MEDIA ALERT:
UPDATE 12/8/04
'Sopranos' May get Reprieve for Seventh Season
December 7, 2004
BY BILL ZWECKER SUN - TIMES COLUMNIST
A number of Italian-American civic organizations won't be cheering, but fans of ''The Sopranos'' will be happy to learn there's a chance — though nothing's confirmed — that the upcoming sixth season of the award-winning HBO series may not be the final one.
At the American Museum of the Moving Image tribute to John Travolta in New York over the weekend, "The Sopranos" star James Gandolfini told foxnews.com, "Nothing is definite about ending [the series] ... but with ['The Sopranos' creator and executive producer] David [Chase], you never know."
Gandolfini also explained the sixth season of the drama series about a fictional New Jersey crime family won't begin taping until May, due to big-screen film commitments both for himself and Edie Falco.
The actor joked about his futile effort to make a story suggestion to Chase — involving expanding Michael Imperioli's role as Christopher and perhaps involving him with Lorraine Bracco's Dr. Melfi. "But he didn't listen to me. David Chase, he does what he wants," Gandolfini told foxnews.com's Roger Friedman.
UPDATE 12/7/04
Tony Soprano and Paulie Walnuts go to War
UPDATE 12/6/04
Gandolfini: More 'Sopranos' May Be On Tap
By Roger Friedman
More Sopranos? Top Star Says Maybe
Will there be another season of "The Sopranos" after the next one?
The show's creator and producer, David Chase, has said in the past that he wanted to stop after the upcoming sixth season. But now, the Emmy-winning star of the show, James Gandolfini, says it's possible there will be more.
"You never know with David," he told me last night at the American Museum of the Moving Image dinner for John Travolta. "We don't start [filming the next season] until May because Edie [Falco, who plays Carmela] is doing a movie. I am, too, I guess, with John [Travolta]. It starts in March. But nothing is definite about ending."
Gandolfini says he's made a lot of story suggestions to Chase, including beefing up Michael Imperioli's role as Christopher and maybe involving that character with Lorraine Bracco, who plays Tony Soprano's shrink, Dr. Melfi.
"But he didn't listen to me, David Chase. He does what he wants," Gandolfini said.
Gandolfini has made four movies with Travolta, including "Get Shorty."
Plenty of other stars showed up to toast and roast Travolta, including obvious choices such as his wife Kelly Preston, Oprah Winfrey and Oscar-winner Kathy Bates.
There were some strange choices, too: Didi Conn ("Frenchy") and Jeff Conaway ("Kenickie") from "Grease," Jeremy Piven (who seemed to know Travolta from his gym) and Ron Palillo, who played Horshack on "Welcome Back, Kotter."
Barbra Streisand and Jay Leno each sent taped messages, which were played for the audience. Samuel L. Jackson did too, but it was saved for the USA Network airing of the show scheduled for Dec. 12.
Palillo, in one of the odder moments of the night, recalled for the audience that on "Welcome Back, Kotter," Travolta used to "put a banana in the zipper of his pants. That banana became a cast member for the next four years."
Conaway, wearing a paunch, a tight white shirt, tux jacket and jeans, didn't do much to encourage any "Grease" reunions in the near future.
Travolta should have been reeling from the ambush he got in Friday's New York Times, which pretty much dismissed his career and 75 percent of his movies.
As such, clips from few of his films were shown last night Ñ "Pulp Fiction," "Saturday Night Fever," "Urban Cowboy," "Grease," "Primary Colors," "Face/Off," "Get Shorty" and "Phenomenon" were highlighted, as well as Travolta's new one, "A Love Song for Bobby Long."
There was no mention of "Michael" (and no appearance by Nora Ephron, who directed Travolta in that one and in "Lucky Numbers"), "Look Who's Talking," "Battlefield Earth," "A Civil War," "The General's Daughter," "Ladder 49," "Swordfish," "Domestic Disturbance," "Basic" and "The Punisher."
And there were no appearances by his old pal, Rolling Stone magazine's Jann Wenner (I guess he wants to forget "Perfect") or Travolta's frequent co-star Olivia Newton-John - I can still remember them holding hands on talk shows when the god-awful "Two of a Kind" came out years ago.
