Some actors seem to operate on an almost sensory level. Watch George Clooney in basically anything he’s in, and you can practically smell the expensive aftershave wafting from the screen. With Johnny Depp, it’s a sort of musky, stale cigarette smoke. But Stanley Tucci? The man’s very pores seem to drip with the rich, dignified scent of Italian ragu.
Before he became known, predominantly, for his adjacency to the world of cosy Italian cooking – via a run of recipe books, online videos, and culinary documentary series – Tucci, who returns to screens this week in the heist comedy Fountain of Youth, was a fine and respected character actor. He was Oscar-nominated for The Lovely Bones (2009), in which he played a serial killer opposite Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz. He had strong roles in films by Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition), Woody Allen (Deconstructing Harry), Steven Spielberg (The Terminal) and Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia). He was a noteworthy writer and director, with his debut film, Big Night (1996), causing a minor stir on the independent circuit. (Roger Ebert likened the film, set in a restaurant, to “a perfect risotto… they include just what is needed and nothing else”.)
