that match. Well, he felt that he was right all the time. You know, I actually said to him, I said, haven't you ever done something? And you thought something was right, but it would. It ended up being wrong? And he looked at me and went, no.
- [21:46]
Dave Rubin
Oh, well.
- [21:47]
Chazz Palminteri
And then I threw my hands in the air and I said, okay, I see where this is right now. So.
- [21:53]
Dave Rubin
And what was. What would you say was the best creative experience you had on set?
- [21:57]
Chazz Palminteri
Oh, I've had a lot, obviously. Bronx Tale, Bullets Over Broadway with Woody Allen, Usual Suspects. Got to recognizing your Saints, Hurley, Burley, Mulholland Falls with Bill, you know, Jade with Billy Freakin. I've had great experiences. I get along with everybody, you know.
- [22:20]
Dave Rubin
Must be tough when you. When you get an actor on set or a director on set that just is fighting with everybody and all the stuff that we all read about.
- [22:30]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah. I mean, some people, David, they, you know, if you don't know who you are, if you're not comfortable in your own skin, then you have to, like, show people who you are. And sometimes that's terrible, you know, they have to show people that they're always right and their geniuses and their confidence. Look, sometimes you're wrong, man. I mean, we never met before. I don't know how you deal with your staff, but sometimes the staff comes up with a good idea.
- [23:10]
Dave Rubin
I credit them. Once in a blue moon, you know, sometimes they.
- [23:15]
Chazz Palminteri
And you go, oh, shit, that's better than what I was thinking. Yeah. And you have to be man enough to go, let's do that. Because it doesn't hurt you, it doesn't demean you. You're going to get credit for it anyway. It's the David Rubin show. You get credit for it.
- [23:35]
Dave Rubin
Yeah.
- [23:36]
Chazz Palminteri
Why? What are you trying to protect your show from? Great idea.
- [23:39]
Dave Rubin
I'll tell you, Chaz, I. I always tell my guys the same exact thing. All of my guys is, you must tell me what you're thinking. I will never punish you for telling me what you're thinking. I may not agree with you. We may. And you'll win some and you'll lose some. You know, if it's about content in the show, something like that, sometimes I'm gonna win, but sometimes you will win. But you have to tell me what you're thinking. It would be far worse if you didn't tell me what you were thinking.
- [24:00]
Chazz Palminteri
Yes, he could be right. Or he could. Now at least he tells you honestly. And you could say, I agree with you. Oh, no, no, I'm gonna do it this way. Yeah. And that's it. Because. And Robert De Niro is the one who taught it to me. He said it takes just as much talent to recognize a great idea as it is to come up with it yourself. So if 10 people give you an idea and you take number six, his idea, you get to see you have the same amount of talent as him because you recognize that was the best idea. So it has no bearing on, you know, if you're talented or not. It doesn't.
- [24:45]
Dave Rubin
Do you think. Do you think in some way you mentioned Woody Allen? It was making me think that. Do you think in some way that the pressures of the industry that we sort of talked about before and just how everything has changed now, it doesn't allow sort of for a certain amount of greatness to come in, because we don't. It would be very hard to have a director that could now have 20 hits in a row because they want you to have hit after hit after hitting, where even a guy like Woody had a couple flops in there now and again and then would have some gems where now it's like, they want you to have that hit or they'll just find somebody else.
- [25:14]
Chazz Palminteri
Well, the good thing about Woody's movies is he doesn't make them for a lot of money, you know, and he had. And he's. And the way. The way I talked to Woody about this, I remember. And the way he explained it to me, he said, a third of the world, a third of the people will go see anything that he does, no matter what it is. Another third will never see a Woody Allen. They just hate. His movies. Will not. He goes, when I make a movie, I look for that middle third.
- [25:47]
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- [26:57]
Chazz Palminteri
To come and see my movie. And I explained it like that. And I says, wow, that's a good way to look at it.
- [27:03]
Dave Rubin
Yeah, it just seems like we won't have these guys with these decades long careers anymore because of the pressures of the industry. It always is looking for something new. So it just seems like it would shift, unfortunately.
- [27:17]
Chazz Palminteri
You know, it's funny, the studios, they want something new and then when you give them something different, they go, nah, that's, that's too out of the box. So, you know, it's crazy.
- [27:31]
Dave Rubin
What do you make of that? I mean that actually when I tell you that I can't find things to watch these days, what I find constantly is I'll start watching something and I'm like, this is just. I've seen this already. It was just called something else. It's just a retread of something where everything's a reboot or a remake or a Marvel movie and another Marvel movie that, that seems to be where we're kind of stuck at the moment.
- [27:51]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, they would rather put up. There was a movie. I wrote another. I'm sorry, I didn't write it. I, I directed it and it was a really good script. And I went to the studio and they said, oh, what a great script. It was called Noel. It was a Christmas movie and it was a great script. And they said, well, who could you get in it? So I said, all right, well, let me. So this is the cast. I got Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz, Alan Arkin. Paul Walker. No, before I got Paul. Robin Williams. Think of that. Think of that cast.
