HBO Apparently Paid James Gandolfini A Ton Of Money To Not Join ‘The Office’ After Steve Carell Left
We already knew the late, greatJames Gandolfini, best known for his work on HBO’sThe Sopranos, was in the running to join NBC’sThe OfficewhenSteve Carellleft the show. What we didn’t know, however, was that HBO paid Gandolfini $3 million not to take the part.
In a recent episode of theTalking Sopranospodcast(viaThe Hollywood Reporter),SopranosactorsMichael ImperioliandSteve Schirripashared how Gandolfini was once in the running to head to Scranton, Pennsylvania and Dunder Mifflin.
“I think before James Spader and after [Steve] Carell, they offered Jim — I want to say $4 million — to play him for the season, and HBO paid him $3 million not to do it,” Schirripa told podcast guest Ricky Gervais, creator of the original U.K. version ofThe Office. “That’s a fact.”
In theYouTube videoof theTalking Sopranosepisode, Gervais' facial expression when hearing the story suggests he had feelings of incredulity mixed with muted horror at the idea of Gandolfini joining the popular comedy series. When Schirripa ended by saying Gandolfini chose to take the $3 million, Gervais looked visibly relieved. “Well that’s a good decision,” he said.
I can understand Gervais' hesitancy, though I am sad we never got to see a Gandolfini version ofThe Office. What would his version of a bumbling office manager have been like?
Keep the Legacy of The Sopranos “Pure?”
So why didn’t Gandolfini take the part? $3 million, I suppose, is reason enough. And according to Schirripa, Gandolfiniwasconsidering it at the time, as it had been several years sinceThe Sopranoshad ended.
I’m sure walking away fromThe Officeand toward an easy $3 million made things easier. But then that asks another question —whydid HBO pay him for that? Gervais had the same question. “They paid him that to keep the legacy ofThe Sopranospure?” he asked.
Schirripa didn’t think so. “He also had a deal with them,” Schirripa explained, referencing HBO. “He was doingThe Night Of.”
The Night Ofwas an HBO limited series crime drama, and Gandolfini had shot a pilot episode in 2012 but sadly passed away before production could continue.John Turturroultimately played the role Gandolfini was supposed to, and the series came out on HBO in 2016.
We’ll sadly never know what Gandolfini would have been like inThe Office. He was undoubtedly an amazing actor and while he didn’t have the chance to test his comedic chops much, I bet he would have done a memorable job.
