Kathrine Narducci – Capone

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What have been the recent projects you have been busy working on?

A) I’ve been working on my series “Godfather of Harlem.” It’s a series filmed here in New York for EPIX. It’s the creator of “Narcos” and wrote all those Sherlock Holmes movies with Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr. It’s a very good series and it takes place in the 50’s in Harlem. It’s going to go into the 60’s in Season 2. I play Vincent D’Onofrio’s wife in that. It’s a pretty cool role. I really enjoy it and I’m having fun to do it. We’re supposed to go back in June, but who even knows the future of anything. Hopefully, we will.

Q) How was your character originally in “Bad Education” originally described to you?

A) I don’t have a big role in this. I have a small little role because I got to work with Hugh Jackman. So many times you work on a film and you don’t even see the people. You have totally different scenes. I was fortunate that my scenes were with Hugh. I play one of the wives, Sharon Katz, a single mom who falls for him as a good person and a person who is going to save our school and make it better. He’s so charming and he’s charismatic who is embezzling from the school. We’re all fooled by him and his trickery. I’m just one of the wives who falls for him, too. I run the book club that he actually likes going to and we read books and discuss them. He comes to my house for our weekly book club and after everybody leaves, I have a scene where (because I’m a single parent and he’s so good to my kid) I trust him. That’s the whole thing with this movie, everybody trusts this guy. I come on to him and I try to make out with him and he shuns me and it is devastating. What we come to find out is he is gay. He wears this wedding ring and tells everyone that he’s a widow. It’s all a lie. It’s all a scam. He’s totally getting over on everybody.

Q) Talk about working with costars Hugh Jackman.

A) Oh my God! It was so great to work with him. He’s so humble and such a nice guy. I mean, we did a scene and then we took a break and we came back. He gave me lotto tickets. He went around and gave the whole crew! He came back with a big pack of lotto tickets and gave everyone the tickets. That’s a great nice guy! And so nice to work with. And he doesn’t try to intimidate you because he’s Hugh Jackman and such a huge star. He’s just a very down to earth guy who is the same way with everyone from the director to the crew. He’s just really a nice guy. I loved working with. Everything they say about him is true. He’s kind and humble. And it was great because I got to be in a very intimate scene with him, so that made it even better. It was a quiet, intimate scene. That was nice, too. Instead of it being about a bunch of people, it is nice to just be in a quiet place with him. It was really nice to just take it in.

Q) Who will you be portraying in the upcoming film Capone?

A) I am Capone’s (Tom Hardy) sister Rosie. It’s the last year of his life. He comes home from Alcatraz and he has syphilis. Syphilis is sort of dementia and Alzheimer’s on steroids. It’s like you lose your mind, it eats your brain and you become (basically) a mad man. And it’s the last year of his life. He comes home to his family to take care of him as he is slowly deteriorating. The whole family takes care of him. Linda Cardellini plays his wife, Noel Fisher is his son. Kyle MacLachlan is the doctor. Matt Dillon plays his best friend. We’re all taking care of him in this house the last year of his life as he slowly deteriorates. It’s really an art house movie. It’s not a typical bang-bang shoot ‘em up. Instead of a rise and fall, it’s just the fall of a former strong, powerful guy. You see him in a whole different light. You see it from a whole different perspective of Al Capone. I think it’s really interesting.

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes to film?

A) I think I loved filming all of the family dinners. They go back to the family dinners like three or four times. I had fun doing that because it was a great dynamic between me, Tom and Linda. We’re always all together. We’re chasing him or taking care of him or he’s having these meltdowns. He has these episodes or meltdowns. He just goes into this imaginary world that Josh Trank has made on this movie set. I think it’s just a really interesting perspective on this guy’s life that you’ve never seen. You always see it as Capone, Chicago, typical mob movie. But it’s at the end of his life when he’s this feeble old man and deteriorating. That’s really how Al Capone died.

Q) What did you personally take away from your time on this film?

A) I don’t know. Just always learning from other actors. It was such a great experience working with Tom and watching Tom. It was amazing! I thought he’d be this intense, method actor where he’d constantly be in character. But he wasn’t! He was so happy and funny. He was constantly cracking jokes and in between takes when they’d tweak the lights, he’d constantly be making jokes and playing his rap music. He was blasting his rap music on a little boombox thing he had. I thought it was really funny to watch. It was so interesting and he would just turn into this character. Just watching different people and processes of how they get into character. Watching Linda and Kyle and learning from that. It was really interesting. Everybody came to the table with something different. Watching people was fascinating. I really loved it. I got to learn about New Orleans because we were there for six weeks in the bayou. That would never have happened if I didn’t do this movie. It was just great. It was really great.

Q) Since you are a part of social media, are you looking forward to the fan feedback you will receive to the film?

A) It’s gunna be interesting because I don’t think it is going to be what fans are expecting. And Josh Trank, the director, knows that. He’s very smart and he did not want to make a bang-bang shoot ‘em up movie. He wanted to make a very quiet, artsy kind of movie. It’s an interesting take on Capone. I think he achieved it. So, I think it’s going to be interesting to see that genre. Both fans want the bang-bang shoot ‘em up, but they are not going to it. They are going to get something else. And I’m hoping they appreciate it and understand it. So, I’m hoping that the feedback is that they got to see something different.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure we share with our readers?

A) I have another part coming up that I was supposed to be in LA now filming. Obviously, it got cancelled, but it’s an amazing project. I can’t talk about it. I didn’t even get to announce it because we didn’t even start it. When that happens that will be good.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) I’d like to just say thank you for supporting me and always being so kind. I watch some fans of certain people and they can be mean and bully. I’ve always gotten nothing but pure love from my fans. I just appreciate them and that’s what I want to say. I just appreciate them being so kind and supportive. If it wasn’t for the fans, you wouldn’t have anything. I just appreciate them.