Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Edie Falcois reflecting on the bond she shared with her late costar and onscreen husbandJames Gandolfini.
Falco, 58, acted alongside Gandolfini through all six seasons ofThe Sopranos,playing Carmela Soprano, a fan favorite and the wife of Tony Soprano (Gandolfini). Her late costardiedin 2013 at age 51 after suffering aheart attackin Rome. Nearly a decade after his death, Falco remembered Gandolfini’s legacy and their relationship in a Sunday interview withThe New Yorker.
“We had such a strangely specific, similar way that we work, and a similar background. I don’t know how to explain this,” she said of working with Gandolfini. “We were just really regular middle-class, suburban kids that were never supposed to become famous actors.”
Barry Wetcher / © HBO / Courtesy: Everett Collection
The stars were born within years of each other — he in 1961, and she in 1963 — and grew up in the greater New York area. Falco is from Brooklyn, while Gandolfini was raised in New Jersey.
In Falco’s eyes, she and her costar both approached their roles in the David Chase hit with an upbeat approach that made work fun.
“He was totally un-actor-y, and was incredibly self-deprecating, and he was a real soulmate in that regard. We did not spend a lot of time talking about the scripts,” she said. “It was like when you see two kids playing in the sandbox, completely immersed in their imaginary world. That’s what it felt like acting opposite Jim.”
Falco is not the onlySopranoscast member to remember Gandolfini in such high regard. Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio Dante on the series, toldTodayin 2019that working with Gandolfini improved his own performances.
“As I’ve said a thousand times, you do a scene with Jimmy Gandolfini, you walk away a better actor,” Van Zandt said.
In a tribute posted toInstagramlast month,Sopranosstar Michael Imperioli marked what would have been Gandolfini’s 60th birthday.
“Today I am reminded how fortunate I am to have acted beside you more than I ever did (or ever will, most likely) with anyone else. What a privilege,” Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti, wrote. “Thank you for the friendship, generosity and kindness.”
source: people.com
