Steve Buscemi as crooked politician "Nucky"
Thompson on the HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire."
He told Tracy Smith that he did not think he'd get the role.
"When I read the pilot script, I thought, 'Oh my God, I could really do
this part. I really want to do this
part.'
"Terry Winter [with whom Buscemi had worked on 'The
Sopranos'] was doing it, and Martin Scorsese, who I had worked with. And it was
HBO. So I was flattered that I was even
being considered. But I just thought,
'No, I'm just a name on a list. I wasn't sure why I was even being considered! I
thought that they sort of needed, like, maybe, a bigger name. Or even a bigger guy!"
"And the truth is, they didn't have a list of names --
you were the list, right?" said Smith.
"There had to be somebody else that they were thinking
of, you know? I don't want to know! But
I'm glad it was me. I feel really
blessed."