John Turturro On His Role In Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘The Room Next Door’ and His Own Directing Career

John Turturro, one of this year’s recipients of an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for career achievement took time between his sold-out masterclass and presenting an open-air screening of “Barton Fink” to visit the Variety Lounge, presented by the Sarajevo Film Festival and BH Telecom.

Turturro, who said he was making his first visit to the Bosnian capital, described visiting various mosques, the Jewish Museum, Grand Synagogue and Jewish cemetery along with other historical sites.

Turturro, who acted in two of the fall film festival’s most hotly anticipated titles, discussed playing the ex-boyfriend of Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in Pedro Almodóvar’s upcoming English-language feature, “The Room Next Door.” He will be going to Toronto to support that film and Sean Ellis’s “The Cut.”

Turturro mentioned the advantages of having a long-term relationship with a filmmaker, noting that, “It’s a big advantage because you develop a level of trust with each other.” He also praised the late Italian filmmaker Francesco Rosi, for whom he played Primo Levi in “The Truce.”

As a writer-director, Turturro noted that his experience of acting with other filmmakers naturally influenced his approach behind the camera. He also discussed his directing of “Mac” and “Romance & Cigarettes” and a little about what guides his selection of parts.

Turturro also shared anecdotes about his roles in “Transformers” and “The Batman” and discussed some of his long-form TV parts. As far as what he’s working on next, Turturro said, “I have a couple of things I’ve been working on. It all depends [on] when I land with the right cast and be able to get enough funding that I have an opportunity to not have to rush through it.”