John Turturro receives the Golden Eye award in Zurich: “I still consider myself a beginner” — talks Oscars, “Pickpocket” and return to “Severance”

American actor John Turturro has been honored with the Golden Eye award at the 22nd edition of the Zurich Film Festival, where he also held a masterclass with Deadline’s Melanie Goodfellow, as the ANI news agency reports.

At the festival, “Oscar buzz” is building around his role in the film The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, directed by Noah Segan, in which Turturro plays Harry, a veteran pickpocket whose life is upended after a failed job, in the span of just 36 hours. The film, which was successfully received at Sundance, this time puts the actor in the role of its protagonist.

“I’ve never followed it all the way through. But now I’m the protagonist of the film, so I’ll support it, because I love the film,” Turturro said about the awards campaign. “Is it good to be appreciated? Fantastic, but it’s not the reason you do it,” he added, emphasizing: “I don’t see myself as a competitive person. I’m competitive with myself.”

At the Golden Eye award ceremony, the actor quoted Italian novelist Cesare Pavese: “In many ways, I still consider myself a beginner.” His career spans over four decades, with collaborations with names like Spike Lee, the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford and Pedro Almodóvar, as well as films like Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Turturro also confirmed his return as Irving Bailiff in season 3 of the Apple TV+ series Severance: “Yes… as long as they give me interesting things to do, I’m interested,” he said, speaking warmly about Christopher Walken, who plays Burt Goodman. He also recalled HBO’s crime drama The Night Of, of which he expressed pride and said he would have liked another season — “but they didn’t agree on what the story would be.”

The Zurich festival, which this year also honors Julianne Moore and Tom Hiddleston, runs until October 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.