Steve Buscemi Shining in Indie Stardom
When one thinks of a movie star the name Steve Buscemi is not the first to come to mind; unless you solely watch independent movies that is. Steve Buscemi, as well as many others, have catapulted themselves to stardom in the more specialized world of independent cinema. This is a whole different type of celebrity than that enjoyed by the likes of Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. You will not see Buscemi on the cover of People magazine with latest gossip over his newest romance. There may only be a fleeting mention of him somewhere in the back with pictures on the set of one of his studio pictures. The constant overexposure that most stars have causes the general public to have a complete working knowledge of all the major players in Hollywood. The celebrities that get to the a-list subject themselves to constant gossip and speculation. Steve Buscemi has made himself into a star, but he is a much more specialized star. Anyone who is truly knowledgeable of independent film would easily recognize Buscemi on the street. The key difference seems to lie in the contrast between a movie star and a picture personality.
Actors like Steve Buscemi, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Parker Posey seem to completely inhabit the characters they play. Going back to the idea that these actors will not typically be featured in People but perhaps they will be featured in Film Comment or New York Magazine. A mainstream audience may recognize these actors for the smaller supporting parts they play in big budget movies but they would not be likely to have seen them in their starring roles. Steve Buscemi has become more of a mainstay in studio pictures in recent years but the fact remains that he is typically not the name marketed for these films. And he usually plays a small role that is more along the lines of a cameo. These cameos are typically more rewarding for people who have seen Buscemi in other films. They know that the personality of the brief character in this movie is very similar to the personality of his other characters.[1]
The line typically becomes blurred as to where the character ends and the person begins. This tends to be a problem with actors and the way they are perceived in public. Many people suppose that the people they play onscreen are the same as the real person. This is usually more of a tendency when people speak of Independent Stars. In the case of Buscemi he tends to play unbalanced somewhat creepy characters. The way he actually looks matches this. Therefore someone may expect him to be the lousy criminal that he played in Fargo. When thinking in terms of the picture personality the actor is usually thought to behave the same as the character’s that they play. This perhaps leads to the actor being typecast throughout their career. However, this also leads them to a type of stardom that is only enjoyed by actors in the indie film world.
But what is it that makes these actors different than mainstream stars? Perhaps it is the fact that they are appreciated in more “intellectual” terms than someone like Brad Pitt. As was stated earlier, a cameo or a small role in a studio movie by Buscemi or Posey will be appreciated by an entirely different audience in an entirely different way then would a cameo by Pitt or Roberts. The lines for these two types of stardom can overlap. If Pitt made a cameo in a film he would more than likely play a more glamorous character than someone like Buscemi. Pitt’s characters tend to be rugged ladies men while Buscemi’s tend to be seedy or creepy characters that seem unbalanced in some way. Most people assume that their actually personalities would be the same as the characters they play. Perhaps this is why someone like Brad Pitt becomes a huge celebrity while Buscemi plays small roles in big pictures and big roles in small pictures. The type of characters that actors play in films tends to be how the public associates these actors’ real personalities. And someone like Brad Pitt plays a more appealing character; to women and men because of his good lucks, charm, and heroic characters. This is the type of man another man would want to be and a woman would want to be with. Therefore they want to know everything about this person’s actual personal life. The general public wants to feel like they intimately know this person when they go to see their latest film. It seems to be very important to know intimate details about the biggest movie stars that you would not even know about your best friends. They want to know Pitt’s history, what he’s doing right now, and who he’s dating. It comes down to people wanting to know all these things so they can perhaps vicariously live the same glamorous life as these celebrities. On the other hand, the characters that Buscemi plays are typically not the type of person that would be considered ideal in real life. Therefore it is not as important to most people to know all the details of his personal life. More knowledgeable film goers may know more about him but they probably will not be able to tell you how much he paid for his house or who he may be cheating on whom with. This allows Buscemi to have a more personal life and to not worry about everything he does being picked apart by the public. But it also keeps him from being a big box office draw and drawing that 20 million dollar paycheck.
Two films starring Steve Buscemi that seem to whole heartedly embrace the world of independent film are In the Soup (1992, Alexander Rockwell) and Living in Oblivion (1995, Tom DiCillo). These films show, and their directors obviously know, how difficult it can be to get funding and to actually produce an independent film. In American Independent Cinema Geoff King sums up the industry of the independent world like this:
“Part of the romance of independent cinema is the notion of producing films at extremely low cost, outside or on the edges of the mainstream, free from dependence of the corporate oligarchy comprised by the major studio system. Successive generations of filmmakers, as well as critics and enthusiasts, have been inspired by tales of feature-length movies being made on tiny budgets, shot in spare time, financed on credit cards or funds scrambled together from other unlikely sources.”
