The ‘Sopranos’ star who disguised himself as Christopher Nolan to “have some anonymity”
He might be an A-list director and one of the biggest directors of the modern era, but Christopher Nolan isn’t a world-renowned celebrity who can’t really go anywhere or do anything without being hounded by the paparazzi and swarmed by throngs of adoring fans.
The Academy Award-winning auteur is a distinctive-looking chap, though, defined by his career-long sartorial choices of floppy hair and a crisp suit, inevitably paired with the trusted Thermos of tea that he carries with him everywhere he goes, which means it isn’t difficult to pick him out in a crowd.
Is there much crossover between The Sopranos aficionados and Nolan diehards? Possibly, since the former is one of the greatest TV shows ever made, and the latter is one of cinema’s most consistently acclaimed filmmakers. However, one actor was hoping that the cross-pollination would be kept to a minimum.
Some stars have been known to either obscure their faces or wear disguises when they go out in public, even if Kevin Bacon hated being a regular guy for a day when he did it, but paying homage to the director of the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Oppenheimer is nothing if not an interesting tactic.
When Joe Pantoliano made his Sopranos debut as Ralph Cifaretto, a role that would win him a Primetime Emmy for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series’, in the second episode of the third season, Memento was less than two weeks away from premiering in cinemas. Since it was fresh in his memory, he opted to channel the spirit of Christopher Nolan to evade prying eyes.
Since it was one of the most popular and talked-about shows on the air, anyone who played a major role in David Chase’s episodic masterpiece saw their profile rise exponentially. Pantoliano had been a recognisable character actor for years at that point already, but he still wanted to enjoy his everyday life.
To do so, he wore a hairpiece, and he knew just who to model it on. “The wig I had them build as an homage to Chris Nolan,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I like Chris’ hair. And I told David, ‘I live in Hoboken, New Jersey. That’s the epicentre of Soprano-land. I want to have some anonymity’. I wanted to be able to walk down the street.”
Memento may have been the movie that put Nolan on the map, but it was still only his second feature, and he wouldn’t become a household name as a director until Batman Begins arrived in 2005. If someone tried to dress up as him today in order to hide from view, someone would probably point and say, ‘Oi, that guy looks an awful lot like Christopher Nolan’, and you could only imagine their shock were they to discover it was Joe Pantoliano instead.
In the early 2000s, nobody outside of industry circles really knew he was, so the disguise would pass at least a little bit of muster. There aren’t many connections between Nolan and The Sopranos, but the man dubbed ‘Joey Pants’ homaging his hairstyle is undoubtedly the most unusual.
