The Sopranos cast tells all... as even James Gandolfini admits the ending left him baffled



It was the ending that left fans confused, baffled and outraged.

But now even James Gandolfini, the actor who played Tony Soprano in the hit TV series The Sopranos, has admitted he did not like it either.

The actor said that when the screen suddenly went black as he sits down to dinner with his family he thought: 'What the f***?'

The cast of the Sopranos has given an oral history of the show to the new Vanity Fair. Even star James Gandolfini admits the final scene, in which his family goes out to eat and the screen went dark, left him baffled

He later came to accept the conclusion yet his initial reaction was: 'It's over like that?'

In an in-depth article in Vanity Fair magazine, most of the other cast members and Sopranos creator David Chase also speak candidly about the multi-award winning show.

Chase reveals that even though he had written a mob drama he 'hated' having characters killed and it left him feeling like a real-life mobster.

Just like the real Mafia the actors were also paranoid they were going to be bumped off as they did not know the scripts in advance.

But five years after The Sopranos ended, it is still the ending itself which everybody is talking about.

Fans at the time called it the 'worst ending in history' whilst blogs lit up with fans claiming they felt cheated.

Gandolfini told Vanity Fair: 'When I first saw the ending, I said, 'What the f***.

'I mean, after all I went through, all this death, and then it's over like that?'

Yet he added: 'After I had a day to sleep, I just sat there and said: 'That's perfect.''

Lorraine Bracco, who played Dr Jennifer Melfi on the show, also revealed she did not like it at first either.

Lorraine Bracco, the show's Dr Melfi, says she too wishes the show had ended differently. Meanwhile all the actors on the show worried they would get killed off at some point and lived in fear as they never saw scripts far in advance



She said: 'I would have wanted it to end differently. But God knows we've talked about that ending for five years now - we're still talking about it.

'People stop me in the street. 'Did you get the ending? Did I miss something?' I thought it was very, very shrewd.'

The Vanity Fair article includes rich detail about the show, which ran from 1999 to 2007 and lasted six seasons, winning a slew of Emmys, Golden Globes and Directors' Guild Awards.

Drea de Matteo, who played Adriana La Cerva, reveals that she hated her fake New Jersey and that even today people still come up to her and say: 'Just give me one Chris-ta-fuh.'

Edie Falco, who played Tony Soprano's wife, got so involved in her character that she felt like a real life mob moll, even feeling possessive about Gandolfini.

She said: 'It was weird to sit down at a table and read with the actresses playing Tony's girlfriends. Occasionally I would get a sharp twinge at the back of my neck.

'Even years later, I remember when I saw Jim in 'God of Carnage' on Broadway, and he was Marcia Gay Harden's husband, and I had this 'How come I have to be OK with this?' kind of feeling.'

The epic, trailblazing HBO show lasted for six seasons, winning a slew of Emmys, Golden Globes and Directors' Guild Awards along the way

In another twist, Gandolfini himself admitted that he still has feelings for Falco, who played his wife Carmela for all six seasons of the show.

Gandolfini also told the magazine that even now he's still in love on screen wife Edie Falco

He told Vanity Fair: 'I’m still in love with Edie. Of course, I love my wife, but I’m in love with Edie. I don’t know if I’m in love with Carmela or Edie or both. I’m in love with her.'

All the actors also only found out they were about to be killed off when the scripts were handed out - leading to tense moments on the set.

Steve Schirripa, who played Tony Soprano's bodyguard Bobby 'Bacala' said: 'If it's time for your character to go, it's time for your character to go. It doesn't matter who you are.

'I mean, this wasn't 'Friends.' This was a real worry.

'You know, we would talk. 'Did you hear anything?' You're asking the writers. Nobody's telling you nothing. Each time the script arrived, you go to the front, you go to the back, looking.'

The only time this caused tempers to really flare was on the day that Vincent Pastore's character Sal 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero was killed - with cast members shouting at each other because they felt such a mixture of raw emotions.

Chase is the most candid of all and says that the ending was such because 'ambiguity is very important to me'.

He compared it classic films like 'Raging Bull' in which boxer Jake LaMotta played by Robert de Niro talks to himself in the mirror before the screen goes black with a quote from The Bible on screen.

There are also details of how Gandolfini handed out $33,000 to all the regular cast members when he got a raise. Steve Schirripa, far right, was overwhelmed and said it was 'like buying everybody and SUV'

Chase said: 'The Sopranos was ambiguous to the point where, to this day, I'm not really sure whether it was a drama or a comedy.

'It can be both, but people like to reduce it to one or the other. I know there are the two masks, Comedy and Drama, hanging together. But that's not the way American audiences seem to break things down.'

He added that killing of characters was a 'hard thing to do' - but regretted not getting ring of

Tony Soprano's nephew Christopher Moltisanti sooner than the final season.

He said: 'As a mob boss, the guy was totally unreliable! . . . Tony put up with him for too long.

'Christopher just spelled the end of Tony, his family - everything. From my standpoint, as the architect of the series, Tony put up with him for too long.'

Chase added that the violence was so pervasive that some of the actors found it hard to get out of character - and that even though he hated killing people off he just reminded himself who they were.

At first some actors had problems filming violent scenes. Tony Sirico, who played Paulie 'Walnuts', far left, said he begged to not film a scene in which he killed a woman, but he ended up doing it anyway

He said: 'I thought to myself, well, I'm writing about a guy who's the boss of a Mafia family, and he has to do these things, too.'

The Vanity Fair piece also includes hilarious anecdotes from Tony Sirico, who played Paulie 'Walnuts' and initially refused to to a scene where he kills a woman.

He begged Chase to change it as he came from a 'tough neighbourhood' and it would 'make me look bad' - but eventually relented.

Sirico said: 'Here's the thing. We did the scene.

'I had to smother her. First he wanted me to strangle her; I said, 'No, I'm not putting my hands on her.' He said, 'Use the pillow.' After it was all said and done, I went back to the neighborhood and nobody said a word.'

There are also details of how Gandolfini handed out cash gifts of $33,000 to all the regular cast members from his own money after winning a huge salary increase.

Schirripa was overwhelmed and said it was 'like buying everybody and SUV'.

He said: 'Nobody gave their cast members that kind of money. He (Gandolfini) said: 'Thanks for sticking by me.''

Chase defended the show against allegations it glamorised the Mafia by saying that all the characters were 'half-miserable'.

He said: 'I don't think the violence looks appealing at all.