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r
n the new movie "A Guide to Recog
nizing Your Saints," opening Friday,
actor Chazz Palminten plays Monty
Montiel, a gruff fa tber in Queens
who doesn't know how to keep his
slightly wUd son Oito safe orher than
to hold him light'er and tighter until
~ he's squeezing the life out of the kid.
~ "His whole world revolved around
his SOri,"cSays Palminlen aboulthe father
dewcted ill director pito Montiel's auto
biograpl:lical lale. "Even though I had a
great relationShip wi.th my dad. I under
stood it. I saw fathers like that. Oito's dad
is much older than him. People thought
he was his grandfather ."
Whether Palminteri is facing off
against the young Oito (played by Shia
LaBeouf) or the adult Oito (Robert
Downey Jr.) who has returned home to
try and convince his ailing father to go to
the hospital, he gives it the same intensity
that Palminteri brought to the story of his
own life, retold on stage and in film.
"J felt I knew these people, this world:'
says the 54-year-old New Yorker. "It re
minded me of 'A Bronx Tale:" the play
and screenplay Palminteri wrote about
his own upbringing . He starred in the
1993 film. "It was like 'A Queens Tale_'"
But people who think they know Pal
minteri are always being surprised. He
followed "Bronx" ~ a gasp of air after a
long time working blue-collar jobs and
writing at night to feed his art -with
an Academy Award-nominated turn in Actor'Chazz
Palminteri is
far-from holy
in 'Saints" .
·1I8 ,~I~~A~~ ;~g~~'lJ~ .
;. : " ' '" \' '" .': "". ",,, :;":,;,,'-" ,~, i~'(";,,'
Woody Allen's comedy "Bullets Over
Broadway." Since then he has done every
thing from "The Usual Suspects" to "Ana
lyze This" to "Stuart little" and the 1V se
ries remake of "Kojak" with Ving Rhames.
And while it sounds like a "Saturday
Night live" skit, Palminteri 's roots in the
cover band Razzamachazz are pulling
him back toward music. He has been de
veloping a musical version of "A Bronx
Tale" with songWriter Jimmy Webb for
several years. An upcoming film -"The
Dukes" -involves the members of an ag
ing doo-wop group that was on the top of
the world when they were 17. And Pal
minteri is premiering his new theatrical
piece "My Life in Song" at Lorenzo's Cab
aret on Staten Island on Oct. 14.
"Music is very important to me," says
Palminteri. "This show is very differ
ent. U's like 'A Bronx Tale' but done in
a very different way. I'll sing songs from
all different eras, songs like George Ben
son's 'On Broadway' and Van Morrison's
'Moondance: while telling the story of
my life.".
And until that begins, he'll be helping
Montiel tell the story of his life in "Saints."
"I love working with young. first-time
directors:' says Palminteri . "They're feel
ers. They'll do anything, try anything .
They don't know any better!" • DAD OR ALIVE
Chazz Palminterl
Is a tough father
In "A Guide to
Recognizing
Your Saints."
ecognizing' his dreams Astoria'S Dlto Montiel tumoo
a wild childhood into it movie·
KEEPING n' REAL Director Dlto Montiel (I.) with Rob
ert Downey Jr., who plays him, on location In Queens. f you made a movie about most people's life, you'd
have 10 spice it up to keep things interesting. for
New Yorker Diro Monliel, bebad to keep taking
things our because nO One would believe iI.
Montiel was.l.he lead singer of Guttc.rboy ,the selfI described "most su cessfuJ unsucces fal band in
the world." (They signed a re.poned $1 million deal with
Geffen Records and then gleefully imploded 011 tour.)
Then Montiel turned his adventures -gro ing up in
Queens, unwiltingly turning away Am!y Warhol at the
Palladium when he was a doorman, hangingwith pho
tographer Bruce Weber and poet Allen Ginsberg -into
the rambling, kaleidoscopic memoir called "A Guide to
RecogniZi ng Your Saints."
