The Sopranos family loves James Gandolfini. Three months after Gandolfini died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 51, the late actor’s costars attended the screening of his final film, Enough Said, at the Paris Theater in NYC on Monday, Sept. 16.
Gandolfini is perhaps best remembered for playing the Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano on the 1999-2007 HBO drama series. His on-screen wife, Edie Falco, who starred as Carmela Soprano, walked the red carpet of Enough Said with a smile on her face in his honor. She also shared an embrace with Sopranos costar Aida Turturro, who played Tony’s sister Janice, and the pair posed for a photo together.
An eyewitness tells Us Weekly, however, that the smiles faded when they entered the lobby of the theater. Turturro walked in sobbing after seeing a poster of Gandolfini.
Other Sopranos stars who showed their support for Gandolfini at the premiere included Tony Sirico (Paulie “Walnuts”), Steve Schirripa (Bobby “Bacala”), and Vincent Curatola (Johnny “Sack”).
Gandolfini died while on vacation with wife Deborah Lin, son Michael, 13, and daughter Liliana, who was only nine-months-old at the time. The eyewitness tells Us that Michael was also in attendance at his father’s premiere.
While introducing the film during the premiere, writer/director Nicole Holofcener took a moment to remember Gandolfini. “Obviously, Jim is not here, and I’m very sad that he’s not standing up here with us right now,” Holofcener said, according to Buzzfeed. “He hasn’t seen the movie — he never saw the movie — so maybe he’s watching. I’m very honored that his family is here. And I’m also thrilled that so many people that worked with him for so many years, and really loved him and knew him are here. Thank you for coming and sharing with us.”
Gandolfini’s final film is a romantic comedy, also starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Toni Collette, about a masseuse (Louis-Dreyfus) who falls for a man (Gandolfini) whom she later learns is the ex-husband of a new friend (Collette).
“He is just a complete sweetheart and very vulnerable,” Collette, 40, told reporters at the premiere of Gandolfini. “I think this movie is about vulnerability, letting go and letting love in. He was all of those things. He had a very steady, perceptive, grounded quality to him and he was very generous on and off-screen.”
