Shocking cannot describe the news of actor James Gandolfini’s death. I was initially taken aback by the death but I went on with my day exchanging “did you hears” and “can you believes” with friends, family and acquaintances. As the number of Rest In Peace messages grew I saw that James had touched more than the Hollywood but America. He was a steady working actor, who rocketed to “overnight” fame, as it’s always so callously described, when he took part in creating one of television’s iconic characters, New Jersey mob boss Anthony Soprano. I recall seeing the posters promoting the upcoming HBO series, with this slight of hair, doughy faced guy with a thousand yard stare and stood above the mantra, “If one family doesn’t kill him the other one will”. To say the least my interest had been piqued, because I love the normalcy of unique characters. In my younger days, I knew of people who walked across “the line” daily, but had responsibilities like getting their kids to school or getting their oil changed. And James Gandolfini brought that to the character of Tony Soprano. After the initial thirteen episodes I was hooked on the show and everyone’s favorite mob boss. . I mean without him saying a word, his Italian heritage and physical presence equated Tony Soprano but I didn’t know of Gandolfini’s earlier work, so I was one to believe this character was not a stretch for him. It’s like going to see megastars in films, the Will Smiths, the Tom Cruises, the Tom Hanks—sure you’re they’re actors but we’re paying for their own personalities in a role. I am one of these people who like to see actors do a varied amount of roles. Many audience goers say they want that but they deep down they like their Robert Deniros running an arm of the mafia, their Tom Cruises smirking and their Will Smiths dropping their “brother man” spiel. It wasn’t until I saw Mr. Gandolfini in a probably forgotten film titled The Last Castle. He would be antagonist to Robert Redford’s protagonist. The film was about Redford, a decorated but shamed war hero, being sent to a military prison under the wardenship of Gandolfini’s character, who was a peace time officer. Gandolfini’s character studied war like, a gamer studies the latest game platform or hottest game on the street. His character was kind of a fan Redford’s character, who didn’t really show him the respect he thought he deserved for his knowledge of war. Gandolfini’s character didn’t take kindly to it and became a prick to the Nth degree and the poster child for Napoleonic complex or what I would call “little dick disease”. He was nothing like the character that made him, well a “made man” in Hollywood. James left Tony Soprano back at a Silvercup Studios sound stage in NYC when he cut his teeth on this role. It may be just my perspective but I felt I was watching a man determined to make sure you realized that he was not the son of Livia Soprano or a regular at the Bada Bing. I as many continued to watch The Sopranos as appointment TV, but if I heard James was in a piece I was looking for him. I would see him in many non-gangster roles in 8MM, the Coen Brothers The Man Who Wasn’t There, Zero Dark Thirty, as Carol in Where The Wild Things Are and most recently as a dick of a casino owner in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. I truly enjoyed seeing him in these anti-mob roles, interviews because it showed me what a soft spoken person he was and what a true talent we had and have lost. But to think a man could play a pornographer, a dick general, a man lying about his military experience, Leon Panetta and well a Wild Thing in a ten year span but once we heard the opening bass line of A3’s Woke Up This Morning he transformed into Tony Soprano. I couldn't understand why this man whom I only knew via 40 inch televisions or 30 foot movie screens touched myself and so many until my wife said, "I actually expected to see him again before some family members" and I was taken aback by that thought. Though it may be via media because of distance or busy lives there's a great chance we would see Mr. Gandolfini again before we may have seen some of our own family members. I don’t know how much truth there was to it but it’s rumored that he had a Twitter Account and his only Tweet was “call me James, call me Jim, call me Jim but I’m not Tony”. On that note I say Rest In Peace, James.
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