There was far more to James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano than met the eye.
In a new book about the late actor written by Jason Bailey, GANDOLFINI: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, his castmates revealed some previously unknown tidbits about how Gandolfini carried himself on set — and some of the lighter moments they shared.
Robert Iler, who played Tony’s son A.J. on the series, revealed that Gandolfini, who died in 2013 following a heart attack, had a slightly funny trick that helped him stay in character in between takes: he would wear his character’s heavy bathrobe, even when the cameras weren’t rolling.
Related: The Sopranos Creator David Chase Had 1 Concern About James Gandolfini Before Casting Him as Tony Soprano
“He’d be walking through the hallways, arriving to set, and the robe is blowing behind him,” Iler, 40, recalled. “You were like, ‘Oh, s—‘s about to go down, you know. Tony’s coming.’”
HBO
James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Jamie Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler on ‘The Sopranos’ season 4
Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio Dante on The Sopranos, similarly said that the shadow of Gandolfini’s mob boss character was “definitely present” on set.
“He would not one hundred percent be that guy all the time,” Van Zandt, 74, said of his costar. “[But] Tony Soprano was definitely there, quite a bit at a time.”
Related: Lorraine Bracco Says She and James Gandolfini ‘Pranked’ Each Other: ‘He Had a Great Sense of Humor’ (Exclusive)
Meanwhile, when it came time for his scenes with Lorraine Bracco, who played Tony’s therapist Dr. Melfi, Gandolfini was a goofball.
“He would do his sides first because he was the precursor of the story. And then when he was finished, he was relaxed and done with it. He didn’t care, it was over for him, except we had to turn around and do my part,” she recalled of how days on set with Gandolfini would go when they had “very long” and intense scenes to shoot.
HBO / Courtesy Everett
Lorraine Bracco and James Gandolfini in ‘The Sopranos’ season 3
The actor would “dance” and “was crazy,” Bracco, 70, said, all as a means of distracting her or getting her to break when she had her lines to film. “He was a pain in my ass,” she said.
He even went as far as to flash her. “Mooning occurred,” she revealed, joking, “He had an ass the size of Staten Island!”
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GANDOLFINI: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend is now available wherever books are sold, and The Sopranos can be streamed in full on Max.
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