Gandolfini: A Legendary Life

 What was wrong with James Gandolfini? 

He would refuse to show up to the set; people who had prepared for work were left out in the cold. Once, the person in question was Susan Sarandon. Gandolfini also mistreated a cancer-stricken Edie Falco. 

On another occasion, Gandolfini's colleagues staged an intervention. When Gandolfini turned up, he saw the room and said, "Fuck you all." Then, recognizing his own power, he smirked at a producer and said, "Go ahead and fire me." He left.

Acting with Annabella Sciorra, he had a scene where he was required to pick up a human body and throw it across a room. It seems possible to "phone this in" -- to reproduce the choreography without deep thought. Just do it and move on. But Gandolfini had a tantrum because the scene required "dark internal calculations"; he put himself first, wringing his hands, while others waited and waited.

And yet, by contrast, on another occasion, Gandolfini acknowledged to a colleague that participating in a drama felt ridiculous. As the cameramen prepared themselves, Gandolfini said, "I feel like a clown everytime."

There were sometimes extravagant displays of generosity; Gandolfini wrote checks to colleagues, and he offered extra tutelage to the wayward Robert Iler (who was somewhat lost and, let's admit it, somewhat limited as an actor). Gandolfini did favors for friends; he assisted with a Steve Schirripa script, and he wrote a warm essay about his buddy Kristen Stewart before she became a megastar This is--in one light--evidence that Gandolfini was not an asshole. Also, it seems to me, Gandolfini may have *known* how unpleasant he could be, and he chose various face-saving gestures as "acts of atonement." Two things can be true at the same time.

Although I think the new book doesn't really dig into Gandolfini's psyche, I do admire the book's coverage of Gandolfini's career. I learned things. Almost any time Gandolfini was interviewed, he cut to the chase; he spoke in short, declarative sentences, and there wasn't any ambiguity in his remarks. Clearly, he had a brain. (On the finale of "The Sopranos": "When I read the script, I thought, What the fuck? Then, the next day, I liked it.") One reason he chose "God of Carnage" was the ninety-minute run time: "That's a plus." Also--for a while--Gandolfini was attached to a script called "Family Man." The HBO executives worried that the title "The Sopranos" would be confusing; people would think they were choosing a show about opera. Thank God David Chase prevailed. (It has always seemed to me that the title alludes to "The Simpsons," a main source of inspiration for Chase. With his title, Chase announces, "I am revising--reimagining--the saga of the Simpson family.")

An entertaining, slightly shallow book.