MEDIA ALERT:
UPDATE 11/12/03
UPDATE 9/26/03
It's a Mob Scene in Red Hook, Thanks to 'The Sopranos'
By Hallie Arnold, Freeman Staff
A COUPLE of orange traffic cones and a Dutchess County sheriff's deputy were the only signs that something other than farming was going on Thursday at the Fraleigh Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook.
But if you get too nosy about the goings-on there, you might find yourself in trouble with the mob. The TV mob, that is.
HBO's hit drama series "The Sopranos" is filming at the farm this week, and cast and crew members have been spotted around Kingston, where they reportedly are staying until the shoot wraps on Saturday.
"They're shooting an episode for the fifth season, which debuts in March," said an HBO spokeswoman. "We never discuss plot points, so I can't tell you what it is we're doing."
The spokeswoman, who declined to give her name, said the show often shoots on location, generally in New Jersey, though it also has used such upstate New York sites as Harriman State Park. "This is probably the first time we've been that far north," she said of Red Hook.
The Emmy Award-winning mob drama currently is in production for its fifth season, according to HBO's Web site. The sixth season will start filming in early 2005.
Debbie Harris, a reservations manager at the Holiday Inn in Kingston, confirmed the crew of "The Sopranos" was staying at the Washington Avenue hotel, but she wouldn't say if any of the cast - which includes James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco - is there, too.
Gandolfini and Falco were named outstanding lead actor and actress in a drama series at the Emmy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. The show also won Emmys for outstanding supporting actor (Joe Pantoliano) and best writing for a drama series.
Harris said things have been pretty quiet at the Holiday Inn since "The Sopranos" people checked in - mainly because they have a large block of rooms, cutting down on check-ins and check-outs during their stay, and work long hours shooting on location.
"They're away most of the day because their hours run quite late," Harris said. "It's amazing the long days these people have. They work into the wee hours."
Locals have reported spotting cast members at Kingston restaurants, including Mariner's Harbor on lower Broadway and Carmine's, a Thomas Street establishment whose advertisements feature a gun-toting mobster.
"It was a nice surprise," said Sal Guido, an owner of Mariner's Harbor, where the cast and crew partied after the kitchen closed Tuesday night.
"A woman came in and said, 'I've got some guests coming,' and I said, 'Bring everybody in,' " Guido said. "The next thing I know, (Gandolfini) is standing over my shoulder, ordering a drink" - a vodka tonic, he said.
Guido said Gandolfini, who plays Tony Soprano, was joined at Mariner's by actor Michael Imperioli, who plays Christopher Moltisano, and several crew members. "He (Gandolfini) took a couple of pictures with our waitresses. They were very nice. It was a good time," Guido said.
Guido said Mariner's Harbor Inn on state Route 9G in Red Hook provided food to the on-location set on Thursday.
UPDATE 9/22/03
'SOPRANOS' GETS WHACKED
By DAVID K. LI and DON KAPLAN and LIBBY CALLAWAY and KATE SHEEHY
Source: NY POST
September 22, 2003 -- "The Sopranos" fell one Emmy short of a sweep last night. James Gandolfini, who plays the conflicted mobster Tony Soprano, and Edie Falco, who portrays his long-suffering wife, were named Best Actor and Best Actress in a Drama.
Backstage, Gandolfini said he's sad "The Sopranos" didn't win the best drama award - losing, yet again, to old rival "The West Wing." The Jersey native speculated that "The West Wing" will always have an inside track against a show about organized crime.
"We're thieves and crooks. They show me in my underwear far too much," he said. "The subject matter probably turns people off."
Gandolfini started people talking earlier in the night when he showed up wearing a campaign button for a friend who is running for county office in New Jersey.
Pal Joe Renna - who is running for Union County freeholder - gave the button to Gandolfini two months ago.
"I said, 'Jim, wear one of my buttons when you go to the Emmys.' He said, 'If I remember, I'll do it,' " Renna said last night.
This is James Gandolfini's third year winning an Emmy.
UPDATE 6/25/03
From today's NY Post:
'SOPRANOS' STAR STANDS BY WHACKED GOOMBAH
By DON KAPLAN
June 25, 2003 -- "SOPRANOS" star James Gandolfini has ditched his talent agency after the company fired and sued his agent David Brownstein.
The talent agency, Writers & Artists, slapped Brownstein with a $10 million lawsuit and claims the agent had tried to get his clients to pay commission checks - including those from Gandolfini - to himself, cutting out the agency.
Brownstein has denied the charges.
