Drea de Matteo He participated in the new HBO documentary The Smart Guy: David Chase and The Sopranosbut that doesn't mean I'm happy with the result.
De Matteo, 52, took issue with the way the film portrayed her late Sopranos co-star. James Gandolfinisaying it made the late actor look like “a beast.”
“When I saw the film at Tribeca and saw the part about James Gandolfini, I was horrified. I was really disgusted,” she told the BBC exclusively. We weekly while promoting the relaunch of her clothing line, ULTRA FREE“Why take the easiest thing about Jim’s character and run with it, and reduce him to a one-dimensional character who’s not much different from Tony Soprano, when that’s not what he was?”
De Matteo played Adriana La Cerva, the girlfriend of Tony Soprano's nephew, Christopher (Michael Imperioli), on the hit HBO series. He appeared in the first five seasons, from 1999 to 2004, and recalled Gandolifini as “a fantastic actor who would never, ever do anything less than go completely where he needed to go to play that character.”
Gandolfini died of a heart attack in 2013, six years after The Sopranos De Matteo said the way he was portrayed in the documentary was another way for HBO to profit from the late actor's work.
“[They] “They painted him as some kind of beast, and I find that shameful,” he continued. “They took the actor who made that network millions and millions of dollars, changed the face of television and sensationalized him to make another damn dollar at his expense.”
Drea De Matteo as Adriana La Cerva, James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
HBO (2)The documentary delved into Gandolfini's mental and emotional struggles throughout the series, addressing his substance abuse and his habit of “quitting” the show or not showing up for work, only to be convinced to return.
Edie Falcowho played Gandolfini's on-screen wife, Carmela Soprano, speculated in Wise boy that the Emmy-winning actor may have ended up “taking [his] work from home” with him. Creator of the program David Chase shared a similar sentiment, comparing Gandolfini to the character he played.
The Sopranos premiered on HBO in January 1999, and over its six-season run introduced viewers to actors who would eventually become huge stars. The late James Gandolfini starred as New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano for the entirety of the iconic show. Fans took Tony and his family – Carmela Soprano (Edie Soprano) – to the big screen. […]
“He was a really good guy and very complicated,” Chase said. “You could say, and I’m not sure about this, that maybe there was more to Tony than he wanted to admit. That it was too easy for him.”
James Gandolfini and David Chase on the set of 'The Sopranos'
HBODe Matteo does not remember it exactly the same way. She said: Us about Gandolfini's commitment to his character and the show, adding that it's not fair to criticize him now, 11 years after his death.
“He’s not here to speak for himself, and all of us are,” she said. “And we can all say we had a blast, but nobody had the respect that he had to be there every day and give a top-notch performance that will shake America. And it was a huge snub, I thought, and a huge lack of respect.”
We weekly has contacted HBO for comment.
James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano and Drea De Matteo as Adriana La Cerva
HBOLike her character, De Matteo is not afraid to speak her mind. This is reflected in the messages she promotes through ULTRAFREE, which she says is about “trying to make freedom cool again” at a time when much of America is divided along ideological lines.
“Lately, the whole concept of freedom has shifted to the right of politics, when it was always on the left,” he said. “We need to come together again and stand in the middle, hold hands, huddle together and remember that this whole political mess actually starts with us.”
The Smart Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos is now available on HBO and Max.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi