“The Sopranos” creator David Chase nearly handed on casting James Gandolfini within the lead function as a result of the late actor didn’t appear “threatening sufficient” to play mob boss Tony Soprano.
In an excerpt revealed by Vulture of Jason Bailey’s guide “Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Lifetime of a Legend,” Gandolfini’s former supervisor, Nancy Sanders, remembered how Chase was hesitant to supply Gandolfini the function.
“I went, ‘Oh my God, I feel I’ve Tony Soprano,’” Sanders mentioned. Nevertheless, Chase allegedly informed Sanders on the time, “I’ve one concern, and that’s, is he threatening sufficient?”
IndieWire has reached out to representatives for Chase and HBO.
Sanders recalled telling Chase on the time, “David, in case your solely concern is, ‘Is he threatening sufficient’…When you mentioned to me, ‘He’s a little bit chubby,’ or ‘He’s dropping his hair,’ I may perceive. However he’s threatening sufficient. That is your man.”
Chase additionally recalled that after Gandolfini’s audition, it was “apparent” he was Tony Soprano. “There was simply not any query about it,” Chase mentioned. “He was the man.”
Nevertheless, Gandolfini apparently thought he would “by no means get forged” within the function as HBO would more than likely “rent some fucking fairly boy.” Gandolfini is cited within the guide as saying, “I believed they’d rent, you realize, one among these Irish-looking guys who’re throughout TV now.” Gandolfini died in 2013.
And Gandolfini was proper: The collection nearly wasn’t forged authentically with actual Italian actors. The 2022 guide “It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Way forward for HBO,” by Felix Gillette and John Koblin, revealed that, initially, “HBO executives didn’t just like the identify [‘The Sopranos’] because it gave the impression of a present about opera.” Former HBO govt Chris Albrecht needed to push for the mafia collection to be filmed on location in New Jersey, not like the 1987 romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” which centered on a tristate Italian household however was principally filmed in Toronto.
“That was my massive beef about ‘Moonstruck’: phony Italians, phony New York,” Albrecht mentioned. “We at all times knew it will be more cash. However we wished to make it possible for we weren’t filled with shit. And making these sorts of commitments would inform those that we had been for actual.”
“The Sopranos” ran from 1999 to 2007 and garnered 21 Emmy Awards. The prequel movie “The Many Saints of Newark,” written by Chase, debuted in 2021. Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini, performed the youthful model of Tony Soprano within the movie.
“The Sopranos” alum Michael Imperioli confirmed he and former co-star Steve Schirripa will reunite with showrunner Chase for an upcoming movie, co-written by Imperioli. Whereas the plot stays underneath wraps, followers have speculated that the film shall be a part of the increasing “Sopranos” cinematic universe underneath Chase’s five-year WarnerMedia deal.