BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) FIREMAN
Steve Buscemi may have played a lot of bad guys during his career, but the dude is a hero. For four years in the early 80’s Buscemi was a New York Firefighter on FDNY Engine 55. He’s quoted “When I was a fireman I was in a lot of burning buildings. It was a great job, the only job I ever had that compares with the thrill of acting. Before going into a fire, there’s the same surge of adrenaline you get just before the camera rolls.” My grandfather was a fireman and I don’t think it was legal, but I got to spend the night at the station many nights and get to absorb some of what goes on as a small child. It’s an experience I never forgot so I can only imagine what it’s like for a man who actually put on the boots, coat, and helmet for four years. He has stayed a fireman at heart. In 2003 he was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct for protesting the state trying to close down a few stations because of budget. You have to respect that kind of awesomeness.
(THREE) HE’S A DIRECTOR
He’s not just an actor. Steve writes and directs. There’s a good chance that you’ve seen something he has directed if you’ve watched TV in the past decade. He directed episodes of “Homicide”, “The Sopranos”, “Oz”, “30 Rock”, and “Nurse Jackie”. Along with the TV stuff, he has a few feature length movies under his belt like the 1996 “Trees Lounge”, “Animal Factory”, “Lonesome Jim”, and the much underappreciated “Interview”.
(TWO) BAD ASS
He’s often the small “squirrelly guy” who acts violent, but is the butt of the jokes. He’s not that guy. We already went over the fact that he was a fireman. But in high school Steve wrestled varsity. He seems like a cool guy, but he’s not shy to stand up when needed. After 9/11, Steve was right in there with the fireman looking for people in the rubble. Earlier that year, he was trying to break up a bar fight between Vince Vaughn, a writer, and a local guy and got stabbed three times. Obviously, he’d survive this. Why? Because he’s a bad ass.
(ONE) COOLEST ROLES
We’ve all seen him. We all know that Steve Buscemi has been in pretty much everything cool. His track record is amazing. He’s at a level where he doesn’t NEED to go after everything, so these awesome roles can’t all just be luck. I really can’t think of any time I’ve seen him that I didn’t like what he was in. Some of my favorite movies he’s been in include “The Big Lebowski”, “Con Air”, “Airheads”, “Fargo”, “Ghost World”, and the recent “Youth In Revolt”. That’s just a few though. The man has been in such varied projects that I’m convinced he can do anything. Yeah, I bet he can fly.
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