"Let me put it this way: I loved the doo-wop music but I didn't listen to a lot of rock 'n' roll. I was obsessive with the Italian canzone popolare and the opera. And people would make fun of me," he said. "I played football in college and I would sing in the shower, these operatic [pieces] -- because the shower would echo. They would make fun of me, the coach and stuff; I didn't care. So I'm lucky enough to get to do some singing now in 'The Dukes.' "
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In fine voice
He's known for playing tough guys, but he's an opera lover too. That musical side is on view in a film he's made, 'The Dukes.'
THE PERFORMANCE: ROBERT DAVI
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A first-time filmmaker, Davi has carefully considered his cinematic choices. In the opening scene with the main characters in a restaurant, the camera rotates restlessly like a turntable, ("The circular motion is because of records, there's a lot of reference to that musical element there"). Then a newspaper one of them is reading suddenly catches fire ("The newspaper is the 'help wanted' ads that get lit on fire: There are no more jobs.").
And though it's a story of a particular group of people in a particular time and place, Davi's theme is much broader. Sure, it's about a heist, he said, but: "There's the gold not being worth what it's [supposed to be] worth, like homes aren't or the value of stocks, and on and on until what do we do as a nation? What we do is band together in some way and bring light to the world," he said, noting an image of a candle late in the film. "So, there's a message in my ravioli. There's a Bolognese going on."
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Where you've seen him
Robert Davi has compiled more than 100 film and television credits since 1977. Among them: "The Goonies" (1985), the James Bond movie "Licence to Kill" (1989), the original "Die Hard" (1988), and TV's "Profiler" (1996-2000) and "Stargate: Atlantis" (2004-2006). He faces off against Nick Jonas in a high-stakes game of mah-jongg in the 2008 Jonas Brothers music video "Burnin' Up." And he had perhaps the most memorable -- if unprintable -- line in "Showgirls" (1995). "That's a tough line to say, but a lot of people have quoted" it back to him, he said with a laugh, knowing instantly the good-naturedly obscene utterance in question.
-- Michael Ordona
