James Gandolfini’s Secret ‘Sopranos’ Pain Revealed On 25th Anniversary of Hit HBO Mob Show: ‘He Drunkenly Vowed to Quit Every Other Night’
James Gandolfini made a fortune playing Tony Soprano – but said he hated the role.
Sept. 10 2024, Published 12:41 p.m. ET
His hulking mob character in The Sopranos spent most of the series trying to blot out his depression boozing, popping pills, hoovering up cocaine and bedding ‘goomas’.
RadarOnline.com can now reveal the late James Gandolfini’s life imitated art – as he was sunk so deep in the blues while shooting the HBO juggernaut he blotted out his black moods every night by getting drunk and vowing he was going to quit playing Tony Soprano.
Gandolfini's co-star Steven Van Zandt, 73, who played Tony's 'consiglieri' Silvio Dante on the New Jersey mafia hit, said about the actor's daily battle to stay on the series: "Every other day, we would go to a bar. We would have the exact same conversation.
"We would get drunk. He'd say, 'I'm done. I'm not going back'."
Gandolfini used to drunkenly complain to his co-star Steven Van Zandt, far right.
Revealing how he talked him down, E Street Band member Van Zandt added: "I would say, 'Okay. You've got 100 people depending on you here'.
"He's like, 'Yeah, yeah, okay'. He would come back.
"But a few times, he would disappear for a few days. You know, it just got to him."
Sopranos creator David Chase had his shows thrown into chaos by Gandolfini’s drink and drug-fuelled antics.
Gandolfini played mob boss Tony from 1999 to 2007 alongside other household names including Edie Falco, 61, before he was killed by a heart attack aged 51 in 2013 after years of drug and alcohol issues that regularly caused havoc with the making of the show, created by 79-year-old David Chase.
Van Zandt opened up about the actor's secret pain in the new documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, released to mark the 25th anniversary of the landmark show.
Wise Guy also includes interviews with Sopranos creator Chase – who, despite having his show thrown into turmoil by Gandolfini's boozy, cocaine-fuelled diva antics – recently said the actor left him mesmerised with his "otherworldly" eyes.
Chase said: "He’s incredible.Well, the whole thing’s about his face and about his eyes, actually.
"There's something about his eyes that – it was otherworldly."
Gandolfini with Drea De Matteo, who defended him against accusations he was a drunken nuisance on set.
TV supremo Chase also said the humour in the show was so prevalent he could "never" figure out whether it was a comedy, adding: "I guess it's like life. I don't know."
He has also he is glad The Sopranos' fanbase is still going strong, adding it left him with a "tremendous sense of gratitude".
Chase declared: "I can't remember this happening with any other television show ever."
He also said about James' performance: "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.
"It's the best thing I've ever done. It’s probably the best thing I ever will do."
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The Sopranos marks its 25th anniversary this year.
Another ‘Sopranos’ star Drea de Matteo recently blasted a new book that highlighted Gandolfini's drugs battles – branding it a "money grab".
The actress, 52, who is now raking in a fortune from her OnlyFans account, was famed for playing unhinged character Christopher Moltisanti's long-suffering girlfriend Adriana La Cerva.
She blasted about Mark Kamine's book On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry: "It's just kind of a money grab for that guy.
"To go and cash in like – like, the Italians don't like that. We don't freaking (do) like (that.)"
De Matteo added she felt compelled to speak out as she is "really tight with Jim's wife, his widow and his daughter", and insisted writer Kamine's account of Gandolfini was "not accurate".
Van Zandt is also a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
She added the actor was a "really incredible person" and "so much more than whatever (Kamine) was writing about".
De Matteo said: "Jim was an angel, and I guess because he was an angel, you know, he's not here."
Producer Kamine, who worked on all six seasons of The Sopranos, recalls in his book how Gandolfini battled substance abuse issues while playing mobster Tony.
He says the actor once turned up four hours late to film an episode during season five after spending the previous night in Atlantic City – before he ended up "cursing his way through his half-learned lines" and doing "take after take" while downing coffees and bottles of water.
Van Zandt used to talk Gandolfini out of quitting the show by stressing he had 100 people relying on him for work.
Kamine added the star was "alternatively sheepish and churlish", which he said was "the way he always is when he (messes) up".
He also claimed HBO added a clause to "increasingly unreliable" Gandolfini's contract that made him responsible for "shoot-day costs if he misses work due to excesses of consumption".
Sources also told author James Andrew Miller for his book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers Gandolfini's drug and alcohol use was so extreme they feared he may die during the making of The Sopranos.
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