"Pulp Fiction" director Quentin Tarantino was said to be "abroad."
Nevertheless, Travolta rose to the occasion when Winfrey called him onstage to speak. He turned out to be the most engaging of the night's toasters, doing dead-on imitations of James Cagney, Marlon Brando and even Barbara Stanwyck.
He recalled conversations with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly and an encounter with Elizabeth Taylor, and told about the best advice he ever received from a star.
It was at Oprah's house in Santa Barbara, and I was sitting on a couch with Julia Roberts. I told her I was worried that, now that I was 50, on TV they kept saying it was bad if you got up three times in the night to tinkle," Travolta said. "And she said, 'Don't drink water before you go to bed.' And I used to drink a pitcher of water before I went to bed. But then I realized, that's why she's Julia Roberts. It made that much sense."
John and his wife told me before the show started that they've each signed on to become commercial endorsers. Preston is now working with Neutrogena and Travolta is talking for Breitling watches.
"We'll be very clean and on time," they said.
UPDATE 11/22/04
Spotted on at least one of the entertainment shows, and on FilmForce that James Gandolfini has signed on to the upcoming Steven Zaillian remake of "All the King's Men," the Huey Long-inspired political thriller whose original screen incarnation in 1949 won Oscars for best picture and actor (Broderick Crawford).
Sean Penn would take over Crawford's role of Willie Stark, Jude Law was to play Jack Burden, and Jim would play Tiny Duffy.
UPDATE 11/18/04
'Sopranos' Stars Visit Troops Abroad
James Gandolfini, aka HBO mob boss Tony Soprano, poses with a bust of Saddam Hussein during a visit to Camp Doha, Kuwait.
Even TV mobsters have a soft spot for U.S. troops serving abroad.
James Gandolfini and Tony Sirico of HBO's "The Sopranos" are on a USO-Armed Forces Entertainment tour in the Persian Gulf, the USO said Wednesday.
Gandolfini, who stars as mob boss Tony Soprano, and Sirico, who plays Paulie Walnuts, were signing autographs, posing for pictures and watching movies with the troops, the organization said.
The trip is part of the USO-AFE tradition of bringing celebrities to the "front lines" of combat activities, the USO said. Among those who have participated this year are Wayne Newton, 50 Cent, Toby Keith, Tom Green and Rob Schneider.
It was not clear whether the actors visited Iraq. For security purposes, details about the trip were being withheld, including specific locations they were visiting and how long they were in the region, USO spokeswoman Donna St. John said.
UPDATE 11/17/04
James Gandolfini and Tony Sirico of HBO's 'The Sopranos' Visit Troops in the Persian Gulf Region
Source: Yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- James Gandolfini and Tony Sirico of the Emmy award-winning HBO drama, "The Sopranos" are on a USO/Armed Forces Entertainment (AFE) tour to "meet and greet" troops serving in the Persian Gulf region. They are signing autographs, posing for pictures, visiting job posts and watching movies with the troops. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031119/USO
Starring as series lead Tony Soprano, James Gandolfini began acting in New York Theater and made his Broadway debut in 1992 alongside Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange in "A Streetcar Named Desire." A New Jersey native, Gandolfini has more than 20 movies to his credit and has appeared in "The Mexican," "Eight Millimeter," "A Civil Action," "Get Shorty" and "True Romance." Most recently, he completed filming "Romance & Cigarettes," a feature film directed by John Turturro, with Joel and Ethan Coen producing. Gandolfini also appeared with USO tour veteran Ben Affleck in Mike Mitchell's "Surviving Christmas."
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Tony Sirico plays superstitious and hot- tempered Paulie Walnuts on the popular drama. Before landing the role on "The Sopranos," Sirico appeared on several television shows including "Cosby," "Miami Vice," "Kojak" and "Baretta." Also familiar to film fans, he has appeared in "Mickey Blue Eyes," "It Had To Be You," "Mighty Aphrodite," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Goodfellas," as well as 30 other feature films.
