VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Vincent Pastore On Playing A Mob Boss In ‘Don Q,’ His Real-Life Encounter With John Gotti

Veteran actor Vincent Pastore discussed playing a mob boss in his new film, Don Q, in his new uInterview.

Don Q follows the title character, played by Armand Assante, a Little Italy resident who delusionally believes himself to be a mob boss. When an ex-con comes to town and threatens real danger, Don Q must grow into his role as he engages in a turf war.

Asked how he gets himself into the headspace of a mob boss, Pastore shared the story by way of explanation. “I was doing a concert down at Wonder Bar for my birthday, and some of my friends came over to the table,” he told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “I wanted them to meet my family because my granddaughter was playing in the band for us that night. When my friends walked away, my ex-wife said, ‘Who are those guys?’ I said, ‘Those are the gangstas.’ She said, ‘Yeah,’ and I said, ‘How do you think I learned how to play these roles?’”

Pastore and Assante worked together on the 1996 film Gotti, about John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti was renowned for orchestrating the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in 1985. He assumed the position of power shortly after Castellano’s death and led what had been described as America’s most powerful crime syndicate.

Pastore thought back on his experience on Gotti. “When you get called in for HBO, and you audition for Gotti, everybody knew who the hell Gotti was in New York – in fact, true story, I’m working on Mulberry Street in the Mulberry Street Bar, which is a set in Don Q, we shoot in it, we shot – I shot a couple scenes in it,” he recalled. “So this is years ago, I’m doing State of Grace. I’m walking up the street, who’s walking down the street? I’m not making this up – John Gotti walking by because they were curious to see what we were doing in the Mulberry Street Bar. And I think they knew because it was all about the West, and the movie made the Italians look good, and Westerns look bad – and I think they knew.”

Don Q is now available to stream.