Wednesday star Steve Buscemi recalls his worst auditions with directors Barry Levinson and Mike N...

They went wrong for two different reasons. Wednesday star Steve Buscemi recalls his worst auditions with directors Barry Levinson and Mike Nichols

They went wrong for two different reasons.

Wednesday star Steve Buscemi recalls his worst auditions with directors Barry Levinson and Mike Nichols

They went wrong for two different reasons.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Published on July 25, 2025 01:58PM EDT

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Steve Buscemi says he auditioned poorly for Barry Levinson and Mike Nichols. Credit:

Jason Mendez/Getty; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Slaven Vlasic/Getty

Steve Buscemi's had a lot of acting jobs, in such movies as *Fargo* and *Ghost World* and on TV series like *Boardwalk Empire* and *The Sopranos*, but he claims that he's not any good auditions. Really.

"I was always hot and cold," he said Wednesday on *The Late Show With Stephen Colbert*. "I never knew if I should wing it, cause sometimes I'd be good if I went in the room and I didn't really prepare. And then, the next time I'd do it, I would fail."

Steve Buscemi swears he's bad at auditions.

Michael Tullberg/Getty

He recalled two unfortunate experiences with two Oscar-winning directors: Barry Levinson, who helmed *Bugsy*, *Diner*, and *Rain Man*, and the late Mike Nichols, the man behind *Working Girl*, *Silkwood*, and *The Graduate*. Both had released acclaimed films before Buscemi earned his first professional acting credits in the '80s.

Buscemi decided that he had to take a different approach when he went in for a role in Levinson's 1987 movie* Tin Men*, which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito. He didn't say for which part he auditioned.

"I studied the sides, the script, and went in there and did my reading," Buscemi said. "And he looked at me, and he went, 'That was really good. That's really good, Steve. All right, let's do it again.'"

Levinson then gave Buscemi a note about tone, he said. He asked Buscemi to do it again, and he did exactly that.

"There was this silence and we both just looked at each other. I think I even said, 'That was the same, wasn't it?'" Buscemi remembered. "And he said, 'Yeah, it's OK, it's OK.' Needless to say, I did not get that part."

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The audition for Nichols, who died in 2014, didn't go well either, but for much a different reason. Buscemi described the project as a Nichols film written by Neil Simon and acclaimed casting director Juliet Taylor, which would fit the description of the 1988 movie *Biloxi Blues*, starring Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken.

"I didn't want to go on the audition, because I knew I had something else booked, and that I wasn't available," he explained. "My agent at the time said, 'No, no, no. Just go. When are you gonna have an opportunity to meet these people?"

So he went, and he killed it.

***Sign up for **'s free daily newsletter*** ***to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.******* "They love it. They were laughing. They were like, 'That's great,'" said Buscemi, who then asked about the shooting dates and revealed that he wasn't available.

"I told them in the room, and, again, this silence," Buscemi said. "And I could see Juliet Taylor looking at me going, 'What is wrong with you?'"

It worked out OK for the actor, who currently stars on the Netflix series* Wednesday*, which returns Aug. 6.**

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Source: "AOL Movies"

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