At first, David Chase had reservations about James Gandolfini portraying Tony Soprano in “The Sopranos” as he felt that Gandolfini wasn’t intimidating enough for the role.
In a passage from Jason Bailey’s latest book, titled “Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend“, Bailey describes how the process of casting the much-desired role unfolded. Upon reading the script for the HBO pilot, one of Gandolfini’s managers, Nancy Sanders, was convinced that he was an ideal fit for the character.
She recalled thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, I believe I’ve found Tony Soprano,’ in a piece published by Vulture. Despite the show’s creator considering Gandolfini as ‘brilliant’, he expressed a single concern about casting him for the role: ‘My only worry is, is he intimidating enough?'”
or simply:
“In an article on Vulture, she reminisced, ‘I thought I’d found Tony Soprano, oh my goodness!’ The show’s creator saw Gandolfini as ‘brilliant’, but had one worry about his casting: ‘Is he intimidating enough?’
The manager was surprised by his worry and reassured him that Gandolfini had the necessary intimidating presence to portray a mafia mobster convincingly.
David, if what you’re wondering is whether he appears menacing, let me clarify. If you had said ‘He’s somewhat overweight’ or ‘He’s balding,’ I could see where you’re coming from. But he does seem threatening. That’s your person.
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to reps for Chase and HBO for comment.
Nevertheless, Gandolfini had doubts about securing the role and felt that Chase might be difficult to work with. “I believe my exact words were, ‘I could kick this guy right in the face, but I’ll never get cast,'” he reminisced from the book excerpt. “I thought they’d hire some handsome actor instead,” he added, referring to the growing number of Irish-looking actors on TV at that time.
Chase realized Gandolfini was the ideal candidate once he “settled in and performed a reading; it became quite clear.” Later, Chase reminisced, “There was no doubt in my mind. He was the one.
Even so, they persisted in auditioning various actors to find the ideal Tony Soprano. In the end, three individuals were contenders for the role: James Gandolfini, Michael Rispoli from The Alto Knights, and Steven Van Zandt, who eventually portrayed Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
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2025-04-27 03:24