- [28:39]
Dave Rubin
Arkin. I mean, yeah, Arkin was amazing. But they were all. Yeah, they're all major stars.
- [28:43]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah. And they said, well, you need somebody else? And I'm going, what the hell do I need? I just gave you monsters gear. Well, you know, the movie's gonna cost at that time, 25 million. They said, if you get Paul Walker from the Fast and the Furious, we'll make the movie. I got Robin Williams. I got Susan Sarandon. I had to get Paul Walker. And you know what? I got him. And he was terrific. He was absolutely terrific. And he was a good actor. Nobody gave him a chance to act. But before they made it originally, they said no, because they said, well, it's 25 million. The movie's got to grow. 50 million. Nah, it's not worth it. They would rather put up 400 million or a, a comic book thing, then 25 million for a great script. And then finally, after I badgered them, kept talking, they let me make the movie. So I made the movie. But it's like they go, who cares? You made a great movie. Who cares? Jazz, right?
- [30:03]
Dave Rubin
If they, if they put up the 18 and you make 36, they only made 18. If they put up 400 and it makes 800, they made 400.
- [30:11]
Chazz Palminteri
Exactly. They put up 400 and it makes a billion around the world. Now you're talking now. If they're going to make 20 million, it's not worth the risk to them, you know, and that's the sad part.
- [30:25]
Dave Rubin
Oh, that's, yeah, that's, that's the risk of art. What, what else is on your docket? What are you, where are you, Are you writing now? What are you, what are you thinking of doing?
- [30:33]
Chazz Palminteri
And yeah, yeah, I'm writing another play and a series for the tv. We'll see. You know, I always say, who knows, you know, it could one day when I finish. They love it on one day other, you know, that's doesn't work, you know, it doesn't sell. But I rather do it myself, not get paid. Just do it on my, Just do it myself. This way I can write it the way I want to write.
- [31:04]
Dave Rubin
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- [32:01]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, I'm doing very okay. Yes, yes. Yeah, no, I am a knock on wood. I come with. I don't have to. I just, I just did. It's on pay per view. I just did the one man show of a Bronx sale. Did you ever see the one man show?
- [32:17]
Dave Rubin
I haven't seen the one man show. I, but I, but last night when I was doing research, I saw that it exists. So I will, I will check it out.
- [32:23]
Chazz Palminteri
Yes. I mean, it's out on. I, you know, that's how I got famous.
- [32:28]
Dave Rubin
Yeah.
- [32:28]
Chazz Palminteri
I did the one man show and everybody wanted it.
- [32:31]
Dave Rubin
Right? So I didn't know it was a one man show before until, until last night.
- [32:35]
Chazz Palminteri
It went up to a million dollars and I still said no. I had $200 in the bank. Finally, I. De Niro walked in one day after I turned down a million. He saw the show and said, you should play Sonny. You could do it, it'd be great. He goes up and you should write it. I'll direct it and I'll play your father. And that's how it happened. And so I never want, I never had it on film. So just recently, last year, I, I put up my own money for the movie. I directed it and it's, it's out now. It's doing great. It's on, it's on pay per view TV and it's on Amazon. So if you get a chance, it's really.
- [33:22]
Dave Rubin
I absolutely will. Well, even just the story behind it, the fact that you end up playing Sonny, you know, the guy that you admired as a kid and that. And so that was De Niro's idea that you were going to play him?
- [33:32]
Chazz Palminteri
Well, I, I wouldn't sell it unless I played Sonny. That, that's why the prices kept going up, because everybody wanted to make the movie.
- [33:41]
Dave Rubin
Right.
- [33:41]
Chazz Palminteri
But they didn't want me. You know, they wanted to put a star on the road. They wanted, you know, Al Pacino wanted to do it, Nicholson wanted to do it. At that time, Robert Redford wanted to do it.
- [33:54]
Dave Rubin
Wow.
- [33:55]
Chazz Palminteri
Everybody wanted it.
- [33:56]
Dave Rubin
And you had the balls to, you had the balls to hold it.
- [34:00]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah, I had 200 bucks in the bank and I wouldn't Sell only happened twice in history.
- [34:06]
Dave Rubin
Sylvester Stallone, I swear, I was just about to say Rocky. That's the only other one. Right. They tried to basically throw him out of it.
- [34:13]
Chazz Palminteri
Yep, that's it. Twice. And it really, I mean, it just, it just blew my career right up.
- [34:24]
Dave Rubin
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- [34:43]
Chazz Palminteri
It's pretty amazing.
- [34:44]
Dave Rubin
It's pretty cool, Chaz.
- [34:46]
Chazz Palminteri
I went from an unknown to like, bam. That was it.
