Although "Big Night" won a series of festival and critics' awards, including a Best Supporting Actor nod for Tony Shalhoub from the National Society of Film Critics, the movie failed to receive a single Academy Award nomination.

Is it possible that the film's "positive" portrayal of two intelligent and complex Italian characters just didn't ring true?

As Tucci has said in interviews, he had a hard time getting major studios to finance the film because they insisted that he "put a mob character in it," which he refused to do. "Big Night" was subsequently produced independently.