‘The Sopranos’ creator didn’t think James Gandolfini was “threatening enough” to play the mob boss

The Sopranos creator David Chase had doubts about casting James Gandolfini, it has been revealed.

READ MORE: “A definitive work of American popular culture” – why ‘The Sopranos’ legacy lives on

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, in an excerpt from Jason Bailey’s new book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend published on Vulture, Chase had one major concern about casting him as mob boss Tony Soprano.

The excerpt looks back at the casting process for the lead role. In it, Nancy Sanders, one of Gandolfini’s managers, spoke about her reaction after reading The Sopranos’ pilot script. She said: “I went, ‘Oh my God, I think I have Tony Soprano.’”

But she recalled Chase having doubts, saying “I have one concern, and that is, is he threatening enough?”

Sanders assured the showrunner that the actor was. She said: “David, if your only concern is is he threatening enough. If you said to me, ‘He’s a little chubby,’ or ‘He’s losing his hair,’ I could understand. But he’s threatening enough. This is your guy.”

According to the excerpt, Gandolfini himself wasn’t confident he’d get the job. He said: “I think my exact words were, ‘I could kick this guy right in the ass, but I’ll never get cast. They’ll hire some fucking pretty boy.’ I thought they’d hire, you know, one of these Irish-looking guys who are all over TV now.”

Chase confirmed that “when [Gandolfini] finally settled down and really did a reading, it was just obvious. There was just not any question about it. He was the guy.”

Widely agreed upon as one of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, if not all time, The Sopranos ran for six seasons on HBO between 1999 and 2007. It was highly acclaimed, winning a total of 21 Emmy Awards from 111 nominations.

It also features in NME’s list of the best TV soundtracks ever. Read a list of its greatest moments, as chosen by the cast of prequel movie The Many Saints Of Newark, here.

Though he is incredibly highly regarded for his depiction of Tony Soprano, fame took a toll on Gandolfini. In the 2024 documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, it was revealed that the actor almost quit the show after a failed drugs intervention.

In an earlier excerpt from Bailey’s biography, cinematographer Phil Abraham discussed how HBO were fining the star $250,000 for each day he missed filming.

Gandolfini died in 2013 of a heart attack, aged 51. Despite fans’ high hopes, Chase confirmed in 2024 that The Sopranos would not return in any capacity.

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