Everyone’s a Con Artist on Set of ‘Sneaky Pete’

Let’s face it, we’ve all been a con man/woman at some point in our lives, it just depends on how we interpreted it. The job interview? Bullshitted. The first date? Broadway. When you take in the mind-blowing idea that “con” is really just short for “confidence,” you begin to realize that you’ve been conning folks your entire damn life.

Sneaky Pete, an Amazon Prime Video show that debuted in 2015, pretty much bases its entire appeal around this familiar idea. You have the con man in question, Marius (played by Giovanni Ribisi), who got himself out of prison only to find himself hunted by gangsters—nothing surprising there. The long con however, which is the most original aspect to the show, comes through his choice of escape; Marius actually takes on the identity his former cellmate, Pete, reunites with Pete’s estranged family, and somehow uses up an entire season attempting make that whole farce work on a “con a day keeps the bad men away” sort of shtick. It made for some good watching, especially when Bryan Cranston was factored in as both its co-creator, main villain, and part inspiration for the title of the show (apparently his childhood nickname…I can only wonder why). Then there’s the great performance from Ribisi, who continues his role as Marius (aka Sneaky Pete himself) moving into season 2.

In the new season, which debuted on Thursday, old enemies have been dealt with, and a new set problems have entered the picture as Marius tries his best to put his scam as Pete to bed. As a show that almost entirely maintains its traction through the “con,” I reached out to Ribisi himself and Canadian-born showrunner Graham Yost ( Justified, The Americans), about where things are heading, how they maintain their own con, and their personal forays into con artistry.

VICE: This show is still a fun watch. Unlike other shows, you’re continually dealing with new deceptions. Something that revolves around that subject has got to bring a lot of artistic freedom.
Giovanni Ribisi: You know, I think that’s one of the fun aspects of the show for me. My character is as desperate as a character can be while coming from desperate situations. It’s ridiculous the kind of situations he can find himself in. I mean sure, there’s a ton of drama there, but also so much humour that’s born from that. Of all the roles I’ve done, it’s really what continues to compel me to do the show. Then you add in the group of people we’re working with, which includes the legendary Margo Martindale, which is pretty much what TV is predicated on. You’re not getting these seasons up front. Sure you get an idea of its shape, but you won’t know what that next episode holds, it’s about trust and that dynamic and familiarity with the cast.

Graham Yost: For me, I mean going back to Justified, one of the things we tried to do in early seasons is include a showdown at the end of almost every episode. In Sneaky Pete, we wanted to follow that same trend with Marius running a con in every single ep. It can be a small con, something as simple as getting a wallet from someone that’s at work, or something grander. Those are so fun to watch, but hard as hell to write because trying to come up with something new in every episode is always a challenge. We spend a fair amount of time in the writers’ room just trying to come up with crazier things for Marius to do.

Speaking of the writers’ room. In one of the early episodes, there’s this con involving a stolen key card, and there’s this element to the scene where you got to make me, as the viewer, believe what I’m seeing. Tell me more about how you make sure that it works.
Yost: You know, frankly, you can just Google “how to get a key card from a hotel clerk,” you know? (laughs) People come up with all kinds of scenarios. Someone has done this, done that. The trick of course was to try to give it a little bit of life in the con. You obviously have a scenario in season 2, where Giovanni Ribisi’s character is in a scene trying to gain access to a hotel room. You got two back-up partners in the crime, one that looks like a visitor, attempting to gain access to let Giovanni in, and you got Gina (Jasmine Carmichael), who needs to create a distraction with a phone call. The trick of the episode comes in what she’s going to say. I’d think, well, Julia doesn’t have a lot of time to prepare, so she just an anger-filled story to play on the phone that causes a disturbance.

Ribisi: (Laughs) Ah ha! It’s so interesting. The whole nature of conning as it relates to the victim and the perpetrator, it’s just an incredible subject. There’s a great book called The Confidence Game that focuses not only on con artists, but the propensity for people to be cons. And how that’s a huge factor. That’s one of the sparks about why a show like this is so interesting to me. Because it’s in all of us. The con game is something that’s been storied for thousands of years. There’s a whole damn Wikipedia page on the specific types of cons, the names of them, and the nature of the game. It’s really astounding, because it’s evolved in so many ways that connects to sociology and how technology has aided in its evolution.

Assuming you want this one to head into far more seasons beyond just a second, how do you maintain the likeability of a con man while increasing the limit he has to pass to do that?
Yosh: Hmm, by never forgetting his motivation. He wanted to save his brother initially from a collector, so he had to con to gather the funds necessary. We have to always show that he has a heart. And also, when he got his money from his various cons, he never ran away. He actually gave it to others to help them out of a jam. So we see a little bit more that he wants to be a better man then he’s been in his life, and that of course will likely carry into future seasons. But to be honest, we like it when Marius does something, and as a viewer, you’re just not sure if he’s doing it for his own personal gain, or if he’s doing it because he wants to help someone else. You always have to strike a balance between the two. But let’s also be honest, a lot of our ability to display these complexities come from Giovanni Ribisi’s ability to let us care for this character, when when the deeds are diabolical.

Ribisi: The fact that my character isn’t even aware of the lack of humanity in much of what he does along with the notion of what it means to be a criminal will always be compelling to me. As an actor, you really have to focus on the humanity within a script when you’re doing this. On an individual end, you can’t simply write them off as someone with a silver tongue.

Graham, you’ve been integral in Justified , which lasted six seasons. You also have The Americans, which is ongoing. What have you learned about how to maintain the momentum of a series?
Yosh: Honestly, to never lose sight of what the show actually is. This show always has to remain a show about a con artist, that’s important. You also never can lose sight of the fact that the audience has to be surprised. You can’t start repeating tricks, because they’ll grow tired and boring. There were some seasons in Justified that were better than others, but going into it, you never thought that, you’d think that ever season would stand on its own. It’s only in retrospect where you realize that.

So here’s the obvious set of questions: have you been conned, and what’s the most con-like thing you’ve ever done?
Yosh: Honestly? Becoming a writer in Hollywood has been the most con-like thing that I’ve done (laughs). I say that only half joking, because the reality is, all of this, film and TV entertainment is a con. We’re conning the audience into suspending their disbelief, and saying that they’re going to get emotionally involved in characters that don’t exist. To that degree, you have to display a certain confidence, and you just have to go for it while believing that it’s all pretty much a big magic trick. Unlike magicians though, if you know what you’re doing, and figured out the trick, you’re screwed. It has to be a kind of magic trick to yourself as well. You can’t entirely know what you’re doing because otherwise, it’s just going to get cold, empty, and dead. That’s me getting high falutin about the job that I do. (laughs) I’ll keep the conned part to myself.

Ribisi: As for me, I won’t go into detail, but of course, I’ve definitely been conned. How about you?

Not that I know of, but hey, if they were good at their jobs, I probably wouldn’t find out.
Ribisi: (Laughs) I should’ve just said that, but I completely agree.

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