The disastrous intervention that could have changed James Gandolfini’s life
Even when at the peak of his career and starring in one of the greatest TV shows of all time, James Gandolfini still found himself in a constant battle against his demons.
The actor initially denied that his addiction issues had become so prevalent that he underwent rehab, but when documents were threatened to be made public in the midst of his divorce from first wife Marcy Wudarski, his spokesman confirmed that the actor had sought treatment for cocaine and alcohol problems in 1998, which was the same year the first season of The Sopranos would have been shooting.
Success only exacerbated his dependencies, though, with Gandolfini famously withdrawn during press commitments, but headlining a seminal series and winning a Golden Globe and three Primetime Emmys for his performance as Tony Soprano made the spotlight unavoidable.
James Andrew Miller’s book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers (per Insider) detailed the lengths to which the network’s executives had gone to in order to try and stage an intervention. After two days of what were called “rehearsals”, the actor found his friends and family waiting to confront him.
The Sopranos creator David Chase and other associates were also present, with a private jet having already been chartered to take him to rehab. Instead, Gandolfini realised what was happening and said, “Oh, fuck this. Fuck all of you”, before storming out, daring HBO’s then-CEO Chris Albrecht to fire him.
It was never publicly revealed whether or not Gandolfini ever returned to rehab at any point before his death in June 2013 at the age of only 51, but tales of his alcohol and drug-fuelled difficulties would continue to emerge. The book would note that “Gandolfini misdemeanours mounted” as he embarked on regular “disruptive disappearances” that would halt production and ultimately cost millions in lost shooting time.
Co-star Steve Schirripa would also reveal that Gandolfini and Michael Imperioli got so drunk on set during a break in filming near a cliffside that the production crew “had to chain their legs to a tree” to guarantee neither of them would take an inebriated stumble over the edge and plummet to their doom.
As the book noted of the fateful intervention that never was, it “lasted ten seconds”. Gandolfini had “sized up the situation in a snap” and then dashed out of there as fast as he could. Following his death from a heart attack, there were suspicions that his drug and alcohol problems may have been a contributing factor, but the autopsy report detailed that there were no “suspicious factors” when determining the cause of death.
Not to suggest that had he not stormed out of the intervention, it could have guaranteed beyond doubt that Gandolfini would be alive today, but as reports continued to emerge of his behaviour causing friction behind the scenes, it may have had the potential to at least stem them somewhat.
