The character Tony Soprano seems inextricably linked to the legacy of James Gandolfini — so much so that HBO paid the late actor $3 million to keep it that way.
During Monday’s episode of “
Talking Sopranos” — a podcast hosted by “The Sopranos” co-stars Michael Imperioli, 55, and Steve Schirripa, 63 — it was revealed that Gandolfini had been offered a role to replace the character Michael Scott as branch manager of Dunder Mifflin on “The Office,” following Steve Carell’s departure from the NBC show in 2011.
The co-hosts spoke to Ricky Gervais, the British actor and comedian who played David Brent in the original BBC series that inspired Carell’s Michael Scott in the American version.
Gervais, 60, was discussing just that when Imperioli, who played Tony’s nephew Christopher Moltisanti, interjected, “You know, they talked about having Gandolfini at one point replace him [Steve Carell] — did you know that?”
Then Schirripa, who played Tony’s brother-in-law Bobby Baccalieri in “The Sopranos,” picked up the story for Imperioli: “I think before James Spader and after [Steve] Carell, they offered Jim, I want to say, $4 million to play him for the season — and HBO paid him $3 million not to do it,” he said, concluding, “That’s a fact.”
“The Sopranos” wrapped after six seasons in 2007 — four years before Carell would depart from his starring role in “The Office,” leaving space for Gandolfini to step in, had HBO not put the kibosh on the idea.
“Well, that’s a good decision,” Gervais said of the move. Schirripa continued: “Jim [Gandolfini] was going do it because he hadn’t worked, and it was a number of years removed from when the show ended.”
“So they paid him that to keep the legacy of ‘The Sopranos’ pure?” Gervais asked.
Ricky Gervais created and starred in the original BBC series “The Office” from 2001 to 2003; it later inspired the American version.WireImage
“I guess that and also he had a deal with them,” Schirripa answered, adding, “ ’The Night Of,’ he was developing that” — referring to the HBO crime thriller that wouldn’t debut until 2016, about three years after Gandolfini’s death