This trip begins the USO/AFE holiday tradition of bringing celebrities to the "front lines" of combat activities. Several of today's top talents have traveled into the region so far this year, including Wayne Newton, Rob Schneider, Neal McCoy, Tom Green, Henry Rollins, Toby Keith, and 50 Cent and G-Unit. Currently, the USO is partnering with AFE on more than a dozen holiday tours scheduled to visit troops around the globe.
For 63 years, the USO (United Service Organizations) has brought a touch of home to America's military personnel. The USO is a congressionally chartered, nonprofit organization and is not a government agency. The USO is supported by World Partners Amazon.com, AAHOA, AT&T, Avon Products, Inc., BAE SYSTEMS, Bass Pro Shops, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Clear Channel Worldwide, Coca- Cola, Computer Systems Center, Inc., ESPN, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., Lockheed Martin, Morgan Stanley, Ray-Ban, Reader's Digest, Sara Lee, S & K Sales Company, True.com, Ty Inc., USAA Foundation and The Walt Disney Company. Other corporate donors, including Walgreens and the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-0600), have joined thousands of individual donors to support the USO. For more information on the USO, please visit our Web site at http://www.uso.org/.
UPDATE 11/15/04
Source: PRNewswire
NEW YORK, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- In GQ magazine's December 2004 "Men of the Year" issue, cover subject James Gandolfini sits down for a rare interview with writer-at-large Chris Heath to talk about life, why he acts, and the challenges of playing Tony Soprano, the most mesmerizing character on modern TV. "I think some of his flaws are my flaws," Gandolfini says of Soprano. "And so you try to get away from them, and then you kind of get pulled in a little bit by playing them." Highlights of the interview include:
On Soprano's character traits: "It's a hard head to get into sometimes. I have a lot of fun at work too, don't get me wrong. I love the people I work with. But there are some days when you get to work and you're not angry enough, and you have to kind of get angrier and that's a little ... " He adds: "When I was younger, it was much more accessible."
When asked whether the show's upcoming sixth season will definitely be the last, Gandolfini replies: "I hope so." He quickly adds: "I shouldn't put it that distinctly. But I'm ready to go, I think. I've done this now from probably the age of 34 to 43. And that's enough."
On why he acts: "I think I feel a lot. I never wanted to do business or anything. People interest me, and the way things affect them. And I also have a big, healthy affinity for the middle class and the blue-collar and I don't like the way they're treated and I don't like the way the government is treating them now ... . And I think that if I kept it in, it wouldn't have been very good. I would have been fired a lot. So I found this silly way of living that allows me to occasionally stand up for them a little bit. And mostly make some good money and act like a silly fool."
On having turned down movie roles for being too violent given the violence viewers have seen on The Sopranos: "It's hard to win that battle because if you're too violent, people say you're too violent and if you're not violent, people say you're turning them into cuddly teddy bears. But I think the violence there is justified. I think occasionally it's been a little ridiculous. Not too often. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's justified, and there's consequences."
On recently being approached to play Ernest Hemingway: "I think I can play someone like that," he says. "I think he did all that stuff in his life for a reason -- some of the reason I think was he was in pain a lot of the time, and he needed to keep moving."
Gandolfini tells Heath about his recent induction to the Hall of Distinguished Alumni at Rutgers University, along with his old friend, the chef Mario Batali, with whom he'd get drunk and make pasta in their college days. "So the two of us were inducted after a microbiologist, someone who invented the patch for nicotine ... ten of these people, and then it was us, so I was like, 'Well, here's Heckle and Jeckle at the end.' It was nice, you know," he says.
If there is a new calmness about Gandolfini, he tells Heath that he largely credits it to one thing: "My son," he says of 5 year-old Michael. "And realizing that going around swearing and acting like an idiot is no good for anyone involved. As you get older, you realize that all that wind signifying nothing is silly sometimes."
On how important happiness is to him: "It wasn't for a long time. I didn't even mind wallowing in misery occasionally. I found that enjoyable. But when your son comes along, you want to try and show as much of the good stuff that's out there to him. Because there's plenty of good stuff."
Heath's article appears in the December 2004 issue of GQ, on newsstands nationwide Tuesday, November 23. GQ is the leading men's general-interest magazine and part of Conde Nast Publications, Inc.
UPDATE 10/13/04
Christmas Comes Early This Year...
