The author is the lawyer Alfieri, who nightly tells the tale of Eddie Carbone (Schreiber), a longshoreman tragically short on self-awareness. Alfieri is played by Michael Cristofer, a Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning author in his own right (1977's The Shadow Box).
Plays continue to preoccupy him — even when he happens to be occupied by one as an actor. "I just finished a new play last week," he said. "It's called Eyes Wide Open. It's about infidelity. I haven't shown it to anyone yet."
He added, "I do have a screenplay that I'm going to try to get Liev and Scarlet to do. It's called 'Fade Out.' It's sort of an art-house thriller about a screenwriter who has had a breakdown and can't tell the difference between what he's writing and what’s real."
— Harry Haun
