“James Gandolfini was real. He was special. You could feel it”
“Friends felt it,” says Matt Zoller Seitz, who first met Gandolfini in late 1998, covering “The Sopranos” for New Jersey’s Star-Ledger, just before the HBO series premiered. “Colleagues felt it,” he says. “People who talked to him for five minutes and never saw him again felt it. People who never met him in person and knew him only through his performance on ‘The Sopranos’ felt it. It was real. It was deep. It was true. James Gandolfini had an authentic connection with viewers. Everyone who watched him perform, in a starring role or a bit part, came away feeling understood.”
–Tony Soprano wasn’t fully formed until Gandolfini beat out Steven Van Zandt and Michael Rispoli
–Without Gandolfini, there would be no Walter White, Carrie Mathison, Vic Mackey
–Steven Van Zandt: “I have lost a brother and a best friend”
–Gandolfini’s performance as Tony Soprano will never be equaled
–Gandolfini in 1999 was extremely uncomfortable with his sudden fame
–He was always unfailingly humble about his achievement
–Watch Gandolfini’s “SNL” cameo // Fans pack “Sopranos” finale diner
-Is Amazon using Gandolfini’s death to sell “Sopranos” DVDs?
–Gilles Marini: Gandolfini was taking a “boy trip” with his to Italy
-In 1988, Gandolfini was a 26-year-old struggling actor, apartment hopping with garbage bags
–Gandolfini’s unfinished projects: From CBS’ “Taxi-22” to HBO’s “Criminal Justice”
Stephen Colbert pays an emotional tribute to his mom
“When you watch the show, if you also like me, that’s because of my mom,” Colbert said in his cold opening in tribute to Lorna Colbert, who died last week at 92.
Netflix renews “Hemlock Grove” for a shorter 2nd season
Season 2 will have 10 episodes instead of 13.
NBC gives “The Office” stars a scrapbook
Check out the scrapbook marking all nine seasons.