John Turturro: The 5-Minute Interview

'People think I have a manic energy, but I'm really a grounded person'

John Turturro, 49, wrote and directed the film "Romance and Cigarettes", which stars Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini and Eddie Izzard, and is out today

Romance and Cigarettes is ...

A down-and-dirty love story that encompasses musical fantasy elements. It's kind of like Charles Bukowski meets Bruce Springsteen. When people can no longer express themselves in language, they express themselves in songs lodged in their subconscious.

If I wasn't talking to you right now I'd be ...

Staring out the window.

A phrase I use far too often is ...

"Maybe this doesn't mean anything, but ..."

I wish people would take more notice of ...

The little things during the day that are positive and worth savouring.

The most surprising thing that ever happened to me was ...

I thought I saw my wife in my favourite restaurant in SoHo, New York, so I put my arms around her and even touched her breasts. From the back it looked just like her. She started freaking out and I put my hands over her mouth and tried to explain I'm supposed to be meeting my wife and I'm John Turturro the actor and that she might have seen me on television. She finally calmed down.

A common misperception of me is ...

That I'm jumpy or frenetic or have a manic energy. I don't get it. I'm really a pretty grounded and responsible person - I can sit for a long time and concentrate.

I'm not a politician but ...

I'd probably have more socialist meetings. If voting for a war, the politicians' kids should be the first up for the war, without exception.

I'm very bad at ...

Climbing to really high places.

You know me as a actor, but in a truer life I'd have been a ...

Doctor.

The best age to be is ...

Thirty-five. You're in between somewhere.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

Don't follow the paved path, leave your own trail.