“Romance & Cigarettes” – an ensemble musical dramedy starring the late James Gandolfini and Kate Winslet – will mark its 20th anniversary next week with a special screening at Southampton Playhouse.
Written and directed by John Turturro, the indie project has endured two decades thanks to its risky fusion of classic MGM-style romance in a gritty, working class urban landscape. Southampton will show the film in 35mm format on August 21, a first for the nonprofit theater in the luxury beach town.
“I’m thrilled to have ‘Romance & Cigarettes’ return to the big screen the way it was meant to be seen,” Turturro said. “I was fortunate to work with an extraordinary cast who gave themselves over completely. This film was a labor of love, exploring the imagination of the working class through the transporting power of music. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate its 20th anniversary than sharing it with an audience once again.”
Turturro’s labor of love has been described as a “down-and-dirty musical love story.” Gandolfini stars as an ironworker Nick, whose long marriage to Kitty (Susan Sarandon) is disrupted by a torrid affair with Tula (Winslet), who wants more than a fling. Nick battles against primal urges and the choice to preserve his family, as music from James Brown, Janis Joplin, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and Bruce Springsteen spell out the high-stakes emotions at play.
Bobby Cannavale, Steve Buscemi, Amy Sedaris, Christopher Walken, Mary-Louise Parker and Aida Turturro also star. Following the anniversary screening, both John and Aida Turturro will sit for a Q&A to mark the occasion.
Turturro is an Emmy-winning member of the “Severance” ensemble. His credits include the acclaimed HBO series “The Night Of,” “Barton Fink” and memorable run with the Coen brothers in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “The Big Lebowski.”
