Sure Bet: Steve Buscemi Will Shine as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire

HBO's new series, "Boardwalk Empire," will be premiering on September 19th and is already being predicted by some to become as popular as HBO's long-running popular crime series, "The Sopranos," even if a few are a wee bit skeptical for picky reasons.

Movie and TV veteran, Steve Buscemi plays the lead role of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, based loosely on the life of a real person: Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, the most powerful Republican politician in Atlantic City, from the first half of the 20th century. Can Steve Buscemi bring the charisma and flamboyance to the role that was the real Nucky Johnson?

To many of us Steve Buscemi fans, it's like a sure bet (and (how appropriate is that for a series based on Atlantic City?). Many of his fans feel Steve has been vastly underrated considering his acting abilities and so we are rooting for him and overjoyed to see him get the lead role in this big HBO production.

"Boardwalk Empire" is based partly on the book by author, Nelson Johnson, entitled "Boardwalk Empire - The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City." The creators freely admit it's a fictionalized version. Besides the slight change in name for Steve's character, it is not even filmed in Atlantic City. No amount of attention was spared, however, in recreating Atlantic City's heyday in the 1920s and Nucky Johnson's reign as undisputed boss.

If there's a sour note, television shows like "The Sopranos" and "Jersey Shore" have met with a lot of negative publicity for portraying people in New Jersey, Italians in particular, in less than flattering lights. "The Sopranos" was about a fictional mob family, but many say Tony Soprano was based upon real life New Jersey mafioso, Richie "The Boot" Boiardo.

MTV's "Jersey Shore" is a whole other animal. Many feel it does more damage than just putting the Garden State in a negative light. Even New Jersey's Governor, Chris Christie, expressed his distaste for the tacky reality show: "What it does is it takes a bunch of New Yorkers ... drops them at the Jersey shore, and tries to make America feel like this is New Jersey," Christie told ABC's "This Week" this past July. Governor Christie doesn't like the idea of the real Jersey shore being judged by that show. He can hardly complain about "Boardwalk Empire" misrepresenting Atlantic City, since it is a well-known fact that political corruption continued in "America's Favorite Playground" long after the real Nucky held sway.

Almost as if anticipating this type of reaction or just to set the record straight historically, Atlantic City's daily newspaper, "The Press" has produced a documentary "Boss of the Boardwalk" which premiered on Saturday Aug. 21 on NBC TV 40 (a local Southeast Jersey channel), covering the real life of Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. The Press will also be running "The Boardwalk Empire Blog," which will follow and comment upon the HBO series from the view point of Nucky Johnson. Reporters Dan Good and Michael Clark will be recreating Nucky's voice based upon their research. Here's what they think Nucky would say about Steve Buscemi playing him: "I hear Buscemi's a hell of an actor, but I don't know about those chompers he's got. Could use a growth spurt and a few hearty meals at Knife & Fork, too. He needs a deeper voice to play me ... Thompson. Whatever."

Buscemi is a hell of an actor and I, for one, am long past the days when I was not able to appreciate a movie or TV show just because some liberties were taken with history. Steve Buscemi may not have the "foghorn" voice Nucky Johnson had and may be shorter than he was, but I think he will play the role with the flair and charisma that we have grown to expect and love about him.

There will be lots of mobsters like Charles "Lucky" Luciano (played by Vincent Piazza) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham). It looks like they took some liberties with Capone's height, too, choosing an English actor who is 5 inches shorter than the real gangster. I don't know how many entertainment figures they'll be writing in, but it would be great to get even one. Popular entertainers of the 1920s in Atlantic City included W.C Fields, doing his juggling act at the Steel Pier, while Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and Fanny Brice reigned at Boardwalk theaters and vaudeville houses. By way of trivia, a very young Frank Sinatra vacationed as a boy with his family in Atlantic City. Frank's first appearance as an entertainer there came in 1939, a few years before the real Nucky's downfall.

A real slice of history albeit a fictionalized account of it, and Steve Buscemi in the lead role -- what's not to love? Steve is no newcomer to HBO, having played Tony Soprano's cousin, Tony Blundetto, in one season of "The Sopranos." They were the "Two Tonys" who were as close as brothers, growing up in Newark, roaming around Branch Brook Park. Tony Soprano had to kill Steve's character in a strange mercy killing, when the New York mob put out a hit with plans to torture Blundetto. Steve Buscemi was nominated for Emmys for both his acting and directing on "The Sopranos."

At least Steve won't die a gory death in upstate New York in "Boardwalk Empire." Nucky Johnson died in 1968 at the Atlantic County Convalescent Home in Northfield, NJ. We're a long way from worrying about that, but If the series is a huge hit, you can also bet it will be around for quite a few seasons. The Atlantic City Press boardwalk bloggers might have their work cut out for them, but if they love New Jersey history as much as I do, it will be a blast.

Sources:
HBO: Boardwalk Empire
Atlantic City Press: Nucky Johnson: They don't make them like this anymore (8/15/2010)
New York Post: Christie: "Jersey Shore" gives NJ a bad name (7/25/2010)
NJ.com: In Atlantic City, a long history of corruption (2/16/2010)
Blue-Eyes.com: Sinatra and the Atlantic City connection (6/8/2010)