Movies

Brooding actor Michael Pitt has learned to lighten up

When New Jersey native Michael Pitt was cast as Jimmy Darmody on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” he was so grateful he sent executive producer Martin Scorsese a gift basket  —  and then sent another every month.

“I would send a basket of meats and cheeses,” says Pitt. “He finally said, ‘Kid, I love ’em, but would you stop sending the f–king baskets!’ ”

That earnest enthusiasm, combined with a working-class ethos, is what made Pitt the right choice to play real-life thief Thomas Uva —  a man who, with his wife (Nina Arianda), held up Mafia social clubs in the early ’90s  — in “Rob the Mob,” opening Friday.

What attracted him to the film was less the crime than the comedy.

“When [director Raymond De Felitta] talked to me about the idea, he mentioned he was really interested in exploring the absurdity of this situation,” says Pitt, 32. Take, for example, the scene in which the actor, while robbing wise guys, forces them to pile on top of each other as if they’re having sex. “It was a relief, because I make heavy films.”

Indeed, Pitt approaches his roles with such brooding intensity it can be taken as being difficult. After Jimmy Darmody was killed off, the trades ran stories conjecturing that Pitt was hard to work with.

“There are times when it’s not encouraged for you to ask questions [working on TV],” says Pitt. “For a film actor, that’s basically the opposite.”

And while the Brooklynite chooses not to reveal which ’hood he lives in, it’s clear which side of the gentrification line he considers home: “I tend to stay away from the hipster areas,” he says. “I tend to feel more comfortable in a neighborhood, with neighborhood people.”