David Chase wasn’t initially bought on James Gandolfini enjoying Tony Soprano in The Sopranos as a result of he thought he wasn’t “threatening sufficient.”
In an excerpt from Jason Bailey’s new e-book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Lifetime of a Legend, Bailey recounted the casting course of for the coveted half. After studying the script for the HBO pilot, Nancy Sanders, one in all his Gandolfini’s managers, knew he was good for the function.
“I went, ‘Oh my God, I believe I’ve Tony Soprano,’” she remembered within the excerpt revealed by Vulture. Whereas the present’s creator thought Gandolfini was “good,” he instructed Sanders he had one doubt in casting him for the half: “I’ve one concern, and that’s, is he threatening sufficient?”
The supervisor was stunned by his concern and warranted him that Gandolfini was certainly “threatening sufficient” to play the mafia mobster.
“David, in case your solely concern is is he threatening sufficient,” she started. “In the event you stated 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.”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to reps for Chase and HBO for remark.
Nevertheless, Gandolfini additionally wasn’t certain he would land the function and thought that Chase was “going to be a ache within the ass” to work with. “I believe my precise phrases had been, ‘I may kick this man proper within the ass, however I’ll by no means get solid,’” he recalled through the novel’s excerpt. “‘They’ll rent some fucking fairly boy.’ I assumed they’d rent, , one in all these Irish-looking guys who’re throughout TV now.”
Chase knew Gandolfini was the right selection “when he lastly settled down and actually did a studying, it was simply apparent.” Chase recalled, “There was simply not any query about it. He was the man.”
Nonetheless, they continued to cycle by actors to make sure they’d the fitting Tony Soprano picked out. Finally, three folks had been up for the function — Gandolfini, The Alto Knights star Mike Rispoli and Steven Van Zandt, who later took on the a part of Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.