Chase, who also directed Gandolfini in the film Not Fade Away, a sweet portrait of north Jersey and early rock dreams, said: "James was a genius. Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes. I remember telling him many times, 'You don't get it. You're like Mozart.' There would be silence at the other end of the phone," Chase recalled.