"The Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, stars opposite Affleck in DreamWorks' "Surviving Christmas," a comedy about a man (played by Gandolfini) so neurotic that he doesn't have a family of his own, so he hires one for the holidays. Affleck is a member of that family.
Surviving Christmas opens nationwide Friday, October, 22, 2004.
UPDATE 10/8/04
FOR WHOM THE BEARD GROWS
Apparently, "The Sun Also Rises" isn't required reading at the Bada Bing.
James Gandolfini is set to play Ernest Hemingway in a movie, but the Sopranos capo admits he's largely unacquainted with the Nobel Prize-winner's work.
"I've read almost no Hemingway," Gandolfini told the New York Daily News at a fund-raiser for Finca Vigia, Hemingway's former home in Cuba.
Gandolfini got through New Jersey's Park Ridge High School and Rutgers University without reading even "The Old Man and the Sea" (Saddam Hussein's favorite novella), but doesn't feel it disqualifies him for the role.
"I wanted to read the script without knowing a lot about Hemingway," said the actor. "So I would see from that point of view - not the point of view of a Hemingway scholar."
Gandolfini went on to suggest that today's authors wouldn't be fit to make Papa a daiquiri, much less run the bulls in Pamplona with him.
"I don't know a lot of writers now who would go to a war just so they could write about it," he said. "He was a different breed. I don't know if it was that time or we are just slightly weaker."
UPDATE 9/24/04
James Gandolfini to Appear on Inside the Actors Studio
James Lipton will interview James Gandolfini on October 17, 2004, at 8:00 p.m. on Bravo.
UPDATE 9/21/04
UPDATE 9/20/04
'Sopranos' Gets Respect as HBO Sweeps Emmys
At the Emmy Awards, on stage, 'Sopranos" star James Gandolfini was cut off when he was trying to acknowledge an infantry unit in Iraq that had named their Bradley Fighting Vehicle after Tony Soprano's boat. Show director Louis Horvitz said cutting him off was not intentional.
UPDATE 9/10/04
Falco, Gandolfini, Bratt Read 110 Stories at Public, Sept. 10-11
UPDATE 9/6/04
'Sopranos' star Gandolfini hit by alleged drunk driver
Source: New Jersey Star-Ledger
Actor James Gandolfini was unhurt after a drunken driver plowed into his sport utility vehicle in downtown New Brunswick on Saturday, police said.
The actor, who plays mob boss Tony Soprano on the HBO series "The Sopranos," was in town for the Rutgers-Michigan State football game.
Gandolfini, a Rutgers alum, was driving along George Street in a black Chevrolet Avalanche when it was hit broadside at Albany Street by a Lincoln Town Car driven by 72-year-old Charles Collins, who police said ran a red light.
No one was injured in the crash, which occurred about 9:15 p.m., police said.
Collins was issued a summons for drunken driving and was released, police said.
Both vehicles were towed away, police said.
After the crash, Gandolfini and three friends who had been riding in his truck stopped for dinner at Harvest Moon on George Street.
UPDATE 8/23/04
Calling all Rutgers, Sopranos, Yankees and local sports fans. Mark September 10, 2004 on your calendars for a very exciting event. The inaugural Touchdown Club Sports and Celebrity Auction to benefit the Rutgers University Football Program is set to take place at the "RAC" on the Livingston campus in Piscataway, New Jersey. There will be one-time chances to bid on unique memorabilia, original artwork and opportunities to meet childhood heroes. Doors are set to open at 5:00 p.m. and bidding on silent auction items will start at 6:00 p.m. Upon conclusion of the silent auction, the live auction will promptly commence at 8:00 p.m.
A few highlighted live auction items include: a personally guided tour and lunch with Yogi Berra at his museum and learning center in Montclair, New Jersey; Lunch with Frederico Castellucio, "Furio" from the "Sopranos" at his New Brunswick eatery, Attilio's; vacation packages to Santa Fe and San Diego; A cast autographed script from the pilot episode of the "Sopranos"; a James Gandolfini autographed football and jersey; original artwork by world-famous sports artist, James Fiorentino, a golf threesome at the famed Baltsurol Country Club - site of the 2005 PGA Championship and a golf package and overnight stay at the Seaview Marriott Golf Resort.
