BUZZ BOOK: ‘The Sopranos’
While shooting the first season of “The Sopranos” back in 1998, the crew was rehearsing a funeral scene where Junior Soprano, played by Dominic Chianese, remarked that the deceased once performed a certain sexual act on him.
Unfortunately, the real-life owner of the West Village funeral home where they were filming overheard the line.
“The owner told [the staff] that it’s a family business, and that you can’t say that kind of thing about a corpse in his establishment,” writes Mark Kamine, a “Sopranos” location manager and author of, “On Locations: Lessons Learned From My Life On Set With The Sopranos And In The Film Industry,” (Steerforth, Feb. 6)
The show’s creator, David Chase, initially agreed to change the line to “She’s got great legs,” but quickly thought otherwise, abandoning the location and having the crew build a funeral set on a soundstage instead.
In addition to taking readers behind the scenes for a bird’s-eye view of how a television show like “The Sopranos” — now celebrating the 25th year since its debut — comes together, Kamine recalls his time around the show’s star, James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack in 2013 at age 51.
Kamine notes that as the show became a hit, Gandolfini, increasingly uncomfortable with the spotlight, became both more generous and more unreliable, and was often frustrated by his own missteps while filming.
After a shoot where he forgot some lines, Kamine writes that Gandolfini was reduced to tears
“He shakes his head, referring to himself in the third person when he says, ‘Look at him, can’t cry for the camera and now he can’t stop,’ ” Kamine writes.
Kamine recalls a night during the show’s final season in 2007 where, after shooting in Florida, the cast and crew wound up on the beach.
Given everyone’s level of drunkenness, Kamine said that it might not be the safest idea, noting the size of the waves. Gandolfini, Kamine writes, “nods, one of those smirking, evaluative looks on his face.”
As Gandolfini headed into the water, he looked back at Kamine just before submerging himself in the ocean. “What,” he said to Kamine. “You’re gonna save me?”