A decade ago, Karim Rahma strapped a microphone to a Metro card and began asking New Yorkers to get what they wanted Take the subwaySteve Buscemi created an Emmy Award-winning talk show by chatting with people on a park bench.
Buscemi came up with the idea after directing a series of promotional shorts for the band Vampire Weekend, during which he met carpenter Geo Orlando. “I pulled him into the scene, and we went to a park bench and did a little scene with Grimes,” Buscemi said. time In 2015. “Geo was so natural and just a great friend, if you will, that I said to my producing partner and our production team, ‘I think I can build an entire show out of Geo on park benches.’”
AOL Originals thinks so too, and Park Bench with Steve Buscemi It premiered as a web series in May 2014. It featured the Brooklyn-born actor and director and his friend dragging their park bench around New York interviewing famous guests — Chris Rock, Roseanne Cash, Fred Armisen, GZA, and Mayor Bill de Blasio — and not-so-famous, like Buddhist nun Annie Trim Lamu. Buscemi, who was working on the final season of Boardwalk Empire At the same time, he served as director and host and filmed 12 episodes over five days. The series received an Emmy nomination for short-form reality program that year.
In Season 2, Buscemi brought on guests including John Turturro, Debi Mazar, Paul Auster, then-Attorney General Letitia James and John Oliver. Park bench He won the outstanding variety series of short formats in 2016. Buscemi said the style of the show was simple and casual THR At the time, “I didn’t know I was a great communicator, but I loved talking to people.”
This story first appeared in the June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To obtain the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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