TICKET INFO:
Tickets for non-Touchdown Club members are $10.00 in advance, $15.00 at the door. For Touchdown Club members, tickets are $5.00 in advance and $10.00 at the door. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance please contact Lisa Gonzalez of Rutgers Scarlet R at 732-932-3254 or 7629 or call Doug Dolan of the Touchdown Club at 973-334-6051.
UPDATE 8/19/04
The Importance of Being Ernest
by Gary Susman
James Gandolfini will play Ernest Hemingway. Robin Wright Penn may play war correspondent Martha Gellhorn in a movie about the couple's romance.
---------------
BIG PAPA Gandolfini wants to play Hemingway
James Gandolfini is shifting from Papa Soprano to Papa Hemingway. Variety reports that he'll play Ernest Hemingway in a film centering on the author's tumultuous romance with war correspondent Martha Gellhorn in the 1930s and '40s. "Pollock" screenwriter Barbara Turner, who knows from biopics of hard-living mid-century artists, is writing the screenplay. She says Robin Wright Penn is a possibility to play Gellhorn.
"She might have been the best war correspondent who ever lived, and she was the only woman who left Hemingway and asked for a divorce," Turner said of Gellhorn, who was an inspiration for Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." "She was drop-dead gorgeous, smart and funny, and they had a competitive, stormy but romantic relationship. She was one of the great romances of his life."
Gandolfini is a Hemingway fan who has supported the foundation that's restoring the Cuban home where the novelist wrote "The Old Man and the Sea." His managers are the untitled film's executive producers. He's expected to shoot the movie in January before returning to production on the sixth and final season of "The Sopranos."
UPDATE 7/26/04
NEW YORK - No "Sopranos" family members will get knocked off in 2005. That's because HBO has announced Thursday that the sixth and final season of the popular mob drama won't premiere until sometime in 2006.
UPDATE 7/16/04
HBO's 'The Sopranos' Leads Emmy Nominations
HBO's mobster saga "The Sopranos" led the field of prime-time series announced on Thursday as contenders for U.S.television's highest honors, with 20 Emmy nominations, including a nod for best drama. "Sopranos," rubbed out by "The West Wing" in three previous Emmy Award matchups, will compete again with the NBC political drama and two other nominees from last year -- Fox espionage thriller "24" and TV's highest-rated drama, CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
UPDATE 6/7/04
We're Thinking She's New to the Business
"The Sopranos" stars JAMES GANDOLFINI, EDIE FALCO and DOMINIC CHIANESE turned out for the Alzheimer's Association benefit and silent auction at the Pierre Hotel on Wednesday night. An impressive triumvirate. Ms. Falco told us the credit went to Mr. Gandolfini's fiancée, LORA SOMOZA.
Mr. Gandolfini, who with his slick shaved head and black suit resembled a very large penguin, stood in a corner and, through a publicist, declined to chat. But Ms. Somoza, down to earth and dynamic, was willing.
"My grandmother has Alzheimer's, so Jim knows that this has been a very passionate cause for me for quite some time," she said. "And he also shares the belief that we have to do as much as we can to raise funds and awareness. So when the foundation contacted me and said how much it meant having the story line from 'The Sopranos' about dementia and how much it raised awareness, we obviously wanted to be as much a part of it as we could." I grabbed James and said, "Find a shirt! Find a shirt!" (That would be for the auction, not because he was lying around the house in his undershirt. We pray.)
PETER GALLAGHER, whose mother has had Alzheimer's for 20 years, was the M.C. for the evening. Among items offered at the silent auction: a private tour of the gold vault at the Federal Reserve Bank with the "Apprentice" runner-up, KWAME JACKSON. (And we worried about what he'd do for a second act.)
Another popular item was a "Power Breakfast With the Penguins" at the Central Park Zoo. The opening bid was $800. We noticed Ms. Somoza writing down a $1,400 bid, under Mr. Gandolfini's name, and we tried our best not to stare at the cellphone number she wrote down. (No, we did not copy it down later, either.) Ms. Somoza said she told Mr. Gandolfini that if they won he'd have to take his son to see the penguins.
