A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
When actor Stanley Tucci isn't on a film set, there's a good chance you'll find him in a kitchen somewhere rustling up something tasty. Italian cuisine features heavily in his diet, as you might know from his TV program "Searching For Italy." Now in his new book, "What I Ate In One Year," he's reflecting on some of his simplest meals, as well as his more elaborate ones - from spaghetti with Tropea onion to roasted sea bass. At the age of 63, he's also offering some thoughts about life. Now, he told me his love of food began in his mom's kitchen. Her home-cooked meals still influence him to this day.
STANLEY TUCCI: Everything is centered around food. It was what you talked about before you ate. It was what you talked about while you were eating. And it was what you talked about after you ate (laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: You write that food does not bring you anxiety, that it just makes you happy. But how did you get there? Because for many people, eating a meal is one of the most stressful parts of the day in terms of, like, do I have time for it? What am I going to get? How does this fit into what else I've eaten today? I mean, a meal isn't a meal for people. It's just an annoyance.
TUCCI: No, I can understand that anxiety. I mean, yes, of course I have some anxiety about it. Like, you know, what do I really want to eat today while I'm filming? Because I know I have a craving for a huge bowl of pasta with something, but I can't have that because I'll just want to go to sleep and I won't be able to film the rest of the day. But at the same time, sort of planning ahead or just listening to your body - you know, your body tells you. If you're in touch with your body, your body tells you what you're supposed to have, and I like to follow that. And so I know at the end of the day, I think, OK. Oh, yeah. OK, I want to have this. And I'll go and make it, or I'll go to the place that makes it really well (laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: What makes for a great meal, Stanley, and how is that defined? What is a great meal?
TUCCI: A great meal starts with great ingredients. First of all, the quality of the ingredients makes a big difference, how those ingredients are combined. And then who are you sharing that meal with? That's absolutely crucial.
MARTÍNEZ: What if it's just yourself, that you're only sharing with yourself? Can that still be a great meal?
TUCCI: It can be, absolutely.
MARTÍNEZ: You also write that cooking, acting and directing are all related, so I'd love to know the answer to that question. How are they all related?
TUCCI: Well, they're all related in the sense that, you know, you take a certain number of ingredients, like the script or zucchini. And then you turn them into something else. There's a before, there's the thing, then there's the process and then there's the finished product. And there are rules to it, right, measurements, right? But those measurements can be like, maybe I'll put a little bit more of this. Just like, oh, well, I'm acting. Maybe I'll do a take this way.
MARTÍNEZ: So I turned 50 not that long ago.
TUCCI: I'm sorry.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter) I know, believe me. Halfway to 100, if I can make it there.
TUCCI: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Once I turned 50, I started hearing that clock in my head. You think about death a lot. You write about dreaming about death a lot. I think about it every single day. You had a cancer scare in 2018. You had oral cancer. You couldn't taste for a while. So you've actually had something that has threatened your existence, but how do you deal with thinking about death without it being debilitating?
TUCCI: Well, you know, I don't know. I think it's just - obviously, we have to recognize that it's inevitable, and we have no control over it. And once you acknowledge that you have no control over something, it does make it a little easier to deal with. But I think the hard part is when you see the people you love aging, and you see and you look at your own skin. And you look at your eyes, or you get up from a chair and you can't quite get up from that chair the way you used to. You know it's inevitable, and it is a scary thing. But if you let it consume you, then what good is that? And how are you - I think particularly if you have children, you're not doing them any service, are you?
MARTÍNEZ: No, no. I mean, no.
TUCCI: No. And there's so much more to see and so much more to be done that that's what we have to focus on.
MARTÍNEZ: How much did that scare you, when you went through oral cancer in 2018? I mean, you were on a feeding tube for six months.
TUCCI: The oral cancer was terrifying. I was shocked, and you feel like you're dying. And I felt like I was dying because the treatment was so awful, and yet, of course, it was the treatment that saved me. I was very lucky that I hadn't metastasized, and that's - so the cure rate was very high. But having watched my wife die of it, it was very scary. Even though I'm supposedly out of the woods, you're never really out of the woods.
MARTÍNEZ: No, the second we're born, right (laughter)?
TUCCI: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: We're in the woods the second we're born, yeah.
TUCCI: Yeah, you're in it.
MARTÍNEZ: One of the things that features heavily in your writing is wanting to freeze time.
TUCCI: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: Is this kind of thoughts of death? Is that a reason to freeze time, or...
TUCCI: Absolutely. No, I want to freeze time. I think I wrote that, you know, if I could be 40 years old for, like, a decade...
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
TUCCI: ...That would be great. And then you go like, OK, now I'm ready. Now I'm ready to get a little older.
MARTÍNEZ: I read recently, Stanley, that you have no idea how you became a foodie sex symbol.
TUCCI: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Which I find shocking, because I think people find sexy when people are passionate about something. And you clearly are passionate about life, about your career and definitely about food. You're also very attractive (laughter). You're a nice-looking man who's in great shape.
TUCCI: Oh, you're very kind. Thank you (laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: How is this a mystery to you? How do you not understand how people would find everything that you'd put out sexy?
TUCCI: I don't know.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
TUCCI: I don't know. Like, it's not in my...
MARTÍNEZ: Wait, you ponder a lot of questions, Stanley.
TUCCI: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: How have you never pondered that one?
TUCCI: I have pondered it, and I'm happy about it. I mean, it's very strange at the age of 63 to - suddenly people go, oh, yeah, you're really sexy.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
TUCCI: You know? And you're like, oh, really? OK (laughter). I felt sexier when I was younger. But, you know, whatever.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, 63 is the new 40.
TUCCI: Yes, that's right.
MARTÍNEZ: Someone told me.
(LAUGHTER)
TUCCI: That's right.
MARTÍNEZ: Stanley Tucci's latest book is called "What I Ate In One Year: (And Related Thoughts)." Stanley, thank you very much for the chat.
TUCCI: Oh, thank you so much. Really nice talking to you.
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