James Gandolfini’s involvement in The Sopranos wasn’t always certain, as series creator David Chase was apparently hesitant to initially commit to casting the late actor as Tony Soprano for one reason in particular.
In a new excerpt from the biography Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, as shared by Vulture, author Jason Bailey explored the days leading up to Gandolfini’s audition for the HBO series — and how Chase, now 79, initially questioned if the actor was “threatening enough” to play the mob boss and family man.
According to the excerpt, Gandolfini’s manager, Nancy Sanders, saw an opening for her client during the development of The Sopranos, thinking to herself, “I think I have Tony Soprano.” But she still had to get him in front of Chase.
After Sanders called him over Sunday dinner, when he asked for a VHS tape of Gandolfini, the show’s creator touched base with the manager the following morning around 11 a.m. with notes.
“All right, here’s the deal,” he said, per the excerpt. “I think he’s brilliant. I have one concern, and that is, is he threatening enough?”
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James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in ‘The Sopranos’
“David, if your only concern is is he threatening enough … ,” Sanders said in response. “If you said to me, ‘He’s a little chubby,’ or ‘He’s losing his hair,’ I could understand. But he’s threatening enough. This is your guy.”
According to the excerpt, casting directors Georgianne Walken and Sheila Jaffe were also in agreement that Gandolfini would be a fit. But the actor wasn’t entirely convinced he’d be cast.
“I think my exact words were, ‘I could kick this guy right in the ass, but I’ll never get cast,’” he said in the excerpt. “‘They’ll hire some f—— pretty boy.’ I thought they’d hire, you know, one of these Irish-looking guys who are all over TV now.”
As Chase recalled, it was “obvious” they found their guy after Gandolfini did a reading for the part. “There was just not any question about it. He was the guy,” he said.
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James Gandolfini and David Chase in Rockefeller Center on March 27, 2007
Related: The Sopranos’ Lorraine Bracco Recalls James Gandolfini’s 4-Word Reaction to the Show’s Shocking Finale
Of course, Gandolfini ended up landing the role, playing the sinister-yet-likable Tony during the show’s six-season run from 1999 to 2007. For his performance in the series, he won a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards, which he achieved years before his unexpected death in 2013 from a heart attack at age 51.
Speaking with CBS News in June 2024 for the 25th anniversary of The Sopranos, Chase described what it was that made the show’s leading man so “incredible.”
“Well, the whole thing’s about his face and about his eyes, actually. There’s something about his eyes that – it was otherworldly,” he said.
Chase also caught up with PEOPLE in January 2024 about the milestone anniversary, describing his “tremendous sense of gratitude” for the show’s fandom and revealing what made Gandolfini the right man for the job. “Look at the show, and there you see it. It’s a cliché to call that stuff magic, but he was totally inhabiting that fictional creature,” Chase said.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” he added of the series. “It’s probably the best thing I ever will do.”
The Sopranos is available to stream on Max. Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend arrives on Tuesday, April 29.
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