John Turturro on why he chose to star in Transformers above other films

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

On Sunday evening as part of the sixth annual Montclair Film Festival, "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert sat down with actor John Turturro to wax rhapsodic about the famed actor's long-standing career in film, television, and on stage. As the two men shared an engaging chin wag with one another, Turturro spoke on his upbringing in Queens and how his Italian parents helped kickstart his career after coming to grips with the fact that John would never become a professional basketball player. "I realized that it came naturally to hold friends’ attention and tell these exaggerated stories because that’s what everyone did in my family," Turturro said as he reminisced about the early signs of his penchant for telling stories.

Turturro then went on to talk about several milestones in his career, which included ancedotes about working with Woody Allen, Spike Lee, the Coen brothers, Robert De Niro, and Michael Bay on the TRANSFORMERS films. When asked to elaborate on his experience while working with Bay on the man vs. machines toys-to-action series, Turturro stated, “When you ask him [Bay] a question (about your character) he goes, ‘When you see the movie, you’ll understand.’” Heh. That doesn't seem like much to go on to me, but wait, there's more. 

Feeling the need to give Colbert some more insight, Turturro continued, “I never used to do these big, giant films because there used to be medium-sized films,” he said. “But now there are no medium-sized films. There are small films or giant films. Thank god for television.” 

The next time you see John Turturro up on the big screen he'll be starring, once again, as Jesus Quintana in GOING PLACES, a spinoff of the Coen brothers THE BIG LEBOWSKI. While I admit to having major qualms about creating a spinoff of my favorite movie of all time, I'm sure that if anyone can make it work it's Turturro. 

GOING PLACES is currently in post-production, so hopefully we see a trailer or some footage from the film real soon. Meanwhile, you can catch Turturro when he stars in TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT which is set to blast into theaters beginning on June 23, 2017.