AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

The only thing worse than losing your wallet is getting it stolen. But these days, the life of a pickpocket isn't easy, either. Wallets are digital and watches are fake.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK")

JOHN TURTURRO: (As Harry Lehman) This one - this one is good. Swiss. You see this sweep?

STEVE BUSCEMI: (As Ben) Hold on. This movement - right? - it's all jagged. No jewels. It's only beating three times a second, not five.

TURTURRO: (As Harry Lehman) That guy was legit. He had platinum cards, you know? Wore Aldens.

BUSCEMI: (As Ben) I mean, it keeps time, but everything's got a clock in it now.

TURTURRO: (As Harry Lehman) A mark like that, you don't see him on the shoot that often.

BUSCEMI: (As Ben) Yeah. Even suckers get a day off sometimes.

RASCOE: John Turturro plays aging thief Harry Lehman in the new crime thriller "The Only Living Pickpocket In New York." He rides the subways and prowls the streets of the five boroughs, picking pockets, yes, but he's also racing to right the wrongs of his own past mistakes after stealing from the wrong people.

With us now to talk about the film is John Turturro. He joins us from nowhere else but our studio in New York City. John Turturro, thank you so much for joining us.

TURTURRO: Well, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be on your show. I'm a loyal NPR listener.

RASCOE: Oh, we really appreciate that. In this movie, your character, Harry, he does things the old-school way. So he's stealing wallets and watches. He pays for everything in cash, and he doesn't have a cellphone. Why is he so resistant to technology?

TURTURRO: Well, I think the world has changed around him personally, professionally. But he doesn't really, you know, need it to get by. You know, he knows the subway system inside out. You know, it's an interesting story because it's about a guy who is a thief, but it's sort of a nonviolent violation. A lot of these pickpockets come from broken homes, orphanages, you know, the history of it. And sometimes, when they take your spending money, they put the wallet back in the mailbox, so you get your pictures back and things like that.

RASCOE: That's the thing about Harry. He's a pickpocket, but he has a certain code that he lives by.

TURTURRO: That's right.

RASCOE: He pays his...

TURTURRO: That's right.

RASCOE: ...Informants. He's got this...

TURTURRO: Yeah.

RASCOE: ...Reliable crew that he sticks up for. What does that code mean to him?

TURTURRO: I think it's like, sort of a family. It's a makeshift family. A lot of these people - they usually worked in pairs, and they would bail each other out. But they - the whole idea was that they weren't into a heavy crime, and they weren't going to wipe out your life savings. They were sort of grinders.

RASCOE: Like a working-class thief.

TURTURRO: That's right. But he's also - you know, at the same time, he's a guy who's never really taken care of, you know, anything. And now, in his life, he is a caretaker.

RASCOE: Because he's caring for his wife who is, you know, very ill, cannot care for herself. She can't really respond or talk at this point.

TURTURRO: Right. But she can maybe hear...

RASCOE: Yes. Yeah. She can.

TURTURRO: ...And see. And so you know, if you've had those experiences that, you know, people talk to people. They play music.

RASCOE: Yeah.

TURTURRO: They joke around. They dance. They do all kinds of things because they are registering something. What I liked about the script, which I thought was - it has such a great structure 'cause it takes place almost in the classic Greek Aristotelian 24-hour frame. But you have this tension juxtaposed with this tenderness and humanity. And I think that's a really hard thing to navigate. And Noah Segan wrote a beautiful script. And I thought, well, this has the potential to resonate with people 'cause it certainly resonated with me.

RASCOE: Yeah, no, it definitely resonates. And your character is one I think that the audience automatically cares for. And in 2026, you have so many jobs that are at risk because of technology and AI.

TURTURRO: Right.

RASCOE: I mean...

TURTURRO: Right.

RASCOE: Everybody's dealing with this. So is the aging pickpocket, right? Like, do you think that's...

TURTURRO: Yeah.

RASCOE: ...Why this kind of resonates?

TURTURRO: That's exactly right. I mean, but we still need people who can be - they're really smart. They have a craft. I mean, you still need a plumber.

RASCOE: Yeah.

TURTURRO: You still need an electrician, you know? But these are people who are using their minds and their hands and their bodies. And there's something honorable and essential about that because we are human beings, and we are in bodies.

RASCOE: Yeah. I mean, you grew up in New York, like, just like the character, Harry. Does the city you grew up in still exist?

TURTURRO: I think there are pockets, you know? Sunnyside, and Queens is, like, the most diverse place, I think, in the United States. That's how I grew up. I - you know, I grew up, you know, in Hollis. You know, it was primarily a Black neighborhood. And then I moved to sort of a more Italian, Irish, Jewish neighborhood later on. And, you know, then I got bused out in junior high school to I.S. 59, which was 90% Black. So my growing up, I know what it was to be the minority, to be in between, you know? And so I had a very diverse, you know, upbringing, which I'm very grateful for. But this movie has that. It represents the people, you know, who keep the city humming.

RASCOE: Yeah.

TURTURRO: You know, the people who take the subway, who runs a store, runs a pawn shop...

RASCOE: Yes, yeah.

TURTURRO: ...Or bodega, you know? And that's what makes a neighborhood that. A lot of these neighborhoods have changed. Let's face it. It's a port city. It's a city that you really can't be a foreigner. I don't think you can be.

RASCOE: Yeah. And I mean, you know, you have had this long storied career. When you're looking for a character, is there a certain type of character that you feel like you're always drawn to or...

TURTURRO: No.

RASCOE: When we see you pop up on the screen, what type of things should we be expecting to get?

TURTURRO: I like to be, you know - if I was a pitcher, I would like to have, you know, eight different pitches. If I was a basketball player, I want to have, you know, a multitude of moves, you know? So I want to do something that I necessarily haven't done before or that resonates with me and that also doesn't add to the violence of the world around us. I mean, what I liked about this script was the violence is off-camera. What we see is the cost of the violence. And people don't explore that very much. So I look for things that could be entertaining but also could be, you know, funny, thought-provoking. Each story is different. But I love things that have a complexity to it because I think life is complex. But I don't want you to say, well, John always does the same thing. You know what I mean?

RASCOE: Yeah.

TURTURRO: 'Cause I would be bored that way if I did that.

RASCOE: Yeah. But when we see you, we know it's going to be good (laughter).

TURTURRO: That's what I try. I try. I try. The thing is to not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone.

RASCOE: Yeah. That was John Turturro. His new movie, "The Only Living Pickpocket In New York," is out now. John Turturro, thank you so much for joining us.

TURTURRO: Thank you, and have a lovely day. It was a pleasure to be on the show.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NATIVE NEW YORKER")

ODYSSEY: (Singing) You're a native New Yorker. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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