seaside empire Filled with charming, dangerous and charismatic characters. They range from real-life notorious gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel to fictional scene-stealers like Kip Ross Dee, Chalkey White, Valentine Narciss and Richard Harrow). But there’s one character who manages to perfectly combine the funniest real-life stories with the ability to grab our attention in a room full of eccentric and violent characters.As we explore the real-life story of Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein and Michael StuhlbargWith an incredible performance as Rothstein, we’ll see why this character can be one of the funniest, most complex, and most compelling in the entire series.
Who Is The Real Arnold Rothstein?
Arnold Rothstein was a New York gangster who made millions through illegal gambling and smuggling. Rothstein earned a reputation as a gambler who was smarter than everyone else, but the reality was that he often rigged card games and horse races to ensure he won. No predetermined outcome made Rothstein more infamous than the infamous 1919 World Series, also known as the Black Sox scandal. Members of the Chicago White Sox were bribed to deliberately screw up the series. The incident made national headlines and helped Rothstein become a household name.
One of the funniest things about Rothstein is that despite being an intelligent schemer, he was also a compulsive gambler, regularly losing big money at poker tables across the country.exist seaside empirewe saw an example of this in Season 4 Episode 4, when he lost hundreds of thousands of dollars playing poker and needed to be pried off the table by Meyer Lansky (Anatoly Yusef). In real life, Rothstein tends to demand payback when he wins, and it’s easy to forget the score when he loses. He ended up being gunned down by a poker player who was reportedly owed $300,000.
Rothstein is one of the most influential figures in the history of organized crime, credited with helping organize crime syndicates and making the black market industry run like a big corporation.His reputation inspired the creation of two iconic fictional characters in the novel, Meyer Wolfsheim the great Gatsby with nathan detroit in the musical man and doll.Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why the authors seaside empire Although Rothstein isn’t mentioned in the book the series is based on, we’re eager to include him.
Arnold Rothstein Plays Crucial Role in ‘Boardwalk Empire’
not only boardwalk The writers were going to include Rothstein in their series, and they also made him a regular supporting character. Obviously, it’s hard to pinpoint the precise interactions and transactions that historical criminal figures have had behind closed doors, but there isn’t a whole lot of evidence of the real Rothstein and Enoch “Nucky” Johnson (the inspiration for “Nucky”) steve buscemiThe character of Nucky Thompson) is as close in real life as in seaside empire. The decision to continue to bring the Rothstein character back into the story is a clear indication of how seriously the writers are taking the character. Rothstein made several visits to Atlantic City to help Nucky wage war on Kip Rossetti (bobby cannavale), mentors Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza), enlists Nucky’s help, uses political connections to evade criminal prosecution, and (perhaps most importantly) pays Nucky huge sums of money in exchange for a steady supply of booze.
As characters, Rothstein and Nucky Thompson are a compelling pairing. Both are far smarter than most thugs in their orbit. Both carefully orchestrated business deals, never completely trusting each other, but were content to do business with those who could deliver on their promises. Like a shark smelling blood, the two are adept at recognizing the other’s weaknesses, like when Rothstein realizes that the assassination attempt on Thompson disturbs him, or when Thompson watches Rothstein succumb to a gambling addiction.
While Rothstein and Thompson had plenty of great scenes together, perhaps the most memorable was this argument in season three, in which any pretense of real friendship between the two was erased by Rothstein.Even though they were both too antisocial to be true friends, the two formed an undeniable bond that lasted the first four seasons boardwalk. Even when they fight each other, there’s still an underlying sense of mutual respect. While we saw the character drop like a fly over the show’s five seasons, Rothstein remained on the show until his off-screen death between seasons four and five. Even so, the only reason the character was written off the show was because the real Rothstein was murdered between seasons.
Now that we understand why Rothstein is a fascinating historical figure worthy of inclusion in the series, and now that we’ve seen how important his role was, the most important thing about Rothstein is boardwalkThe most striking role is Michael Stuhlbarg’s brilliant performance.If you’ve seen one of the other characters Stuhlbarg has played like the Coen Brothers movies a serious person, you’ll notice that he tends to portray docile or intellectual characters. While Arnold Rothstein did possess intellectual qualities, he was far from docile. In fact, there’s a sinister, creepy quality to Rothstein that makes Stuhlbag’s performance so captivating.
Stuhlbarg perfectly balances politeness, primness, and good manners with cold blood, relentless violence (as he calls it) and savage cruelty. Drawing inspiration from true anecdotes, the show makes multiple references to Rothstein’s love of milk and cake. At one point, Nucky remarked that Rothstein ate like a child. While Milk has long been associated with villainous characters, in Rothstein’s case, that feeling is particularly off-putting. His suave, quiet demeanor, combined with his boyish obsession with milk and cake, leaves a strong impression on us: Arnold is a sociopath. He mimics the etiquette of high society in order to steal, kill and manipulate more effectively. Stuhlbarg provides a depth and nuance to his characters that may only be matched by Steve Buscemi.Although many talented actors such as Spencer Tracy and F Murray Abraham) played various versions of Rothstein over the years, but none quite like Stuhlbarg. His performance makes Rothstein the most compelling character in a series full of these characters.
