Former HBO Exec Opens Up About Working With James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini is most well-known for his portrayal of Tony Soprano in the hit HBO series. A new documentary shines a light on some of the struggles the actor faced throughout his career. Several of his colleagues have opened up about what it was like to work with him and, specifically, talked about a time when they staged an intervention for James. Here is what happened.
New HBO Doc Talks About James Gandolfini
Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos is a new documentary on the HBO series. There is no doubt that playing a role like Tony Soprano had a profound impact on the James Gandolfini’s life.
Former HBO CEO Chris Albrecht spoke in an interview in the new doc and recalled trying to stage an intervention for James Gandolfini. They wanted to convince him to go to rehab to address his alcohol addiction.
“We did an intervention with him at my apartment in New York,” the former CEO said. “That was to try to get him to go to a facility for rehab. We’d had a lot of friction by that point. The ruse was that I was inviting Jimmy over so we could talk things through and kind of clear the air. And then he came up… We’d had the rehearsal the day before or whatever — his sister, everybody were there — and he saw everybody sitting there, and he went, ‘Aw, f— this.’ … He turned to me and he went, ‘Fire me,’ and he left.”
Of course, the network did not fire James Gandolfini. He went on to star as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos from 1999 to 2007. His performance earned him three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Unfortunately, he had a heart attack and died on June 19, 2013. James Gandolfini was only 51 years old.
At the time of his death, Sopranos creator David Chase admitted that James wasn’t always the easiest person to work with. However, he acknowledged that he was “one of the greatest actors of this or any time.”
“A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes,” David Chase said. “I remember telling him many times, ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone.”
Cast Members Fondly Remember The Late Actor
In Wise Guy, David talked about casting the role of Tony Soprano. Initially, James Gandolfini’s audition wasn’t the best, but he wound up giving it a second try at David’s home. That’s when he landed the role. “It’s pretty obvious when Jim did [it]. He was Tony,” the show creator said.
James Gandolfini is remembered for his standout performance on the HBO series. He is also fondly remembered by many of the cast and crew on the show.
Drea de Matteo, who played Adrianna on The Sopranos, spoke about how James gave a number of the cast members $30,000 each. Apparently, he had received a $1 million salary increase per episode.
“When Jim got the deal, none of us knew it was even on the table,” Drea said. “We didn’t know to negotiate. I think he felt terrible about that, so he called us all into his trailer one by one and gave everybody a check for $30,000.”
Edie Falco, who portrayed Tony’s wife, Carmela, joked that she never got a check from James Gandolfini. That said, she admitted that it sounded like something he would do. “He was a very good-hearted, kind man looking out for his friends,” Edie said.
Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos premiered on HBO Max on September 7. You can watch it as well as Seasons 1-6 of The Sopranos on the streaming platform.
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