Both of these films focus on an aspect of the difficulty of getting a film made. Even though these films make it seem outrageously difficult to get a film financed or to just complete a scene in a shot, it also makes it seem romantic and idealistic. And even though these films poke fun at the types of people who want to break into the independent film world, there is a soft underside to these films that makes you sympathize and root for these characters even when it seems like everything is going wrong.
Alexander Rockwell’s In the Soup tells the story of Aldolpho Rollo who is trying to raise money for a film based on the 500 page epic screenplay he has written. Aldolpho is played by Steve Buscemi and the person who attaches himself as the producer of his film is Joe played by Seymour Cassel. Joe is an eccentric criminal who has suddenly decided that he wants art to be a part of his life. Aldolpho is desperate for money at this point and he receives word from Joe that he would like to buy his screenplay because he had to put things he owned for sale so he could pay the rent. When Aldolpho shows up at Joe’s door he immediately sees what kind of character Joe is. He has a girlfriend half his age, loads of money lying around, 1000 dollars of which he immediately gives to Aldolpho, as well as firearms. Aldolpho is obviously taken aback by Joe’s behavior but as Aldolpho says, “Joe had his way of making you feel important, even though you knew he was taking you for a ride.” Joe is obviously off-balance but you still want to be around him anyway.[2]
At the beginning of the film Aldolpho states that he envisions the apartment building where he currently lives as being a tour bus stop one day. He just knows that one day people will be lining up to find out how Aldolpho Rollo got his start. He sees himself as an artist in the vein of Renoir even though Joe sees his work as being modeled after The Honeymooner’s. The difficulties never seem to end for Aldolpho from the start where a sleazy producer, played by Jim Jarmusch, is of no help to him till the end when Joe has sucked Aldolpho into his world and there seems to be no way that Aldolpho can escape. The existence of Joe, Aldolpho, and his movie become intertwined until the end. Rockwell paints a very quirky picture of what the trials and tribulations can be of someone who is an aspiring filmmaker. The film obviously exaggerates in most places but it does embrace the whole concept of funding a movie by any means possible.
Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion is the story of Nick Reve who is the director of the movie within the movie. The film begins with Nick trying to get a big scene shot with his main actress Nicole who is played by Catherine Keener. We meet the films driver, Tom Jarmusch, the gaffer, the sound guy, the boom mike operator, as well as the Assistant Director Wanda, played by Danielle von Zernick, and the Director of Photography, played by Dermont Mulroney, and Chad Palomino who plays is the films egotistical Brad Pitt type star. Each character shows throughout the making of the movie that they have their own agenda and are more concerned about the movie being to their liking then they are about getting their jobs done. Wolf (Mulroney) sees himself as the true artist on the picture and seems to get annoyed when he gets orders from anybody else including Nick.
Throughout Living in Oblivion we see all the difficulties that can occur on any movie but especially an independent one. These problems range from the assistant camera operator going the wrong way on the focus ring to having a troublesome dwarf. In the first segment every time a take gets going something goes wrong. A boom mike comes into the shot, the shot goes out of focus, a car with a loud stereo drives by the building, the actresses forget their lines. The tension slowly builds up throughout the segment with each thing that goes wrong until we finally hear an incessant beeping. Nick slowly goes crazy trying to figure out where this noise is coming from until he finally wakes up and we realize it was a dream. In the second segment we see the egotistical Chad Palomino ruin every shot and interact very poorly with the crew. We can tell this actor is modeled after a Brad Pitt type actor by the way he carries himself. The film definitely takes shots at the types of actors who are studio movie stars but stays more sympathetic towards those who toil in the independent world. The final segment shows Nick trying to film a dream sequence that has a dwarf in it but he can not seem to explain why. Eventually they get the shot down and while the sound mixer is recording the ambient sound we see the fantasies of each person in the room. These fantasies culminate into Nick’s whose fantasizes about winning the award for best film ever made by a human being.
Steve Buscemi is the prototypical indie film star. His main passion lies in the independent world, not the studio film world. Even though he may take parts in big budget movies, the main purpose of that usually is just to get enough money to help finance an indie. It is a self sustaining cycle that many people in the world of independent film travel. The characters that he plays in these two films are either trying to get into that cycle or are trying their best to survive in the cycle. And the makers of these two films certainly know the world of independent film very well. Tom DiCillo drew from his many experiences and somewhat autobiographically made Living in Oblivion. Both of these films show how absurd this world of independent film can be and how strange the characters are in this world. But they obviously love what this world has to offer them just as Buscemi does.
Works Cited
King, Geoff. (2005) American Independent Cinema, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Levy, Emmanuel. (1999) Cinema of Outsiders, New York and London: New York University Press.