- [34:53]
Dave Rubin
Chaz. I have thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this. I think we're putting this up right after Thanksgiving, which I try to do. I try to do a few days after, after, after Thanksgiving without politics. And I hope, I hope this is just what people are looking for.
- [35:06]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah.
- [35:06]
Dave Rubin
Because I've really enjoyed chatting.
- [35:08]
Chazz Palminteri
I do want to mention that I have a couple of things. I have my own podcast.
- [35:13]
Dave Rubin
Yeah.
- [35:13]
Chazz Palminteri
You know, the CH Commentary Podcast. And I talk about all these stories and about all these things. And also my two restaurants, I got to rave about them. I have two of the finest Italian restaurants in New York.
- [35:26]
Dave Rubin
I've, I've been to the one in. Like what, 47 7th or something somewhere over there.
- [35:30]
Chazz Palminteri
40, 40, 46.
- [35:33]
Dave Rubin
46. Yeah. I was there with my in laws not too long ago. We had, we had a great meal. Great meal.
- [35:37]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah. No great food. And then there's CH30 West 46th Street. And the one in White Plains, 264 Main Street. So, you know, life is really good, man. I, I can't complain. I love telling stories about the, the old neighborhood. You know, it's. I had a fascinating life. People always go, you should write Bronx Tale 2. And I go, what am I going to say? How could Bronxdale 2 compare to Bronxdale 1? I'm gonna say, what, I'm famous now. Who gives a shit? You know what I mean? Really? My first 18 years of my life was so exciting growing up in that neighborhood with my friends and you know, that really was Eddie Mush in the movie David. It.
- [36:23]
Dave Rubin
That doesn't surprise. Yeah.
- [36:24]
Chazz Palminteri
Yeah. That we couldn't find that he Mush. So, so.
- [36:27]
Dave Rubin
Oh, that. Oh, that literally was.
- [36:29]
Chazz Palminteri
That doesn't surprise me actually in the movie.
- [36:32]
Dave Rubin
Oh, wow.
- [36:33]
Chazz Palminteri
Some of those guys were. Were the really the guys in the movie.
- [36:37]
Dave Rubin
That's. But even that, that's why people love these movies. I think those things Kind of. You feel that in some of the other movies, too, where they're getting these guys that kind of are the real ones, and it. It.
- [36:47]
Chazz Palminteri
The real guys. Oh, yeah, yeah. So it's always a quick story. When I. First time, I. Before I go. When I got my first break, well, it was kind of my bre. A semi break. In 1982, I got on Broadway, and I. I was an understudy. I got a part as the understudy on Broadway. So all the wise guys were very, very excited to come and see me. They said, oh, you're gonna be on Broadway. So the guy at the end. Remember the guy at the end of the movie Carmine, who takes over the neighborhood? Of course, Joe. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he was alive at the time. And he came over to me and he said, ah, too bad Sonny ain't here. He would have loved to come with us to see you on Broadway. And I was like, yeah, you know, so we're gonna come next week. And I was like, oh, no, no, no, you can come. And he said, why? He goes, are you on Broadway or not? I said, no, no, no, come on. I am on railway, but I'm an understatement. Yeah. Now they don't know. He goes, what's an understudy? I said, well, if something happens to the guy, Then I go on, not realizing what I just said, yeah, where.
- [37:59]
Dave Rubin
Does this guy live?
- [38:01]
Chazz Palminteri
I walk away, and two minutes later, he walks over to me, says, hey, Chaz, can I talk to you? I go, yeah. He goes, you want to go on? I said, what do you mean? He goes, do you want to go on? And then I realized what he was saying, and I said, oh, my God. No, please, God. He goes on and on. We'll make it look like a mugging. He'll be in the hospital two, three weeks. I had to beg this guy, please don't do this. Please don't ever do this. Please. And finally I talked him out of it. But that night, David, when I went to the theater, because I had to watch you as an understudy, you watch every performance. And that guy was up there. He was really an asshole, this guy. He treated me terribly. And I looked at him and I said, my man, you don't know how lucky you are, buddy. But that's the insanity of growing up in that neighborhood.
- [38:54]
Dave Rubin
Could have had a broken kneecap on any given day. Just slipped, you know, Just.
- [39:00]
Chazz Palminteri
Oh, yeah, no, they would. They were going to make it look like a mugging, take his money and put him in a hospital, but I said. No, no, please don't do that. Please. Fun life, Chaz.
- [39:11]
Dave Rubin
I've really enjoyed this, and I hope we can. We can break bread over on 46th street next time I'm in New York, anytime.
- [39:16]
Chazz Palminteri
Oh, really? Yeah. You know, speak to Chuck. We'll. We'll look up. We'll make.
- [39:21]
Dave Rubin
We'll make it happen. Thank you so much.
- [39:22]
Chazz Palminteri
All right. God bless.
- [39:23]
Dave Rubin
Enjoyed it. Take care.