Steve Buscemi reflects on Nucky, a murder scene he ‘did not want to do’ and ‘Boardwalk Empire’ season 5 nears
Boardwalk Empire is coming to an end with season 5 and star Steve Buscemi and creator David Chase discussed the gangster drama at WNYC and WQXR in New York City.
One key moment in the hour long discussion was Buscemi looking back at season 2 and his character, Nucky Thompson, brutally murdering his young protegé Jimmy Darmody (played by Michael Pitt) after he had betrayed him.
“That’s a scene I did not want to do,” Buscemi explained. “I usually don’t call [writer] Terry [Winter] and talk about the character or the scenes, but this one I had to. I really wanted him to tell me why Nucky was doing it, and—this I learned from David—you don’t say, ‘My character wouldn’t do that,’ because David’s response would be, ‘Who said it was your character?’ ”
“But my question to Terry was, ‘Why? Why is he doing this?’ And Terry had to remind me who this guy is and why he’s doing it,” Buscemi continued.
“Because he could have had somebody else do it, but the fact he does it himself … I had trouble getting there.”
The discussion reveals how Buscemi’s Nucky sees himself.
“Nucky really does see himself more as a businessman or a politician and having to run this town and this is how you do it,” Buscemi said. “This is how you stay in power. He definitely likes doing it. He likes the power. He likes being this guy, and he’s willing to do a lot to continue being this guy.”
Indiewire has a transcript of some of the questions HERE
Season 4 took place in 1924 and concluded on November 24, 2013. The fifth and final season is expected later this year, with a September premiere date likely. Nothing is confirmed, but the first four seasons all ran September to December, with season 4 being the only one to end a month earlier.
