Steve Buscemi on all things mental health

Brut America

He says living in New York is how he stays centered.  Brut sat down with Steve Buscemi to talk all things mental health ahead of the Tribeca Festival premiere of his film "The Listener" about the life of a helpline worker.  #Tribeca2023

Transcript

00:00Taking care of your own mental health is important, but it's an easy thing to forget.

00:04Sometimes it's as easy as just remembering to breathe, you know, taking a moment to just

00:09take a breath. And then also, you know, being available to other people who need help,

00:16because sometimes that's the best medicine is to reach out and help somebody else.

00:22For Brut, I sat down with legendary actor, director, and native New Yorker Steve Buscemi

00:27to talk all things mental health, staying grounded and the importance of asking for help.

00:31So you were a firefighter and you were there on 9-11 getting in the dirt. What do you think is

00:39missing in how we deal with mental health, especially in those service positions that

00:45are so high pressure and high stress? Well, yeah, you brought up 9-11 and I was able to go there

00:52the next day and work with my old company Engine 55 for a few days. And look, a lot of us realized

00:59this was going to be something that was going to affect us the rest of our lives. And one of the,

01:04if you can call this a positive of 9-11, a lot of first responders for the first time

01:11admitted to themselves that they needed help. And one of the organizations that I've affiliated

01:17myself with is called Friends of Firefighters, founded by Nancy Carbone. And she provides

01:23free mental health services, not only to firefighters, but to their families. Because

01:28if a firefighter is going through something, if a first responder is going through something,

01:32it affects the whole family. You've been in the industry for so long. How do you stay grounded?

01:38I think I'm able to stay centered as much as I can be, if I am centered at all. Living in New York

01:44is, you know, a big reason, because it's not an industry town. I love LA. I love this industry,

01:54but I also like being away from it and just having friends who are outside of this business.

02:01And just the energy in New York, I find at times it can be chaotic or distressing,

02:07but I also find it very inspiring. His latest directorial work, The Listener, made its North

02:13American premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. It follows Tessa Thompson as Beth during a night

02:19as a volunteer helpline worker, offering a view of American society through the prism of mental

02:24health. I love character-driven films, and The Listener, written by Alessandro Camon, had just

02:31such wonderfully drawn characters, especially the lead character, played by Tessa Thompson.

02:37She's a home helpline worker. You can't call them back, so you just wonder,

02:43did I upset them? Did I fail them? And the film is her journey through a night of manning the phones

02:51in her place and seeing how she deals with the number of people who are calling in, you know,

03:00distress, basically, and how she is able to listen, take in what they're saying, and

03:07offer some kind of comfort. It isn't about me. I'm just here to listen.

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