"David Brownstein's integrity is beyond question. He continues to be my agent and close friend," Gandolfini said in a statement.
Gandolfini's fellow "SoPranos" stars Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Meadow Soprano) and Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts), also represented by Brownstein, have left the agency as well.
Brownstein has said that two weeks before his former agency filed its suit, he filed an arbitration claim to collect "significant monies the agency has owed to me contractually for some time."
The agency owes him more than $500,000 in back salary and commission fees, he claims.
UPDATE 6/17/03
'Sopranos' in HBO Family for Sixth Season
Tue. June 17, 2003 10:26 PM ET
By Nellie Andreeva
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It's official: Tony Soprano and his gang will rule the New Jersey streets for one more season.
"The Sopranos" creator/executive producer David Chase has reached an agreement with HBO to return for a sixth season of the hit mobdrama.
The sixth season of the show will consist of 10 episodes rather than the 13-episode standard for the series. Production is slated to begin in early 2005, more than a year after the wrap of the series' fifth season, currently in production.
"I'm delighted that David Chase has decided to give us another chapter in the great 'Sopranos' saga," HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht said.
Sources said all principal cast members are set to return, with the only question mark being Drea de Matteo. The actress, who plays the fiancee of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) on the show, was not invited to Chase's meeting with the returning cast members earlier this week, sources said. After lobbying from actors on the show, Chase is said to be reconsidering her possible exit.
All actors will receive pay bumps for the sixth season, with the supporting players' raises pegged at about 25%. And while the cast members will work on 10 episodes for the sixth season, they will be paid for 13, sources said.
UPDATE 6/13/03
LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Even as discussions heat up among the principals to commit to a sixth season of "The Sopranos," sources say the real buzz on the set of HBO's hit mob drama has been about the generous gesture made last week by James Gandolfini to more than a dozen of his fellow cast members.
Gandolfini, who had a bruising salary renegotiation with HBO earlier this year, recently received his first advance from HBO on his share of the "Sopranos" profits. In turn, the Emmy-winning actor quietly handed out checks in the five-figure range to series regulars, including Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese and Tony Sirico.
Sources said Gandolfini ponied up about $500,000 of his own cash as a way of acknowledging that in his view, the show's success hinges on the strength of its ensemble cast.
"It was always part of his plan (during the renegotiations) to share some of the wealth with the other actors," a source close to Gandolfini said. "He has always called this show an ensemble, from Day 1."
Meanwhile, sources said that HBO and "Sopranos" creator/executive producer David Chase are in talks about the possibility of doing a sixth season (the show is now in production on Season 5).
HBO's option for picking up the actors' contracts for a sixth season expired Tuesday, but the "Sopranos" troupers agreed to a one-week extension. An HBO spokeswoman declined comment.
UPDATE 5/20/03
KATE WINSLET TEAMS UP WITH TONY SOPRANO FOR NEW MUSICAL
Titanic star Kate Winslet is to follow in the footsteps of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Nicole Kidman by starring in a big screen musical. The 27-year-old has signed up opposite James Gandolfini in the all-singing, all-dancing production Romance And Cigarettes.
Kate and her co-star, better known as New Jersey gangster Tony Soprano, will be joining forces with Susan Sarandon in the new flick, which is being billed as "savage, passionate and darkly comic."
The film will be directed by renowned character actor John Turturro, who has appeared in such films as Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, Barton Fink and Anger Management. His old friends The Coen Brothers are meanwhile producing the movie, which tells the story of one man's experience with infidelity and redemption.
Kate has never appeared in a musical before, but she has shown off her singing talents on more than one occasion. She provided the voice for a character in cartoon version of A Christmas Carol in 2001. And she also featured on a single that was released from the soundtrack.
UPDATE 5/6/03
From NY Post Page Six:
TONY PYTHON
May 6, 2003 -- James Gandolfini, who recently had a flower named after him, went back to his macho ways when he agreed to let a zoologist put an 8-foot python around his neck at his 4-year-old son's birthday party at the Crane Club the other day. The "Sopranos" star kept cool while several preschoolers, including son Michael, cackled at the sight of the reptile making itself at home around the actors's face. "He was such a sport," one witness told The Post's Braden Keil. "They even put a monkey on his back and an iguana on his head." Those looking on included Gandolfini's father, sister and his ex-wife, Marcy.