Now the 36-year-old Montiel has turned thaI book
into a movie that focus'es On one key summer of his
chlldhuod, and his adult return to the neighborhood
to confront his ailing father. It stars Chazz Palminteri
as Montiel's dad, DIanne Wiest as his morn, Robert
Downey Jr. as the dult Dito, Shia LeBeouf as yOW'lg
Olto and Channing Tal'um (orlhe summer hit "Step Up")
as Dito's volcanic friend Antonio. It has already won
awards for Dramatic Directing and a SpeCJaI Jury Award
for Be.st Ensemble at Sundance. The movie, openingFri
day, has been a homecoming in more ways than one.
"I love Ast.oria," says Montiel, who just moved back into the neighborhood ilh h.is girlfrienc:l II was r emark
ably easy to find a new home.just as it was easy to get
the streets to look like the early '80s of his childhooc:l
"Besides taking out Some ATM SIgns. ii's a bit of a
r.ime"'ss place: he continues . "II reminds me of when 1
wa a kid. My friend came out of ja.i\ and I walked hlm
around and howed him how everything had changed .
He said, 'It looks I he same.' Now I've come back and
everyone says how it's changec:llt looks the same. It's
a timeless place to me_I really love il; I always have
loved it."
Monriel says he used to caU the blocks between 1
St. and 42nd St. in Manhan8'l"the desen." Now it's
filled wilh Starbuck.s and Gaps. .
·1 kind of liked the linle shops selling all sorts of dead
ly weapons and boo.ks like 'How Kill:" ays Montiel.
"Bull know U,e weirdness never goes completely away.
It just gets pushed around."
As for Montiel. he never planned to be in a rock band
or work as a fashion model for Weber and Versace; he
never expected 10 write a book and he certainly never
thought about directing a movie. Not surprisUlgly . he
has no plans for a "!le.,,! move.'
"I didn'l do any of Ihis [0 have a career: says
Montiel. "This movie came out exactly like I wanted II
to. That makes me happy." M.G. ~ a.
91.
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•
n the new movie "A Guide to Recog
nizing Your Saints," opening Friday,
actor Chazz Palminten plays Monty
Montiel, a gruff fa tber in Queens
who doesn't know how to keep his
slightly wUd son Oito safe orher than
to hold him light'er and tighter until
~ he's squeezing the life out of the kid.
~ "His whole world revolved around
his SOri,"cSays Palminlen aboulthe father
dewcted ill director pito Montiel's auto
biograpl:lical lale. "Even though I had a
great relationShip wi.th my dad. I under
stood it. I saw fathers like that. Oito's dad
is much older than him. People thought
he was his grandfather ."
Whether Palminteri is facing off
against the young Oito (played by Shia
LaBeouf) or the adult Oito (Robert
Downey Jr.) who has returned home to
try and convince his ailing father to go to
the hospital, he gives it the same intensity
that Palminteri brought to the story of his
own life, retold on stage and in film.
"J felt I knew these people, this world:'
says the 54-year-old New Yorker. "It re
minded me of 'A Bronx Tale:" the play
and screenplay Palminteri wrote about
his own upbringing . He starred in the
1993 film. "It was like 'A Queens Tale_'"
But people who think they know Pal
minteri are always being surprised. He
followed "Bronx" ~ a gasp of air after a
long time working blue-collar jobs and
writing at night to feed his art -with
an Academy Award-nominated turn in Actor'Chazz
Palminteri is
far-from holy
in 'Saints" .
·1I8 ,~I~~A~~ ;~g~~'lJ~ .
;. : " ' '" \' '" .': "". ",,, :;":,;,,'-" ,~, i~'(";,,'
Woody Allen's comedy "Bullets Over
Broadway." Since then he has done every
thing from "The Usual Suspects" to "Ana
lyze This" to "Stuart little" and the 1V se
ries remake of "Kojak" with Ving Rhames.
