The Sopranos star James Gandolfini was a fantastic leading man — maybe the best ever — but he was also a supportive scene partner to his castmates.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow Sopranos on the HBO series, discussed what it was like working with the late Gandolfini on the Inside of You podcast. “Jim was the type of scene partner where it felt like he was there and his only intention was to make me as good as I could be,” she recalled, according to Entertainment Weekly. “And it had nothing to do with him. Every time I worked with him, I felt like his sole purpose was… ‘I’m going to help you give your best f*cking take, Jamie.’”
Sigler called Gandolfini “a really amazing artist” whose vulnerability helped her as an actress. “It had nothing to do with his confidence because [he] was actually not [confident],” she said. “He would question himself. There would be moments where he’d be like, ‘I f*cking suck,’ but I appreciated that because I’ve had those thoughts but I didn’t say them out loud because I don’t want anybody to know that I think I suck. He was confident enough to say it out loud.” Sigler added, “He was an exceptional human being.”
You can listen to the podcast below. Sigler also has a podcast of her own, Not Today, Pal, which she co-hosts with her on-screen brother, Robert Iler.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)