UPDATE 4/10/03
Source: NY Post
Gandolfini: Flower Power
When James Gandolfini told friends he'd been asked to name a newly discovered Tanzanian flower, he got plenty of sarcastic suggestions. "Some of the suggestions were the 'Gandolpansy' and the 'Gandylion,' as well as some others I can't even repeat here," Gandolfini said at Saturday night's African Rainforest Conservancy fund-raiser. The burly "Sopranos" star settled on naming the flower after the scientist who discovered it, Chamaecrista "Moses" Mwangokae. Perhaps realizing that naming a flower could tarnish his tough guy image, Gandolfini swung into Tony Soprano mode at the end of the night. When the event at the new David Rockwell-designed space at 24 Fifth Ave. ran past its 10 p.m. contracted time, ARC staffers were told they would be charged more to pay the staff. (Owners the Glazier Group rented out the space at cost.) Gandolfini went into the kitchen for a sit-down with venue reps, who agreed to waive the extra fee. Other notables at the $500-a-plate benefit included George Plimpton, Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis.
UPDATE 4/3/03
The Sopranos: The E! True Hollywood Story
A two-hour look at the hit crime series featuring exclusive new interviews with the show's stars, premieres Sunday, April 20th at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
UPDATE 3/20/03
PEACE COMES TO 'SOPRANOS'
By DON KAPLAN
JAMES "TONY SOPRANO" GANDOLFINI
- Steve Sands
March 20, 2003 -- Tony Soprano's behind-the-scenes salary battle with HBO
has gone from a full-blown Mafia war to a loving Sunday dinner.
HBO filed an application yesterday to drop its $100 million lawsuit against James Gandolfini, the actor who plays the Prozac-popping mob boss on "The Sopranos."
The move is the final part of a peace agreement between the pay-cable network and Gandolfini to end what was a remarkably bitter salary dispute.
"I'm very happy 'The Sopranos' will be back. It's a show that I love doing with people I love working with," Gandolfini said yesterday.
"We're delighted that the great Jim Gandolfini will be back at work in the role he has created with such distinction," said HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht.
HBO officials said yesterday the network will distribute a letter to the cast and crew of the show by the end of this week stating that filming for the show's fifth - and what is believed to be final - season will begin on either March 31 or April 1.
But there were last-minute hitches to the peace settlement - which came a day later than expected.
Although the actor's lawyers filed an application to drop the suit Monday night, Gandolfini did not sign the letter until Tuesday night, a source close to the dispute said.
The actor's reps complained that other big TV stars, such as "NYPD Blue's" Dennis Franz and "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer were paid about $1 million an episode, and Gandolfini wanted a contract giving him close to the same.
In the end, Gandolfini's legal team is said to have struck a deal worth more than $13 million for the 13-episode season.
The jackpot will also include a cut of the show's DVD sales.
UPDATE 3/18/03
Source: cnn.com
'Sopranos' kingpin set for raise
Report: Actor Gandolfini to double his salary
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Posted: 9:09 AM EST (1409
GMT)
NEW YORK (Variety) -- Tony Soprano will be returning
to the waste management industry as early as next
week.
Actor James Gandolfini dropped the lawsuit he filed to void
his "Sopranos" contract, the first in a quick succession of
steps toward a new deal that will more than double his
$400,000-an-episode salary.
Gandolfini had litigator Martin Singer withdraw the suit that
was filed 12 days ago, and HBO is expected to respond as
early as Tuesday by halting its $100 million countersuit.
Once those lawsuits end, HBO and Gandolfini are
expected to quickly close a renegotiation whose particulars
are already essentially done.
Neither side would divulge terms, but sources said
Gandolfini would get more than the $11 million that HBO
had offered before Gandolfini filed suit and less than the
$16 million counterproposal the network turned down last
week.
With salary and advances against syndication that will be
retroactive to season one, Gandolfini will make in the
vicinity of $13 million for the fifth season.
Another facet of the deal is that the crew members who
were suddenly out of work are back on salary and will be
paid retroactively for the week they missed when it
appeared that the start of shooting would be postponed
indefinitely.
That hardship was one of the key reasons that led
Gandolfini late last week to seek an end to a dispute that
put his negotiating team in a bare-knuckle battle against
HBO chairman Chris Albrecht. It was a skirmish that
became personal and ugly.
The bitter feelings should soon sleep with the fishes, as
the deal worked out by executive producer Brad Grey will
likely leave both Gandolfini and Albrecht with the chance
to hold their heads high. They will begin shooting the
season opener that has already been scripted by creator
David Chase and Terry Winter.
