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‘The Sopranos’ Creator Worried James Gandolfini Wasn’t “Threatening Enough”

More than 25 years later, it seems impossible to imagine anyone other than James Gandolfini in the role of Tony Soprano.

But The Sopranos creator David Chase was initially worried the actor wasn’t “threatening enough” to play the mafia boss in the acclaimed HBO drama series that ran for six seasons from 1999 to 2007, according to an excerpt from Jason Bailey’s Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend. “Oh my God, I think I have Tony Soprano,” Gandolfini’s manager Nancy Sanders recalled after reading the script in the excerpt shared by Vulture. “When he finally settled down and really did a reading, it was just obvious,” said Chase, but Gandolfini wasn’t sold on the HBO series, which eventually earned him three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.

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