FEW actors can boast they’ve had the legendary director Martin Scorsese take it upon himself to find the perfect showcase for them. Kirkby-born Stephen Graham is one of the few.
“I feel terrible saying this, but Marty actually asked me to play this character,” says Graham of his role in Boardwalk Empire, a lavish TV series that starts on new channel Sky Atlantic tonight.
The honour is even greater when you learn that the particular character happens to be history’s most infamous gangster, Al Capone.
“Marty’s always said he wanted to find something for me to do and that he wanted to work with me again,” adds Graham – referring to their first collaboration on 2002’s Gangs Of New York.
“I’ve met him a good few times since and he always said, ‘Don’t worry, something’s going to come up’. I didn’t hear anything and then out of the blue I got a phone call from his office and it was him saying, ‘Would you like to play Al Capone?’ You don’t really say no.”
Co-created by Scorsese and the award-winning writer of The Sopranos, Terence Winter, Boardwalk Empire opens on the eve of prohibition in 1920s Atlantic City, and follows the machinations of city treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), a political fixer who’s carved out a niche as the man to see for illegal alcohol.
It’s based on the best-selling book, The Birth, High Times And Corruption Of Atlantic City, and paints a vivid picture of America in the roaring Twenties, with Wall Street on the cusp of a boom and Atlantic City an entertainment mecca for every kind of thrill-seeker.