Chase is looking to wrap up the "Sopranos" storyline in the
13 episodes of the fifth season, including a finale that is
expected to be two hours in length. The fifth season is
expected to be the last for the HBO hit mob drama, unless
Chase can be coaxed into coming back for one more
season.
Sources Says Gandolfini's Contract May Be For Two More Seasons.
According to the Hollywood Reporter online, the actor's lawyers on Monday started the process of withdrawing the suit filed against HBO March 6 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Parties on both sides of dispute negotiated over the weekend. Sources close to negotiations told the Reporter that Gandolfini and HBO were closing in on a contract for a fifth and sixth season.
UPDATE 3/17/03
Source:
Page Six.com
HBO TO CUT TONY IN ON PIECE OF 'SOPRANO' ACTION
(Except it's NOT Xanax, it's Prozac!)
DEAL IN THE MAKING...
$1 million per episode.Tony Soprano and HBO are near a deal neither side can refuse, say sources close to the salary dispute that has threatened to whack "The Sopranos."
Lawyers for the mob opera's star, James Gandolfini, and HBO talked into the small hours of yesterday morning, the sources said.
Gandolfini is said to have struck a deal that will pay him slightly more than $1 million for each of the 13 episodes - by increasing the actor's take from DVD sales, a huge new source of income for hit TV series.
Both sides have filed lawsuits against each other, but the suits are expected to be dropped early this week, clearing the way for a deal - perhaps as soon as midweek.
Production on the show's fifth - and perhaps final - season was halted last week by HBO.
The pay-cable network declared it would not continue the show without Gandolfini, who plays the Xanax-popping mob boss who is the series' signature character.
Spokesmen for Gandolfini and HBO declined to comment last night.
But it was the first news that a break might be near in the increasingly bitter salary dispute that began two weeks ago when Gandolfini refused HBO's "final" offer to double his salary to $11 million a year.
Sources at HBO told the Hollywood trade press that the actor had been demanding $26 million instead - about the same as the highest-paid TV actors, including Kelsey Grammer and the cast of "Friends."
Others, however, say Gandolfini's asking price was closer to $16 million - and that the two sides had agreed yesterday to a raise somewhere in the middle.
The breakthrough talks took place in L.A.
It appears that Gandolfini will be the first to drop his suit - claiming that he was no longer under contract to the network because of a minor, technical violation of his agreement - so that HBO can say that the actor was the first to back down.
UPDATE 3/14/03
Source: NY Post
"Sopranos" star James Gandolfini issued an ultimatum to HBO yesterday in the salary war that is threatening to whack the series: Negotiate with me or cancel the show. "It's time for both sides to either say we're finished or we're going to deal like mature people," Dan Klores, the actor's spokesman, told The Post.
HBO and Gandolfini have not talked to each other since last week, when the actor who plays mob boss Tony Soprano in the hit series filed suit to void his contract.
On Tuesday, HBO ordered that production on the show's fifth - and perhaps final - season be halted, effectively locking out 300 cast and crew members.
The battle over salary has become increasingly personal and bitter in recent days.
Gandolfini, who had not issued any personal statements about the dispute until yesterday, broke his silence after an unnamed HBO official called him a "greedy pig" in one published report.
"Jim was deeply offended by that remark," said one of the actor's pals.
Publicly, other cast members are ducking when asked if they back Gandolfini or whether they think his demand for a $25 million salary this season is out of line.
But privately, some prominent cast members are saying they support him and think HBO's handling of the salary dispute has been heavy handed.
"Not even George Steinbrenner would stoop to the personal attacks that gutless unnamed HBO sources have launched against James Gandolfini," said Gandolfini's spokesman.
"Things are very bleak now," HBO lawyer Bert Fields said. "Nobody is talking to anybody. HBO has totally exhausted what they can offer. Somebody's got to pick up the phone, but it's not going to be HBO."
A source close to the situation said the outcome of the Gandolfini conflict could reverberate with big HBO stars.
"If you're Sarah Jessica Parker ["Sex and The City"] or Larry David ["Curb Your Enthusiasm"] or Rachel Griffiths ["Six Feet Under"], you have to be saying right now: `If they're treating Gandolfini like this, I can be next in line,' " the source said.
Gandolfini's demand yesterday for what amounts to one of the highest salaries on TV - nearly $2 million per episode - sounds outrageous.
But, say Gandolfini supporters, most network TV series take less than 30 weeks to film an entire season. "The Sopranos" production schedule runs nine months to complete just 13 episodes.
"HBO made $800 million in profits last year - based in large part on a series they say they can't do without," says a Gandolfini supporter. "He's asking for something like six-tenths of one percent of those profits."
