The father-son duo first appeared on-screen together in the Showtime series starring Edie Falco and are now set to work together again on the upcoming Prime Video mystery thriller
With his latest role on FX's newest anthology, American Sports Story, Jake Cannavale is continuing to carve out a space for himself on screen, especially following roles on the streaming series, The Mandalorian and The Offer, as well as in this summer's indie crime thriller, Inside Man.
Next up for the rising 29-year-old actor is the Prime Video adaptation of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta books starring Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis and his father, Bobby Cannavale. While the mystery thriller won't see the two sharing the screen -- the two are playing younger and older versions of the same character -- it does provide a chance for them to work together behind the scenes, just over a decade after first teaming up on Nurse Jackie.
On season 4 of the Showtime series led by Edie Falco, the younger Cannavale played Charlie Cruz, his father's on-screen son who struggled with drug addiction and had multiple stints in rehab, where he met and befriended Falco's titular character, Jackie Peyton. Appearing in seven episodes total, his 2012 recurring role helped kickstart a budding TV career following a number of short films.
"We were on set a lot, we had a lot of scenes together," Jake recalls to PEOPLE while discussing his supporting role as Chris, Aaron Hernandez's love interest on American Sports Story, which is now airing on FX and streaming on Hulu. "That was the easiest job I ever had because I had no idea what I was doing. To this day, Nurse Jackie is probably the top three coolest sets I've ever been on in terms of people. Everyone was super dope."
Only 15 or 16 when he filmed his episodes, the actor recalls how fun it was getting to skip class to be in front of the camera. "I was getting paid to ditch two days of school a week and go act cool," Jake says. "It was easy and everyone was cool. There was no actor on that set whose head was up their own ass. Everyone was just dope."
"Edie Falco's an absolute hero. I couldn't have asked for a better actor to make my debut with. Zero complaints, it was awesome," he adds of his time working on the series.
And in that time since, the actor says his father, 54, has been a sounding board for him, offering advice as needed on various roles or how to act on set. "Whenever we talk about stuff like that, it's mostly just a reiteration of doing your job, so to speak," he says of making sure "everyone gets the same amount of professionalism from me," whether it's an independent project or high profile series from Ryan Murphy, who executive produced American Sports Story and served as co-creator, writer and director of The Watcher, which starred his father.
Not only that, but Jake says his father "makes himself available" whenever he needs a second take on projects. "I've asked him a few times for his opinion on things and for his advice on things," the actor says, noting that his dad is "very, very respectful of my autonomy."
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"In terms of choosing projects and stuff, that's always just me and my gut. If something seems cool, I go for it," he continues. "But every now and then, I'll ask him [Bobby] -- if I see some similarities between something I'm doing and something my dad's done character-wise or what have you -- I'll be like, 'Hey, this kind of reminds me of when you did this, gimme me some advice.' "
He adds, "I'd be a fool not to use that resource."
Given the physical similarities the father-son duo share -- a 2019 Hugo Boss ad campaign had fans doing a double take of Bobby and his son, whom he shares with ex-wife Jenny Lumet, who is the daughter of director Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of Lena Horne -- as well as Jake's growing command of the screen, it's no surprise the two were cast as the same character in the upcoming Kay Scarpetta series.
According to Prime Video, the star-studded project -- which will feature Liz Sarnoff (Lost, Barry) as the showrunner, directed by David Gordon Green (Halloween, The Righteous Gemstones) and also starring Simon Baker and Ariana DeBose -- "follows Kay Scarpetta (Kidman), the Chief Medical Examiner, as she returns to Virginia and resumes her former position with complex relationships, both personal and professional." The series, which has been picked up for two seasons, will see the two Cannavales playing Detective Pete Marino at different ages.
Unlike Nurse Jackie, they won't be in any scenes together. "I'm working with my father in a different way," Jake says, while noting that he's "very excited for this different kind" of experience.
"We're never gonna be on set at the same time because we never have any scenes together. But what is interesting and what I think is raising the stakes acting-wise is that we both have to figure out this character together," he says, explaining, "I can't just wing it and do my interpretation because he could do something completely different."
The actor adds, "So, it's really cool. We've already started actually doing so much work off camera, which is where all our work on this character will be -- like, going over the script and being like, 'How is he feeling in this moment? What do you think his backstory is? What's his relationship like with so and so?' "
For him, "it's definitely a lot more academic as well as artistic, whereas Nurse Jackie it was a lot more in the moment and a lot more -- I don't want to say fun -- but a lot more spontaneous and a lot more on its feet," Jake says, adding that "this time [he and his father] are very much like two dudes on a couch with our scripts and highlighters figuring it out."