UPDATE 5/19/04
Source: NY Daily News
"Sopranos" Aid Schools
This might be the first time Paulie Walnuts swings a baseball bat at a round object that doesn't have ears.
On Saturday, May 22, Walnuts and the entire "Sopranos" crew will be doing mob hits, whacking softballs for "The Kids of Lower Manhattan" at Murry Bergtraum Park in the 2,000-seat ballpark at Cherry St. and Market Slip in an event called Stars and Strikes.
The lineup includes: James Gandolfini, Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Steven Schirripa, Johnny Ventimiglia, Ray Garvey, Michael Sullivan and other loyal button men from the HBO series.
They'll be playing popular DJ Goumba Johnny Saliano and other WKTU radio personalities, including Balthazar, Broadway Bill Lee, Vic the Latino and Joe Causi.
Sid Rosenberg, of WFAN, will be doing the announcing (if he's not sleeping with the fishes for revealing a future "Sopranos" plot development on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show last week.)
Tickets for the Stars and Strikes are $25, $10 for kids in advance. They're $35 and $15 on the day of the event. There will be a street festival from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., with the softball game from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
If you want to meet the "Sopranos" and your favorite WKTU personalities, here's your chance to do it.
"There will be several raffles," says Pam Tucker, a spokeswoman for the PTA of Public School and Intermediate School 89, two schools closed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that will receive proceeds from the fund-raiser. "One of the raffles will pick five winners who get to go out and actually play softball with the celebrities."
"I wanna see how Tony Sirico runs the bases without getting his shoes dirty," says Schirripa, who plays Bobby Baccala on "The Sopranos," and who is one of the organizers of this charity event. "But mostly I want to help out the kids in lower Manhattan. I grew up in Bensonhurst. I went to PS 163 and IS 201 and Lafayette High and Brooklyn College. New York City public education has been very, very good to me."
So when Schirripa moved from Las Vegas to Battery Park City last year, he placed his kids in the local public schools, PS 89 and IS 89.
"These are great schools, and I want my kid to get that well-rounded public education, where they meet people from every walk of New York life," Schirripa says, adding that IS 89 draws students from all five boroughs. "Michael Imperioli lives down here, and he sends his kids to the local schools, too. Jimmy Gandolfini lives in lower Manhattan, and so does one of our directors, Tim Van Patten.
"The schools down here are some of the best in the city. As good as they are in Vegas, where they like to brag about how the gambling gave them the best school system in the country. So, to give back, I wanted to do something to help raise money for these local schools."
Pam Tucker says that a portion of the proceeds will go to the Battery Park and Stuyvesant Little Leagues.
"But the bulk of the money will be used for the IS and PS 89 PTA," Tucker says. "We fund enrichment programs not provided for in the Board of Ed budgets, for things like arts, music, drama and the library. Because we're so close to Ground Zero, our schools were closed after 9/11, and this building, which houses both schools, was taken over by the Office of Emergency Management. We've been on the rebound since. And this fundraiser by these generous celebrities will be a big boost for these kids of lower Manhattan."
For tickets, call TicketMaster at (212) 307-7171. For event information, call (212) 242-7117.
UPDATE 5/18/04
Spotted on World Entertainment News Network Wire May 17th:
Winslet's "Romance & Cigarettes" Set Goes Up in Smoke
British actress Kate Winslet was caught up in a real life drama on the set of upcoming movie Romance & Cigarettes - when a fire broke out. The Titanic beauty was filming a fantasy sequence with on- screen love interest James Gandolfini in which he dreams of becoming a firefighter and rescuing her from a burning building. In between takes, the special effects sparked onto a beam in the abandoned building and started burning. Luckily a group of off-duty New York firefighters were on set to serenade Winslet in the scene and were able to rush to the aid of the panicking film crew. A movie insider says, "Kate was never in any real danger." Trucks from a nearby FDNY rushed to the set and actor Steve Buscemi, who was a fireman before starting his acting career, also helped dampen the flames. Fortunately no-one was hurt during the fire, which took an hour to put out.