Negra, Diane. (2005) ‘Queen of the Indies’ Parker Posey’s Niche Stardom and the Taste Cultures of Independent Film in C. Holmund and J. Wyatt (eds.) Contemporary American Independent Film, London and New York: Routledge.
[1] Negra, Diane. Queen of the Indies. Contemporary American Independent Film. (pgs. 72-5)
[2] Levy, Emmanuel. Cinema of Outsiders. (pgs. 111-12)
Actors like Steve Buscemi, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Parker Posey seem to completely inhabit the characters they play. Going back to the idea that these actors will not typically be featured in People but perhaps they will be featured in Film Comment or New York Magazine. A mainstream audience may recognize these actors for the smaller supporting parts they play in big budget movies but they would not be likely to have seen them in their starring roles. Steve Buscemi has become more of a mainstay in studio pictures in recent years but the fact remains that he is typically not the name marketed for these films. And he usually plays a small role that is more along the lines of a cameo. These cameos are typically more rewarding for people who have seen Buscemi in other films. They know that the personality of the brief character in this movie is very similar to the personality of his other characters.[1]
The line typically becomes blurred as to where the character ends and the person begins. This tends to be a problem with actors and the way they are perceived in public. Many people suppose that the people they play onscreen are the same as the real person. This is usually more of a tendency when people speak of Independent Stars. In the case of Buscemi he tends to play unbalanced somewhat creepy characters. The way he actually looks matches this. Therefore someone may expect him to be the lousy criminal that he played in Fargo. When thinking in terms of the picture personality the actor is usually thought to behave the same as the character’s that they play. This perhaps leads to the actor being typecast throughout their career. However, this also leads them to a type of stardom that is only enjoyed by actors in the indie film world.
But what is it that makes these actors different than mainstream stars? Perhaps it is the fact that they are appreciated in more “intellectual” terms than someone like Brad Pitt. As was stated earlier, a cameo or a small role in a studio movie by Buscemi or Posey will be appreciated by an entirely different audience in an entirely different way then would a cameo by Pitt or Roberts. The lines for these two types of stardom can overlap. If Pitt made a cameo in a film he would more than likely play a more glamorous character than someone like Buscemi. Pitt’s characters tend to be rugged ladies men while Buscemi’s tend to be seedy or creepy characters that seem unbalanced in some way. Most people assume that their actually personalities would be the same as the characters they play. Perhaps this is why someone like Brad Pitt becomes a huge celebrity while Buscemi plays small roles in big pictures and big roles in small pictures. The type of characters that actors play in films tends to be how the public associates these actors’ real personalities. And someone like Brad Pitt plays a more appealing character; to women and men because of his good lucks, charm, and heroic characters. This is the type of man another man would want to be and a woman would want to be with. Therefore they want to know everything about this person’s actual personal life. The general public wants to feel like they intimately know this person when they go to see their latest film. It seems to be very important to know intimate details about the biggest movie stars that you would not even know about your best friends. They want to know Pitt’s history, what he’s doing right now, and who he’s dating. It comes down to people wanting to know all these things so they can perhaps vicariously live the same glamorous life as these celebrities. On the other hand, the characters that Buscemi plays are typically not the type of person that would be considered ideal in real life. Therefore it is not as important to most people to know all the details of his personal life. More knowledgeable film goers may know more about him but they probably will not be able to tell you how much he paid for his house or who he may be cheating on whom with. This allows Buscemi to have a more personal life and to not worry about everything he does being picked apart by the public. But it also keeps him from being a big box office draw and drawing that 20 million dollar paycheck.
Two films starring Steve Buscemi that seem to whole heartedly embrace the world of independent film are In the Soup (1992, Alexander Rockwell) and Living in Oblivion (1995, Tom DiCillo). These films show, and their directors obviously know, how difficult it can be to get funding and to actually produce an independent film. In American Independent Cinema Geoff King sums up the industry of the independent world like this:
“Part of the romance of independent cinema is the notion of producing films at extremely low cost, outside or on the edges of the mainstream, free from dependence of the corporate oligarchy comprised by the major studio system. Successive generations of filmmakers, as well as critics and enthusiasts, have been inspired by tales of feature-length movies being made on tiny budgets, shot in spare time, financed on credit cards or funds scrambled together from other unlikely sources.”
Both of these films focus on an aspect of the difficulty of getting a film made. Even though these films make it seem outrageously difficult to get a film financed or to just complete a scene in a shot, it also makes it seem romantic and idealistic. And even though these films poke fun at the types of people who want to break into the independent film world, there is a soft underside to these films that makes you sympathize and root for these characters even when it seems like everything is going wrong.
