James Gandolfini. photo: Barry Wetcher

Nicole Holofcener, the director of ‘Enough Said’ stated in an interview that the late ‘Sopranos’ actor was actually hesitant when it came to his role in her movie, going as far as insisting the names of other actors that were more “suited” for the role, Hit the jump for more detail!

Adriela Batista

Gandolfini felt as though other actors would better fit the role in Holofcener’s new film “Enough Said”. Gandolfini even suggested Alec Baldwin for the role of a newly divorced man, who falls for a masseuse while coping with his daughter going away to college. Yet Halofcener had all of the confidence that the Soprano’s actor could pull it off.

“He would list some actors he thought could do a much better job,” Holofcener said in a recent interview. “I felt confident he could do this part. More than he did. He was quite certain that he couldn’t pull it off.”

The film made Gandolfini step out of his tough comfort zone, transitioning him into a soft teddy bear of a care giver through his role. Director Holofcener received opinions from those doubting the capabilities of diversity in Gandolfinni yet she assured all that this is nothing new for the actor:

“I didn’t feel like I was taking a risk,” Holofcener said. “A lot of people said, `Oh, no one’s ever seen him in a role like this.’ But if you watch `The Sopranos,’ he has an enormous range. That character wasn’t just a bully.”

The late great Gandolfini passed away from a heart attack in June and this is considered one of the last projects that he had worked on prior to his death. Following is the release of his last project a Brooklyn crime film “Animal Rescue” scheduled to hit theaters next year.

The director stated that premiering the film in Toronto during the international film festival, without Gandolfini, “is “bittersweet.”

“I really wish he could have seen the finished film,” she said, “because hopefully he would have seen how lovely he is in it.”

Via HuffPost