The scene that earned James Gandolfini the role of Tony Soprano
In the realm of television, there are few roles quite as iconic as Tony Soprano. Played masterfully by the inimitable James Gandolfini, the New Jersey mob boss/problematic family man burned himself in the hearts and minds of our cultural consciousness ever since first arriving on screen in 1999.
The Sopranos is rightfully considered one of the greatest TV shows ever made, championed for the way it perfectly fused the inner workings of the personal soap opera and the machinations of the crime and gangster genres, leading to some of the most memorable moments in the history of television.
By the time casting decisions had to be made concerning the main members of The Sopranos cast, the role of Tony was of utmost importance. Prior to playing Tony, Gandolfini had appeared in a handful of notorious movies, including Crimson Tide and Get Shorty.
However, it was his earlier effort in True Romance that ended up paying dividends in getting the job secured. In a feature piece by Vanity Fair, it was revealed that Susan Fitzgerald, who worked for producer Brad Grey, had sent The Sopranos creator David Chase a tape of a scene from True Romance of Gandolfini.
The 1993 film, written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott, saw Gandolfini play the enforcer of Christopher Walken’s mob boss. One scene, in particular, had Gandolfini throw a bloody and beaten Patricia Arquette through a glass shower door, and the moment Fitzgerald saw it, she said, “This is the guy”, and sent Chase the scene on tape.
When Gandolfini received the script for The Sopranos, he immediately “laughed [his] ass off”. The actor explained, noting the moment he was offered the role, “This is really different and good, and odd. I thought, I’ve never been the lead before. They’re gonna hire somebody else. But I knew I could do it.”
According to Chase, Gandolfini had to pause in the middle of his first audition after claiming that he had a personal problem to attend to, and he didn’t actually show up for the second audition. However, the future Tony Soprano did make it to the third showing, which took place at Chase’s house.
The show creator explained that, often, when actors come in and read the script in an audition, it can make a writer feel that their work is bad, but when Gandolfini started working with the dialogue, things changed. Chase said, “Then, the right person comes in, and it all works. It was pretty obvious that Jim had too much going on for this role to go with anyone else.”
In the end, there was indeed no other actor who would have been able to play Tony Soprano and Gandolfini would become forever tied to his legendary character, so much so that he had often experienced the very same problems as his fictional counterpart, including anger and addiction issues.
Still, it was because of the sheer violence that Gandolfini had shown throwing Patricia Arquette through a shower door in True Romance that showed the producers and writers of The Sopranos that he was the perfect man for the job. The late Gandolfini provided television with one of its best-ever characters, which is a testament to his fearless commitment to his profession and his endless talent as an actor.
Check out the scene from True Romance below.