Stanley Tucci stays busy—as an actor, author, TV travel host, and father to five children who turns 66 next month. But like the scheming thief he plays in the Prime Video art heist comedy Masterplan, Tucci doesn’t dream of downtime.
“I don’t think I’ll ever really retire, but I am inching toward semiretirement,” he tells Vanity Fair over a recent Zoom call. “I’ve been doing it for 46 years and I’m a little tired.
There are just other things I want to do. I want to paint more and sculpt.
I want to direct another play. My younger kids are still young and I want to be with them.”
In Masterplan, streaming this Friday on Prime Video, Tucci stars as a career criminal who tracks down his long-lost children (Victor Belmondo and Simona Tabasco , from The White Lotus ’s Italy-set season ) to steal the Mona Lisa from The Louvre. The theft isn’t what drew him: “I’m never so interested in people stealing things,” says the actor, who’s positioned in front of a large Mona Lisa print for his press day.
But the script “reminded me of heist movies from a long time ago,” says Tucci. “All of those ’60s, ’70s stuff I found funny—they are slightly shameless and charming.” He mentions films like The Italian Job with Michael Caine , or The Hot Rock starring Robert Redford and George Segal .
The antiheroes of those films are “not bad people,” he says. “It’s just the guy who’s really cool, a bit desperate, and doesn’t want to hurt anybody.
They end up being protectors more than anything.”
Tucci’s Roger is also a cheeky sort of crook, one who prefers the term “alternative authenticity” over “fake.” Does he think it’s become more difficult to determine authenticity or forgeries in the age of AI ? “It’s a nightmare,” Tucci tells VF.
“I mean, I can’t tell half the time what’s real and what isn’t on Instagram. Someone has to go, ‘Stanley, that’s AI.’ It’s too good already.
It’s just going to get better. I think it’s weird.”