‘Sneaky Pete’ star enjoys colleagues, show’s complexity

In the Amazon series “Sneaky Pete,” Giovanni Ribisi plays Marius Josipovic, a con man with a sleight of hand so keen that he can beach a whale at the poker table and, a splitsecond later, hijack his mark’s watch and wallet.

The crime drama, created by Bryan Cranston and David Shore, began as Marius left prison with a price on his head and assumed the identity of his cellmate, Pete Murphy (Ethan Embry), before moving in with Pete’s long-lost grandparents — owners of a bail-bond business with tricks up their own sleeves.

“It’s the group of people that really matters on a TV show, more than any other experience,” said Ribisi, whose co-stars include Marin Ireland, Margo Martindale and, new for the show’s second season, Jane Adams.

During a visit to New York from Los Angeles, where he lives when not shooting “Sneaky Pete” in Brooklyn and upstate, the 43-yearold Ribisi spoke about the art of the con and reprising his role as corporate villain Parker Selfridge in four coming sequels to “Avatar.”

If things go according to plan, you’ll eventually be volleying between shooting “Sneaky Pete” in New York and “Avatar” in California for the next few years?

There it is. (Laughs.) You’ve summarized my life. It’s an interesting thing to come to New York and do a television show. You’re doing 10 hours of content in 4 months. Eighty-hour weeks are par for the course. But it’s been worth it. The intention is to spend several years with the cast and the crew and to cultivate that dynamic.

Where do we find Marius in season two?

This season is definitely bigger and more sprawling, and there’s a lot more complexity, in the best way. Essentially at the end of season one, there are two thugs who talk about $11 million — and ... Marius sees that as an opportunity. It leaned into the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, like a heist scenario.

But I should say that nothing in this season is what it appears.

I take it that the big draw for you was Cranston?

The show was originally with CBS, and Bryan was the fulcrum for me. He’s just such an inspiration, one of the great American actors, and I am very much a “Breaking Bad” fan. But the network TV show aspect was something I wasn’t sure of. And then when it became novelistic, seasonal arcs with Amazon, it just became undeniable — especially with that cast.

How did you capture Pete’s sneakiness?

There’s a great book called “The Confidence Game.” It’s about the victim’s propensity to being conned, and an almost subconscious desire for that, as opposed to the psychology behind why somebody would choose that way of life. It’s safe to say that we’ve all experienced having the wool pulled over our heads.

You’ve been acting since you were 9. Was that your “I want to be a fireman” dream?

I was brought up during the blockbuster era. “Star Wars” was the first film I saw. I was 2. And here’s what’s trippy: My first memory is of being with my father, walking in to see the sequel, and him asking if I remember seeing the first one.

Can you pinpoint the moment you realized that you actually were an actor?

I still haven’t gotten there. (Pauses.) But this is a good thing.