David Arquette On His New Movie, Mob Town

Last week, David Arquette‘s Mob Town hit theaters and video on demand platforms. In the film, Arquette plays the role of Ed Crosswell, a state trooper who uncovers a massive mafia conspiracy in a small upstate New York town. It was his investigation, and the events depicted in the film, that ultimately led to the creation of RICO laws, which give law enforcement broad powers to seize property used in the commission of organized crime. That means he ended up playing against a number of gangster-types — and with veteran character actors surrounding him and The Sopranos veteran Jamie-Lynn Sigler on board to lend it that mob-approved mojo, he had some serious folks to stand up to.

We asked him, though, whether being in a mob movie is an aspiration for dramatic actors in the same way comic book movies have become a check on the bucket list for genre stars. After all, so many of the widely-accepted best films of all time are crime dramas.

“Obviously Martin Scorsese’s such a king in that genre — and Danny A. [Abeckaser], the director of this, is actually in The Irishman,” Arquette told ComicBook.com. “That was really cool, to see him work with DeNiro. I was just so happy for him. Those are some of my favorite movies, but I also love superhero movies. I love what they’re doing with it; the storytelling is incredible. So I was a little like, ‘whoa!’ when Marty said something about superheroes. And I think his point was that it should all be shared. I love when horror movies do well, because I love horror movies, and I love when superhero movies do well, and when mobster movies do well. I think there’s room for everyone when it’s good storytelling, and obviously Marvel’s really shown — and hopefully DC now coming up, they’re doing an incredible job with some of their storytelling.”

Of course, even starring in a mob movie, Arquette noted, he didn’t get to actually be a mobster.

“I auditioned for mobsters when I was a kid, but I’ve never gotten that certain essential mobster role,” Arquette said. “I don’t know if that’ll ever happen for me, but you never know. If there’s ever a Jewish mob story, maybe I’ll get in there. Play a Lansky or something.”

What he did get to play was the only completely moral character in a movie full of shades of gray. He admitted that even though he was playing a real guy and the movie was very serious, it was difficult to completely remove David Arquette from the character. He even said that in scenes where he was awkwardly courting the love interest, played by Jennifer Esposito, he ended up feeling like he was channeling a little bit of his character from the Scream franchise.

“It’s funny, because I for some reason play police officers a lot,” Arquette said. “So to play another sort of state trooper, like Dewey was the deputy and then sheriff in Scream, really was fun. There was a wink and a nod to that character. But I did want to obviously play a different role. I wanted to do the real man justice.”

Mob Town is now available via digital download on most streaming video on demand platforms. You can also catch the movie in theaters in select cities.