I already told you HBO’s coming series “Boardwalk Empire“ is about Atlantic City in the ’20s. The set’s in Brooklyn, the main character’s politician-cum-gangster Nucky Thompson, producers are Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg, and Steve Buscemi stars. Says Steve:

“I could walk to work. I love it. It’s a 10-minute car ride from my home. This came to me maybe through a combination of things. Having already worked with Scorsese plus HBO and set designer Terry Winter on ‘The Sopranos,’ possibly it was all those factors. We shot the pilot in June, although I’d known about this months before. Waiting for Marty to free up to direct was the longest wait of my life. I was ready to start the next day.

“Nucky, a real character, rough as the day is long, a Lucky Luciano-Al Capone type who ran with the bootleggers, was the Republican machine’s county treasurer. Everything went through him, though he wasn’t too known on the outside. It was the prohibition era, people fighting to get the vote. I love movies of that time.

“My character was best-dressed, so my suits are impeccable. He lived like a king in the Ritz Carlton, so in Greenpoint they re-created that plus they built a 1920s boardwalk complete with stores of that era.

“I was born in Brooklyn. My dad’s from East New York; my mother, Bay Ridge. I’ve lived in my same place now in Brooklyn 18 years. I love the feel of the neighborhood, that it’s not Manhattan, that the buildings are lower, no skyscrapers, and I love the people.”

I remember once talking with Steve, who was then opposing the Atlantic Yards project.

“Seemed the community wasn’t being allowed much to say about it. It was being forced on us. Now the area’s changing even more. They need affordable housing, but I don’t trust developers not to put up luxury buildings. My wife and I were on the board of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. We’re not against development. We just felt the fix was in and we weren’t being consulted and what’s happening felt out of line with what’s good about Brooklyn.

“All I can tell you is, working in Brooklyn where I live? This is my dream job.”

By CINDY ADAMS
New York Post