Stanley Tucci Joins Prime Video's High-Stakes Heist Masterplan
Stanley Tucci reunites with Prime Video for Masterplan, a new series marking their latest team-up.
Stanley Tucci is trying to steal the Mona Lisa. That is the hook of Masterplan, a new Prime Video series unveiled during the streamer's international slate showcase out of London on Feb 12. It is a France–Italy co-production, directed by Thomas Vincent (Reacher), and Tucci could not be more into it.
Tucci, a thief named Victor, and the small matter of the Mona Lisa
Tucci plays a legendary thief named Victor who tracks down two sharp young pros for a job that should not be possible: lifting the Mona Lisa. The twist he drops on them mid-recruitment? They are long-lost siblings, and he is their father. Cue a family reunion no one asked for, with three volatile skill sets trying to gel long enough to pull off the heist of the century without blowing each other up figuratively or literally.
Cast, crew, and that 'incredibly funny and weird' script
Victor Belmondo (To Live, To Die, To Live Again) and Simona Tabasco (the breakout from The White Lotus season 2) star opposite Tucci. The characters at the heart of the job are Chiara, an Italian cybercrime ace, and Jay, a swagger-heavy French explosives specialist. Thomas Vincent is behind the camera, and the whole thing shoots across eye-candy locations that Tucci keeps raving about.
'The scripts are incredibly funny and weird,' Tucci said in a pre-recorded message, adding that Victor is 'one of the best characters I have ever read... it is an actor's dream.'
He also shouted out Belmondo, Tabasco, and Vincent by name and went long on how the international cast and globe-trotting settings are giving him everything he wants from a series like this. Also, yes, Tucci plays a guy named Victor while one of his co-stars is Victor. That will not confuse anyone on set at all.
Tucci on TV right now: quietly dominant
On the small screen, Tucci has been stacking interesting roles for about a decade: voicing Herb Kazzaz on BoJack Horseman, prowling around Fortitude as DCI Eugene Morton, chewing the scenery as Bitsy Brandenham on Central Park, calmly terrifying as Jefferson Grieff in Inside Man, and doing shadow-ops in Citadel as Bernard Orlick. Then there are his food-and-roots travel docs Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy and Tucci in Italy, which keep doubling as warm bowls of TV comfort.
His recent movie run has been more uneven. Last year did not do him many favors with The Fountain of Youth and The Electric State. One critic even headlined their Electric State review by asking: 'Do Androids Dream of Bad Movies?' Not subtle.
Bottom line
Masterplan sounds like a slick, international caper with family fireworks baked in, and Tucci clearly smells a role he can feast on. If he is having this much fun, odds are we will too.