And while it sounds like a "Saturday
Night live" skit, Palminteri 's roots in the
cover band Razzamachazz are pulling
him back toward music. He has been de
veloping a musical version of "A Bronx
Tale" with songWriter Jimmy Webb for
several years. An upcoming film -"The
Dukes" -involves the members of an ag
ing doo-wop group that was on the top of
the world when they were 17. And Pal
minteri is premiering his new theatrical
piece "My Life in Song" at Lorenzo's Cab
aret on Staten Island on Oct. 14.
"Music is very important to me," says
Palminteri. "This show is very differ
ent. U's like 'A Bronx Tale' but done in
a very different way. I'll sing songs from
all different eras, songs like George Ben
son's 'On Broadway' and Van Morrison's
'Moondance: while telling the story of
my life.".
And until that begins, he'll be helping
Montiel tell the story of his life in "Saints."
"I love working with young. first-time
directors:' says Palminteri . "They're feel
ers. They'll do anything, try anything .
They don't know any better!" • DAD OR ALIVE
Chazz Palminterl
Is a tough father
In "A Guide to
Recognizing
Your Saints."
ecognizing' his dreams Astoria'S Dlto Montiel tumoo
a wild childhood into it movie·
KEEPING n' REAL Director Dlto Montiel (I.) with Rob
ert Downey Jr., who plays him, on location In Queens. f you made a movie about most people's life, you'd
have 10 spice it up to keep things interesting. for
New Yorker Diro Monliel, bebad to keep taking
things our because nO One would believe iI.
Montiel was.l.he lead singer of Guttc.rboy ,the selfI described "most su cessfuJ unsucces fal band in
the world." (They signed a re.poned $1 million deal with
Geffen Records and then gleefully imploded 011 tour.)
Then Montiel turned his adventures -gro ing up in
Queens, unwiltingly turning away Am!y Warhol at the
Palladium when he was a doorman, hangingwith pho
tographer Bruce Weber and poet Allen Ginsberg -into
the rambling, kaleidoscopic memoir called "A Guide to
RecogniZi ng Your Saints."
Now the 36-year-old Montiel has turned thaI book
into a movie that focus'es On one key summer of his
chlldhuod, and his adult return to the neighborhood
to confront his ailing father. It stars Chazz Palminteri
as Montiel's dad, DIanne Wiest as his morn, Robert
Downey Jr. as the dult Dito, Shia LeBeouf as yOW'lg
Olto and Channing Tal'um (orlhe summer hit "Step Up")
as Dito's volcanic friend Antonio. It has already won
awards for Dramatic Directing and a SpeCJaI Jury Award
for Be.st Ensemble at Sundance. The movie, openingFri
day, has been a homecoming in more ways than one.
"I love Ast.oria," says Montiel, who just moved back into the neighborhood ilh h.is girlfrienc:l II was r emark
ably easy to find a new home.just as it was easy to get
the streets to look like the early '80s of his childhooc:l
"Besides taking out Some ATM SIgns. ii's a bit of a
r.ime"'ss place: he continues . "II reminds me of when 1
wa a kid. My friend came out of ja.i\ and I walked hlm
around and howed him how everything had changed .
He said, 'It looks I he same.' Now I've come back and
everyone says how it's changec:llt looks the same. It's
a timeless place to me_I really love il; I always have
loved it."
Monriel says he used to caU the blocks between 1
filled wilh Starbuck.s and Gaps. .
·1 kind of liked the linle shops selling all sorts of dead
ly weapons and boo.ks like 'How Kill:" ays Montiel.
"Bull know U,e weirdness never goes completely away.
It just gets pushed around."
As for Montiel. he never planned to be in a rock band
or work as a fashion model for Weber and Versace; he
never expected 10 write a book and he certainly never
thought about directing a movie. Not surprisUlgly . he
has no plans for a "!le.,,! move.'
"I didn'l do any of Ihis [0 have a career: says
Montiel. "This movie came out exactly like I wanted II
to. That makes me happy." M.G. ~ a.
91.
'§
(1)
~
II>
h 0
3
g e z
~
/J>
en c
::l a.
OJ
"" en
'" >l.
(1)
3
C'
~
IV f-
IV a a