Stanley Tucci jokes he’s “never eating Italian food again” after food show made him more famous

It comes after locals in Rome were starstruck when he popped into a shop to buy some wine

Stanley Tucci has said he’s “never eating Italian food again” after his travel and food show in the country made him more famous.

Fellow Conclave stars John Lithgow and Ralph Fiennes recently spoke about how during a break from filming, the three went into a wine shop to buy some wine for a party and all the locals were starstruck.

“It made you feel like a total nobody to walk down the streets of Rome with Stanley,” recalled Lithgow at the time. “On the way home from work one day, at like 6:30pm, we stopped off to buy some wine. We’d all been invited to the same party, so Stanley, Ralph Fiennes, and I went into a wine shop.

“We just had the car stop and let us out, and we went in to buy wine for the hostess. And Stanley, of course, bought about eight bottles of wine. And everybody in that store, customers and service people alike, they [behaved] like a Beatle had walked into their door.”

Now, in a new interview with The Guardian the trio spoke further about the incident.

“That food show [Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy] is very much the Stanley show and the world has got to know you so well and like you so much. In Rome you were virtually worshipped in that wine shop,” Lithgow said.

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Tucci agreed, adding: “That was really funny. I remember when we went to a grocery store. You were always able to hide behind a persona or a character. So it’s odd because it’s the first time I’ve ever just been myself.

“And I was very uncomfortable with it at first, even though it was my idea. I don’t know what I was thinking, and now I’m more comfortable with it. I know the idea of connecting through food makes people so happy, so that makes me happy. I just think it’s a nice thing. But I’m never eating Italian food again.”

Tucci, Lithgow and Fiennes all portray Catholic Cardinals in the new movie Conclave, a thriller directed by Edward Berger based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris. It follows a group of cardinals in Vatican City attempting to elect a new Pope among themselves when the Supreme Pontiff dies, which sees plenty of backstabbing and posturing ensue.

It is released in UK and US cinemas next Friday (November 29).

Elsewhere, Tucci recently revealed that he struggled to “get a job” after starring in The Devil Wears Prada.