UPDATE 4/21/04
Rutgers is Giving Tough Guy a Hall Pass
BY KELLY HEYBOER
Star - Ledger Staff
Who says crime doesn't pay? Tony Soprano is about to land a spot among the academic stars and Nobel Prize winners in Rutgers University's hall of fame.
James Gandolfini, who plays the New Jersey mob boss on HBO's "The Sopranos," will be one of 11 Rutgers graduates inducted into the state university's Hall of Distinguished Alumni, school officials announced yesterday.
The 1983 Rutgers College graduate will join television chef Mario Batali, basketball star Eddie Jordan and other honorees at a May 1 gala dinner in East Brunswick.
Are Rutgers officials worried about hanging a photo of a fictional crime boss beside images of civil rights pioneer Paul Robeson and Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman?
Fuhgeddaboutit.
"I'm sure some alumni will be upset when they hear it. ... They think he's Tony Soprano," said Cal Maradonna, Rutgers' associate vice president of alumni relations.
But Gandolfini, the actor, has the respect of many of his fellow Rutgers graduates, Maradonna said. In a recent poll of Rutgers alumni, he came in second behind Robeson.
"In the entertainment world, James Gandolfini is probably the most recognizable Rutgers graduate," Maradonna said. "The acting world has recognized him for his talent. He's a great actor."
Gandolfini's film appearances have included roles in "Get Shorty," "Crimson Tide," "True Romance," "A Civil Action" and "Fallen."
This year's induction ceremony at the East Brunswick Hilton is already a hot ticket. The gala, which usually sells about 300 tickets, has already sold 470 tickets. The university plans to cap attendance at 500.
Media-shy Gandolfini is expected to dine on surf-and-turf with his fellow inductees. He also will collect a custom-made bronze sculpture and certificate presented to members of the Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
It will not be Rutgers' first brush with show biz. Last year, the university inducted Calista Flockhart into the hall of fame. The "Ally McBeal" star brought along beau Harrison Ford to the dinner.
Gandolfini has had a good relationship with his alma mater, where he majored in communications. The Emmy winner has starred in commercials and billboard ads for the Rutgers athletics program.
This year's 11 inductees join 156 members of the Hall of Distinguished Alumni. The hall, started in 1987 by the Rutgers University Alumni Federation, is housed on the second floor of Winants Hall on the New Brunswick campus.
[The other inductees were listed at this point. The only ones familiar to me were Batali, co-star of the forthcoming Iron Chef "us vs them" thingie, and Jeff Torborg, whose baseball career included multiple stops in New York.]
UPDATE 3/19/04
Source: NY Post Page Six
March 19, 2004 -- NEW YORK. FLICK TO BARE ANOTHER SIDE OF TONY SOPRANO
The restaurant/real estate/now movie-making capital of the world. You've heard of GreeneStreet Films. So named because it's on Greene Street. This is an independent company downtown. So independent, so downtown that when I first visited a few sweltering summers ago, founders Fisher Stevens and John Penotti only put on the air conditioner while I was there. Anyway, about their new production, "Romance and Cigarettes," which starts filming here as we speak.
"It's a musical with singing and dancing, but the stars in it are not basically thought of as singers and dancers," said Fisher Stevens. "Like James Gandolfini."
James "Tony Soprano" Gandolfini singing?
"Not actually singing. He's not exactly Bruce Springsteen. He's lip- synching."
James Gandolfini dancing?
"I haven't said he's actually dancing. I only said there's dancing in it. I'll also say he's working hard with John Turturro, who is the director as well as its creator and writer. John's been working on this for years and all this time, as he's writing it, he's had James Gandolfini in his head."
"Susan Sarandon plays his wife. They're a blue-collar family in Queens with all the trials and tribulations. It's funky and it's sexy. Mary-Louise Parker and Mandy Moore play their daughters. Kate Winslet is the one who causes a problem in their marriage. And Christopher Walken, who's a really great dancer, plays the crazy cousin in the family."
"It's an eight-week shoot and, naturally, most of it gets shot in Queens."
So, Fish, you in it, too?
"Little part. Little, little part. See, that's my role in GreeneStreet. If somebody doesn't show for work or some actor calls in last minute that he can't make it, they call and say, 'Hey, Fish, you'll fill in, OK?' "
Then: "But, listen, call Turturro. I can't say more. I'm not allowed to tell you more. If I do more I get in trouble."
