“The soprano“The creator David Chase Almost forwarded James Gandolfini in the lead role because the late actor did not seem “threatening enough” to play Mob manager Tony Soprano.
In one extracts published by Vulture By Jason Bailey’s book “Gandolfini: Jim, Tony and Life of a Legend”, Gandolfini’s former manager, Nancy Sanders, remembered how Chase hesitated to offer the Gandolfini role.
“I went,” Oh my God, I think I have Tony Soprano, “Sanders said. But Chase told Sanders at that time,” I have a concern, and that is, is he threatening enough? ”
Indieview has reached representatives of Chase and HBO.
Sanders remembered to tell Chase at that time, “David, if your only concern is,” he threatens enough “… if you told me,” he’s a little chubby “or” he loses his hair “, I could understand. But he threatens enough. This is your guy.”
Chase also recalled that after Gandolfini’s audition, it was “obvious” he was Tony Soprano. “It just wasn’t a matter of it,” Chase said. “He was the guy.”
But Gandolfini apparently believed that he “would never get the role” in the role of HBO would probably “hire a damn beautiful boy.” Gandolfini is quoted in the book as saying: “I thought they would hire, you know, one of these Irish guys that is over TV Now. ”Gandolfini died in 2013.
And Gandolfini was right: the series was almost not authentic with real Italian actors. 2022 book “It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution and Future of HBO”, by Felix Gillette and John Koblin, revealed that “HBO managers initially did not like the name (” The Sopranos “) because it sounded like a show about opera.” Former HBO’s CEO Chris Albrecht had to drive for the Mafia series to be filmed on site in New Jersey, unlike the 1987 “Moonstruck” comedy, which centered on a bullied Italian family but was most filmed in Toronto.
“It was my big beef about” Moonstruck “: fake Italian, fake New York,” Albrecht said. “We always knew it would be more money. But we wanted to make sure we were not full of crap. And making such commitments would say people that we were for real.”
“Sopranos” ran from 1999 to 2007 and collected 21 Emmy Awards. The Prequel movie “The many Saints of Newark”, written by Chase, debuted in 2021. Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini, played the younger version of Tony Soprano in the film.
“Sopranos” Alun Michael Imperioli confirmed He and former co -star Steve Schirrepa will be reunited with Showrunner Chase for an upcoming film, co -written by imperioli. While the action remains under cover, the fans have speculated that the film will be part of the expanding “Soprano” cinematic universe during Chase’s five-year-old Warner Media deal.
