Palminteri says he is now returning to “Tale” with a newfound perspective brought on by parenthood. The tale also examines the passing of racism through the generations, says Palminteri, who dated an African-American girl when he was 17. In the play, he takes on 18 characters – young and old, wiseguy and otherwise. “A lot of theater doesn’t necessarily speak to men,” says Willis. Richard Willis, who owns and operates the Wadsworth Theatre with partner Martin Markinson, calls “A Bronx Tale” “a classic New York story about a kid growing up in a tough neighborhood.” “I thought that was an interesting thing to put my father on one side and (mob boss) Sonny on the other and the boy in the middle getting the best from both,” says Palminteri, “and how he became a man.” Like his namesake (played in the film by Francis Capra), Palminteri took important life lessons away from both men. As a boy, young Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri had been heavily influenced both by his father, Lorenzo, and by local mobsters. Palminteri’s inspiration was his life, his family and his neighborhood. “I went out to Thrifty’s on Ventura Boulevard, bought five pads of yellow paper and started writing `A Bronx Tale.”‘ “I said, `You know what? If they won’t give me a great part, I’ll write one for myself,”‘ he continues. I had done a lot of things in New York, then came out here and things got cold again,” says Palminteri, who had appeared in episodes of “Matlock” and “Hill Street Blues.” It took getting fired from a doorman’s job by talent agent Irving “Swifty” Lazar for Palminteri to sour on waiting for the right part to drop into his lap. Pre-“Bronx Tale,” however, Palminteri was no celebrity. He has appeared in more than 50 films and directed “Noel” and episodes of “Oz” and Showtime’s “Women and Men.” The film of “A Bronx Tale” was followed by Palminteri’s Oscar-nominated turn as a hit man turned playwright in Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” in 1994. You’d be great as Sonny, and you should write the script because you know it so well.’ He really stood up and gave me my shot.” “I just kept saying, `No.’ De Niro saw it, and he said, `I don’t know what the problem is. “People said, `Oh, you blew it,”‘ recalls Palminteri. The studios wanted “Tale,” but they didn’t want Palminteri, who insisted he be allowed both to write the script and play mob boss Sonny. Before De Niro stepped up, Palminteri had turned down offers of up to $1 million for the rights to his story. A film version staring Palminteri and Robert De Niro – who made his directing debut – followed in 1993.
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