Through an alchemy of beloved food films, original cookbooks, and, most recently, a series of Instagram cocktail videos, Stanley Tucci has established himself as Hollywood’s reigning bon vivant. (“Stanley Tucci Breaks the Internet by Making a Drink” read one not inaccurate headline after he filmed himself making a negroni. “Enjoy This Powerfully Erotic Video of Stanley Tucci” went another.) Early on in the pandemic, the actor published a delightful, and slightly Sisyphean, culinary diary, in which he detailed cooking for his blended family with wife Felicity Blunt at a frenetic, superhuman pace. Several months later, I had to know if he had hit a wall yet.
“We’re still going,” he tells me on a video call from his London home, where he is dressed, in a black turtleneck and glasses, like the platonic ideal of Stanley Tucci. “We had some months of vague freedom. I had to work a lot, so I was away for two and a half months, but now we're back at it.” (Perhaps sensing the increased public demand for Stanley Tucci eating food, CNN will be airing Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy—a series in which Stanley Tucci eats food in Italy—in February.)
The actor also stars in the upcoming film Supernova, which will be released stateside on January 29th. It’s an elegant and heartbreaking story of an elderly married couple named Tusker (Tucci) and Sam (Colin Firth) who are taking one last road trip together, as Tusker succumbs to early onset dementia. Here, Tucci talks to GQ about why he wanted Firth to play his husband, relaying his personal experiences into the role, his earliest food memories, and his viral Levi’s ad from the 80s.
GQ: You and Colin Firth had great chemistry in Supernova—and you specifically requested that he star opposite you, right?
Stanley Tucci: I insisted. I said to [director Harry Macqueen], "I think Colin would be perfect for this." Of course, unbeknownst to Harry at that point, I'd already given Colin the script. I said, "You have to read this." He read it. He said, "My God, it's so beautiful." Luckily, Harry was okay with that. How could he not be? It all worked out. It was great, it was great.
We were playing opposite roles originally. Then one day Colin said, "You know, I think maybe we should switch roles," and I said, "I was thinking the same thing." And then we went to Harry. Poor Harry sort of looked at us like, "What? Why? What? Why do you have to make it complicated?" But then we read a few scenes switching roles and it made perfect sense.
Why did you want Colin to play the role of your husband?
He's just a great actor, number one, and he's one of my best friends. We've known each other for so long. We've wanted to work together again. We've worked together twice before. We're extremely close and we live pretty close to each other. Our kids are friends. I was just like, "Oh, my God, this is the perfect thing for us to do together." I just think he's an extraordinary actor. He's funny, he's charming, but he also has incredible depth and facility.
Did playing Tusker, someone who's dying of early onset dementia, make you consider your own mortality more?
Yes—as though I didn't think about it enough. It was very frightening to do that research. That entailed looking at a lot of documentaries, meeting with a doctor, reading a lot about it. The key thing was seeing the documentaries, seeing people on film, watching their behavior. It was fascinating, but it was very painful. It's painful to watch. I can only imagine how painful it is for the people who are taking care of them and who love them.
Louis Theroux did a two-part series on people with early onset, and it was fascinating and disturbing. I mean, people in their 40s. I could [only] watch a half hour at a time. Listen, I feel very lucky. I know that there's no history of it in my family and I have never experienced anybody with it, but it's really frightening. Getting old is frightening enough. Colin and I both turned 60, and that's scary enough.
You've spoken before about your first wife, Kate, dying of cancer and caring for her in her final months. How much did that experience inform the part?
It can't help but be a part of everything you do, and it can't help but be a part of your emotional makeup. That emotional makeup is what you draw upon when you're acting, whether consciously or unconsciously. Not all illnesses are the same, but there is a sameness to losing somebody and losing them right in front of you, and fear of dying. I knew what it was like to be on the other side of that, but I saw what it was like for her. She was incredibly brave, but you'd see that fear. It's always there. You don't want to feel it, but you can't help but feel it.
I think that's part of why I wanted to do it, because I just thought it was so beautifully realized. The conversations [the characters] had—there were conversations [we had] that were similar.
The movie's about a final road trip that a couple is taking together. What’s the first big trip you have planned once this is all over?
Jesus, just to go to a bar. I'll go to the local pub. That would be huge, to be able to do that: to sit at a bar and order a drink with your friends and your family. God. I'll start there. And we'll make our way to a restaurant, and then maybe we'll make our way to Paris or something.
You have The King’s Man coming out in a few months. Can you say anything more about your role there?
I really can't. I think I'm not supposed to. Really, it's a very minor appearance, but I kind of love those movies. I mean, obviously Colin was in them. I love him. I think they're so fucking odd and dark, but also funny. I think that style of filmmaking is fascinating. What he's able to achieve stylistically is kind of amazing.
One of the things I do love about those movies is also just the fashion of it. Having the suits made. I had a couple of suits made at the place in London that makes them for the film, and I can do that all day. That's just the greatest thing in the world.
I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but a couple years ago on Twitter, this old Levi’s ad of yours went viral...
Yeah, I heard about this.
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What do you remember about filming it? Was this before you broke out?
I was just trying to get jobs as an actor. Like I still do. So it's probably 1984 or something like that. You know, you go in and they say, "Walk towards the camera." You just went up for anything that would pay you some money. They said, "Yeah, all right. Come and do it." I think I got paid $300 or something.
It was really fun. It was shot in an afternoon. "All right, walk towards the camera, walk away from the camera, smile, do this, do that." That was it. “Here's your money, see you later.”
You have a food memoir coming out later this year, right?
Yes, I was just working on that.
Ah, so it’s not done.
No, God, I wish. I'm panicked.
Tell me about the process of writing it. Are you going back and recooking recipes from your life?
A little bit, but not so much. Yes, there are recipes in it, but it's really just more about growing up to today and how, no matter what, food seems to completely inform who I am and has become an obsession with me. I'm related to food now, in my life, but also in my “celebrity life” or whatever, because of movies like Big Night or Julie and Julia.
It's really just different experiences that are related to food, whether it's about going to a fishmonger and why I think fishmongers are so incredible, and the disappearance of shops like fishmongers and butchers and things like that. Then, food, when you're making a movie—what people don't know, what catering is like on a movie set and how it works. Stuff like that, which I hope will be interesting. Then just traveling around the world and eating, being lucky enough to eat really great food. I don't mean even fancy food. Then cooking, cooking with my wife, cooking with my late wife, all that stuff.
Do you remember your earliest food memory?
Earliest food memory ... no, I can't. It just seems to always be there. My mom is an incredible cook, and my grandmother was too. I remember my grandmother's pizza was just extraordinary. It was that thin [gestures to show how thin] and she used to cut it with scissors. Or her homemade pasta which was just …. you looked at and it melted. Also, my paternal grandfather's ragu, which is what we ended up making every Sunday.
I have to end on a Big Night question, because it’s one of my favorite films. When was the last time you made a timpano?
We did one three years ago, when we were visiting my parents in America. I don't think I've done one since then. In fact, my oldest son said to me, "Dad, do you want to make a timpano before I go back to university?" And I was like, "Yeah, sure, but we have to reserve an entire day to do it."
It's huge. It's exhausting. I just found out that Dr. Fauci, the famous Dr. Fauci, makes timpano every Christmas based on Big Night—he loved watching the movie and loves that timpano, so he makes it every Christmas. I just tracked down a contact to thank him, and also just to thank him for being the greatest guy in America.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