UPDATE 3/13/03
Entertainment - AP TV
Report: HBO Suspends 'Sopranos' Filming
Thu Mar 13, 9:35 AM ET
NEW YORK - HBO has suspended filming of "The Sopranos (news - Y! TV)" due to a contract dispute with the show's star, James Gandolfini (news), newspapers said.
Network executives told cast members that work on the fifth season of the hit show about a New Jersey mob family has been postponed indefinitely, the Daily News and the New York Post reported in Thursday editions. Filming had been scheduled to begin on March 24.
Gandolfini, who plays mob boss Tony Soprano, is reportedly seeking upward of $1 million an episode, while HBO has offered $800,000. Gandolfini currently earns about $400,000 an episode.
"Every year he asked for a raise," HBO lawyer Bert Fields told the Daily News. "They didn't have to pay a dime more than they did last time. They offered him a huge raise."
But Dan Klores, a spokesman for Gandolfini, said the actor is asking for what he deserves.
"When you start referring to an actor who has made a network an inordinate amount of money as 'a greedy pig' and you publicly accuse him of blackmail, you make yourself look stupid," Klores told the Daily News. "He doesn't deserve to be treated with anything but respect."
Last week, Gandolfini, who plays mob boss Tony Soprano, filed a Superior Court complaint claiming that HBO breached his contract. The actor alleged that HBO missed a deadline for advising him that his services would be needed for a fifth season.
On Tuesday, HBO fired back at Gandolfini in court, saying the actor must settle his contract dispute or risk being liable for more than $100 million in damages.
UPDATE 3/12/03
James Gandolfini interviews Lorraine Bracco
UPDATE 3/7/03
'Sopranos' Boss Sues HBO to Whack Pact
Friday, March 7 2:16 AM ET
Source: Yahoo
James Gandolfini is trying to put a hit out on his employment contract with HBO.
Gandolfini, who plays mob boss Tony Soprano on the network's "The Sopranos ( news - Y! TV)," filed suit Thursday in California Superior Court seeking declaratory relief that would free him from being obliged to return for the next season of HBO's mob drama, its fifth.
The lawsuit alleges Gandolfini was not notified within 10 days after HBO agreed to pay creator David Chase $20 million for the show's fifth season. Gandolfini contends that is a violation off his contract and wants to be free of the pact. An additional claim is that Gandolfini's contract would exceed the seven-year limit for personal services contracts by the time a sixth season was ordered.
"Our legal position is that there is no obligation for James Gandolfini to perform services for the coming season," said attorney Martin Singer, who was not saying definitively that Gandolfini wouldn't return as the mob patriarch. "There have been negotiations going on for our client to potentially return. They haven't reached an agreement and we have until March 24 to evaluate what to do. That is the day they've requested for him to come back to work."
The legal action took HBO executives by surprise, since they were in the throes of sweetening Gandolfini's deal for the upcoming season. "This is nothing more than a further renegotiation tactic by an actor with a binding contract," said an HBO spokeswoman.
The timing of the suit would appear that it might be ramping up the tension to get Gandolfini's salary in line with some of his broadcast network peers. Gandolfini gets $400,000 an episode, a figure comparable to the likes of "Frasier" costars Jane Leeves and Peri Gilpin, as well as "West Wing" star Martin Sheen, who pulls down around $425,000 an episode. Those salaries are well below the $800,000 paid Ray Romano, the $1 million an episode paid the "Friends" cast or the $1.6 million paid Kelsey Grammer.
Those stars, however, have renegotiated their contracts once their shows have been declared a success, just as Gandoflini did in September 2000, when he signed a $10 million deal for two seasons.
"Sopranos" seasons, however, are only 13 episodes and take nine months to shoot, about the same time commitment as a 22-show network series. Also, "The Sopranos" hasn't shown the syndication potential those other shows possess.
"We know that a lot of people in television are paid a lot more than James Gandolfini," Singer said. "He is an integral part of the show. HBO is considered to be the most profitable network. Whether or not 'Sopranos' and James Gandolfini is a significant reason for that isn't an issue for a litigation lawyer. He has others who get involved in it. But after reviewing the facts, we firmly believe that Mr. Gandolfini doesn't have to come to work if he doesn't want to."
HBO has waited for Chase to complete the majority of the episodes before scheduling "The Sorpanos" and as many as 15 months between season starts. It is likely that the fifth season of "The Sorpanos" will debut in early 2004.
