Coming Tuesday: Palminteri’s the real deal

Actor Chazz Palminteri stars in his one-man show “A Bronx Tale” beginning Oct. 7 at The Venetian. I sat down with him recently, and he talked at length about trying to deal with Hollywood’s hot directors and money men.

Things didn’t go so well, to say the least.

He prepped for one meeting with a popular director by doing a little research on the man. He found that he hadn’t been hot in Hollywood too long – less than a decade – and that he’d once been a film student at NYU. The might have been kindred spirits.

But then the director tried to come on strong.

During the meeting, Palminteri met a guy who had completely forgotten his roots. Although he’d been served a fancy salmon lunch, it was Palminteri who realized he was being played for a fish. The director tried to set the hook with some take-it-or-leave-it language that turned mild-mannered Chazz into one angry man.

After reminding the director of his own background and recent good fortune, Palminteri asked, “Am I allowed the same break? Am I any different than you?”

Palminteri passed on the poseur director and left the deal on the table. I don’t even know that he finished his salmon.

Not long afterward, Palminteri agreed to make “A Bronx Tale” with Robert DeNiro.

Read the rest of the story in my column Tuesday in the Review-Journal.