Alexander Rockwell’s In the Soup tells the story of Aldolpho Rollo who is trying to raise money for a film based on the 500 page epic screenplay he has written. Aldolpho is played by Steve Buscemi and the person who attaches himself as the producer of his film is Joe played by Seymour Cassel. Joe is an eccentric criminal who has suddenly decided that he wants art to be a part of his life. Aldolpho is desperate for money at this point and he receives word from Joe that he would like to buy his screenplay because he had to put things he owned for sale so he could pay the rent. When Aldolpho shows up at Joe’s door he immediately sees what kind of character Joe is. He has a girlfriend half his age, loads of money lying around, 1000 dollars of which he immediately gives to Aldolpho, as well as firearms. Aldolpho is obviously taken aback by Joe’s behavior but as Aldolpho says, “Joe had his way of making you feel important, even though you knew he was taking you for a ride.” Joe is obviously off-balance but you still want to be around him anyway.[2]
At the beginning of the film Aldolpho states that he envisions the apartment building where he currently lives as being a tour bus stop one day. He just knows that one day people will be lining up to find out how Aldolpho Rollo got his start. He sees himself as an artist in the vein of Renoir even though Joe sees his work as being modeled after The Honeymooner’s. The difficulties never seem to end for Aldolpho from the start where a sleazy producer, played by Jim Jarmusch, is of no help to him till the end when Joe has sucked Aldolpho into his world and there seems to be no way that Aldolpho can escape. The existence of Joe, Aldolpho, and his movie become intertwined until the end. Rockwell paints a very quirky picture of what the trials and tribulations can be of someone who is an aspiring filmmaker. The film obviously exaggerates in most places but it does embrace the whole concept of funding a movie by any means possible.
Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion is the story of Nick Reve who is the director of the movie within the movie. The film begins with Nick trying to get a big scene shot with his main actress Nicole who is played by Catherine Keener. We meet the films driver, Tom Jarmusch, the gaffer, the sound guy, the boom mike operator, as well as the Assistant Director Wanda, played by Danielle von Zernick, and the Director of Photography, played by Dermont Mulroney, and Chad Palomino who plays is the films egotistical Brad Pitt type star. Each character shows throughout the making of the movie that they have their own agenda and are more concerned about the movie being to their liking then they are about getting their jobs done. Wolf (Mulroney) sees himself as the true artist on the picture and seems to get annoyed when he gets orders from anybody else including Nick.
Throughout Living in Oblivion we see all the difficulties that can occur on any movie but especially an independent one. These problems range from the assistant camera operator going the wrong way on the focus ring to having a troublesome dwarf. In the first segment every time a take gets going something goes wrong. A boom mike comes into the shot, the shot goes out of focus, a car with a loud stereo drives by the building, the actresses forget their lines. The tension slowly builds up throughout the segment with each thing that goes wrong until we finally hear an incessant beeping. Nick slowly goes crazy trying to figure out where this noise is coming from until he finally wakes up and we realize it was a dream. In the second segment we see the egotistical Chad Palomino ruin every shot and interact very poorly with the crew. We can tell this actor is modeled after a Brad Pitt type actor by the way he carries himself. The film definitely takes shots at the types of actors who are studio movie stars but stays more sympathetic towards those who toil in the independent world. The final segment shows Nick trying to film a dream sequence that has a dwarf in it but he can not seem to explain why. Eventually they get the shot down and while the sound mixer is recording the ambient sound we see the fantasies of each person in the room. These fantasies culminate into Nick’s whose fantasizes about winning the award for best film ever made by a human being.
Steve Buscemi is the prototypical indie film star. His main passion lies in the independent world, not the studio film world. Even though he may take parts in big budget movies, the main purpose of that usually is just to get enough money to help finance an indie. It is a self sustaining cycle that many people in the world of independent film travel. The characters that he plays in these two films are either trying to get into that cycle or are trying their best to survive in the cycle. And the makers of these two films certainly know the world of independent film very well. Tom DiCillo drew from his many experiences and somewhat autobiographically made Living in Oblivion. Both of these films show how absurd this world of independent film can be and how strange the characters are in this world. But they obviously love what this world has to offer them just as Buscemi does.
Works Cited
King, Geoff. (2005) American Independent Cinema, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Levy, Emmanuel. (1999) Cinema of Outsiders, New York and London: New York University Press.
Negra, Diane. (2005) ‘Queen of the Indies’ Parker Posey’s Niche Stardom and the Taste Cultures of Independent Film in C. Holmund and J. Wyatt (eds.) Contemporary American Independent Film, London and New York: Routledge.
[1] Negra, Diane. Queen of the Indies. Contemporary American Independent Film. (pgs. 72-5)
[2] Levy, Emmanuel. Cinema of Outsiders. (pgs. 111-12)
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