UPDATE 3/9/04
Here's a brand-new interview with James Gandolfini by Rebecca Brill Moody for New Jersey Monthly:
http://www.njmonthly.com/issues/Mar04/gandolfini.html.
UPDATE 3/5/04
Source: Z-100
James Gandolfini and Eddie Falco will be guests on Seasame Street.
UPDATE 2/27/04
HBO Announces Sixth Season for 'Sopranos'
Source: The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Tony Soprano -- or at least the HBO series that bears his name -- will be sticking around awhile longer.
HBO announced that it has agreed with producers of the award-winning mob drama for a sixth season. The cast currently is wrapping up production on the fifth season, which will begin in March 2005.
The sixth season will consist of 10 episodes, shorter than the 13-episode seasons "The Sopranos" usually offers, HBO spokeswoman Tobe Becker said Thursday.
It's widely assumed that the sixth season will be the last one for "The Sopranos." Then again, it was widely assumed the fifth season would, too.
Series creator David Chase signaled the intention to keep going last week in an interview with the New York Daily News.
"I'd planned out an arc for season five that would have ended the show," he said. "But as we're getting into it, we're finding there's a lot more material. We could cram it into 13 episodes, but I don't know that it's the right thing to do."
Chase and his production team began negotiations that led to the extra 10-episode season.
Production for the sixth season will start in early 2005. No air dates have been set.
UPDATE 2/22/04
The Sopranos: Season 5 begins Sunday, March 7th, 2004 on HBO at 9PM/8C.
UPDATE 1/9/04
Actor Gandolfini Conflicted About 'Sopranos' Role
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:17 p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's not easy being Tony Soprano, so actor James Gandolfini has some mixed feelings about playing television's most conflicted mob boss.
"I'm not ready to say goodbye to the character, but I'm not going to miss him," Gandolfini said on Thursday as the hit HBO series "The Sopranos" heads into its fifth season after a 15-month hiatus.
"He's got a lot of rage, and you have to scrape that up...Eight or nine months a year, 14-hours a day, it starts to take its toll after a while," he said.
Gandolfini spoke about his Emmy-winning role during HBO's presentation at the winter press tour of the Television Critics Association in Hollywood.
Especially challenging, he said, was production of the previous season's critically celebrated season finale, in which Tony Soprano and his wife, Carmela, played by Edie Falco, split up in a hail of acrimony.
"Having gone through something similar personally, it was difficult having to dredge those things up," said Gandolfini, whose real-life marriage ended in divorce in December 2002, as the show's fourth season drew to a close. "Sometimes it was very hard to do some of those scenes."
Just this week, Gandolfini, 42, revealed he was newly engaged, to a woman he met on the set of the film "The Mexican."
"The Sopranos" returns to the premium cable channel, a unit of AOL Time Warner, for 10 more episodes starting on Sunday, March 7, and creator/executive producer David Chase said the series will pick up where it left off.
The show will introduce some new characters as a number of fictional mobsters serving lengthy prison sentences get out of jail and start hitting the streets as the "class of 2004," Chase said.
One of them is played by actor Steve Buscemi, who is joining the cast as Tony Soprano's maternal cousin, Tony Blundetto.
Declining to give away too many plot points of upcoming episodes, Chase said the fifth season overall "has to do with the limitations of family relationships and friendships in a materialist world."
"Tony Soprano is sort of a maturer boss. He's been doing this for a while now, and he's learning what it takes to be a leader despite his feelings," he said.
As for the longer-term future of the show, Chase said he planned to wrap up the series after a sixth season of 10 more episodes, but no production or air date has been set.
UPDATE 1/8/04
Source: Liz Smith, NY POST
Yes, it's true - "Sopranos" mob man James Gandolfini proposed to his sweetie, Lora Somoza. No, they haven't the foggiest idea when they'll make it legal. They are simply happily engaged. (HBO's acclaimed gangster soap-opera returns March 7, 2004.)
The duo met four years ago on the set of The Mexican, in which Gandolfini played a lovable, bearish gangster, while Somoza worked as an assistant to the film's director, Gore Verbinski.
