Former HBO executive Chris Albrecht is claiming that actor James Gandolfini , who played Tony Soprano on the network’s hit show The Sopranos , once dared him to “fire” him.
In the new documentary, Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos , Albrecht elaborated on the staged intervention they held for the late actor to convince him to enter rehab for his alcohol struggles.
Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Wise Guy: David Chase And The Sopranos’ On HBO, Where Chase Discusses His Life And How Much It Contributed To The Landmark Series
“We did an intervention with him at my apartment in New York,” said Albrecht. “That was to try to get him to go to a facility for rehab. We’d had a lot of friction by that point. The ruse was that I was inviting Jimmy over so we could talk things through and kind of clear the air. And then he came up… We’d had the rehearsal the day before or whatever — his sister, everybody were there — and he saw everybody sitting there, and he went, ‘Aw, f— this.’ … He turned to me and he went, ‘Fire me,’ and he left.”
Gandolfini earned three Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his time on the show for six seasons from 1999 to 2007.
He died of a heart attack on June 19, 2013, at age 51. Although the show’s creator David Chase admitted at the time of the actor’s death that he “wasn’t easy sometimes,” he also said that Gandolfini was “one of the greatest actors of this or any time.”
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“A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes,” Chase continued. “I remember telling him many times, ‘You don’t get it. You’re like Mozart.’ There would be silence at the other end of the phone.”
Chase says he searched long and hard for the right actor to play Tony Soprano. He revealed that Gandolfini initially thought he bombed his audition but was given a second go at Chase’s home where he nailed the part.
“Bang,” said Chase, adding, “It was pretty obvious when Jim did [it]. He was Tony.”
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Gandolfini secured his stardom as the lead of the HBO series, earning the respect and admiration of the rest of the cast and crew.
Drea de Matteo recalled how Gandolfini gave several cast members more than $30,000 each after a round of negotiations with HBO resulted in a new salary of $1 million per episode for the actor.
“When Jim got the deal, none of us knew it was even on the table,” said de Matteo. “We didn’t know to negotiate. I think he felt terrible about that, so he called us all into his trailer one-by-one and gave everybody a check for $30,000.”
Edie Falco (who played Tony’s wife Carmela on the show) claims she never got a check from Gandolfini, but noted that the good deed “sounds like him.”
“He was a very good-hearted, kind man looking out for his friends,” added Falco.
Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos premiered on Saturday, September 7, and is currently available to stream on Max . Seasons 1 to 6 of The Sopranos are also available on the streaming platform.
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