SERIELAND COULISSE - "The Sopranos" is a cult fiction.
It is considered one of the best series of all time.
Partly thanks to the performance of James Gandolfini.
The American actor has not only lent his features to the character of Tony Soprano, this depressive mafia.
He inhabited it entirely.
This week, the SERIELAND team tells you about the day the actor almost lost his footing.
PODCAST
A depressed mafia godfather, masterful writing and acting performance. This week, in SERIELAND, Clémence Olivier takes you behind the scenes of a cult series: The Sopranos.
Staging a depressed mafia godfather is a brilliant idea!
This is what David Chase did in 1999 with his now cult series:
The Sopranos
.
The hero is Tony Soprano, a New Jersey mobster who suffers from panic attacks and secretly consults a shrink.
He is played by James Gandolfini.
But the American actor has not only lent his bald and paunchy quadra features to the mafia character.
He inhabited it entirely.
Tony Soprano, he was sometimes to the core, even if like Tony, he gets lost in anger or depression.
Gandolfini growls like Tony
In the early 2000s, being the star of the cult HBO series was not as enviable as it seems.
On the film set, Gandolfini works like a dog.
During the day, it rotates between six and eight hours under hot spotlights.
In the evening, he has to memorize pages and pages of dialogue.
Not to mention that he immerses himself each time in the head of a hyper violent man.
It is not without consequences.
On the set, Gandolfini growls like Tony and sinks into black anger when he fails to memorize a passage of his text.
But it doesn't stop there!
This is what journalist Brett Martin tells us in his book
Des hommes tormentés
.
Because in 2002, the actor really goes crazy.
A bit like his character could have done in the series.
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This winter Gandolfini loses his temper regularly and immediately feels guilty.
He is in the midst of divorce proceedings, has alcohol problems and he, the great shy man, has trouble putting up with the fame associated with his character.
One evening, when he had to shoot a scene with a big budget, James Gandolfini did not appear on the set.
At the time, the teams do not worry too much.
But quickly the tension mounts because for several days Gandolfini remains with absent subscribers.
What if the worst had happened?
If the actor had sunk into depression to the point of killing himself?
One morning, the heart of one of the writers makes a jump.
He hears a news flash in his car announcing the death of a Hollywood artist.
But he's not James Gandolfini, he's the drummer of a rock band.
A few days later, the producers received a phone call from the actor.
He wandered around Brooklyn without paper or money.
Confused, confused ... he asks that we come and get him.
He wants to get back to work.
Filming can start again.
One of the most memorable heroes of series
Would James Gandolfini have made such a great Tony Soprano if he hadn't known depression like him?
We'll never know.
Gandolfini will admit, in any case, that having interpreted such a violent character did not leave him unscathed.
Moreover, he will avoid playing such roles in the years that follow.
Still, 13 years after the end of the series, his sad look, his harshness, his bulimia, his way of smoking cigars and wearing the bathrobe continue to make Tony Soprano one of the most notable heroes of series.
The Sopranos
It is a HBO series in 6 seasons, 86 episodes.
It is available on OCS.