Patricia Arquette Once Cursed out ‘Sopranos’ Star James Gandolfini for Ditching Her At the Golden Globes
Actor Patricia Arquette was already very familiar with Sopranos star James Gandolfini after working with him on True Romance. So when she bumped into Gandolfini by chance, she had no reservations about calling him out for a past Golden Globes debacle.
Patricia Arquette was upset James Gandolfini left her hanging at the Golden Globes
Presenting awards at the Golden Globes could be a stressful opportunity. Although their presentation might only last a few minutes, it sometimes requires extensive preparations to make sure few errors are made. When Arquette and Gandolfini were tapped to share the stage together, they already went through the proper steps for a smooth show.
“Some years ago, we were supposed to present together at the Golden Globes, so we did the rehearsal, and they give you all these presents and all that,” Arquette once told The Daily Beast.
Gandolfini was also up for an award at the time. But when he didn’t win, he decided to bail early, which threw Arquette’s presentation out of whack.
“But James was also nominated that night for The Sopranos and he didn’t win, so he left before we presented. So I’m already nervous and hate those things, and they come up to me and go, ‘We can’t find James… Michael Imperioli is going to present in his place.’ I was like, ‘I’m going to kill that f***in’ James Gandolfini next time I see him,” she said.
Arquette would eventually bump into Gandolfini sometime later to give him a piece of her mind.
“Cut to a few months later, and I’m in New Orleans visiting my ex-husband [Thomas Jane] on a movie with my baby daughter,” Arquette recalled. “And James was the king of the Mardi Gras parade that year. So, I can’t find a bathroom for my baby daughter and I’m trapped behind this police blockade, and the parade comes by. And James is there at the head of it. James sees me, and is like, ‘Hey!’ And I’m like [gives middle finger], ‘F*** YOU!’ And he’s like, ‘What??’”
Patricia Arquette once shared what it was like fighting James Gandolfini in ‘True Romance’
The pair first worked together in the Tony Scott directed project True Romance. In the crime thriller, Arquette and Gandolfini were directed to fight each other. Arquette had fond memories of the famous sequence. What she remembered the most about the scene was having to hurt Gandolfini for real.
“It was pretty crazy. It was James’ first movie, and he was really in character on the movie so he was literally sleeping in his car in his character’s clothes for days and days. He was really sweet, but at one point, on his reaction shot when I nail him in the foot with a screwdriver, he wanted me to take this pen that had a cap on it and really jam it hard into his foot, so I did it,” she said.
But Gandolfini kept pushing the Medium star to do more damage in the scene.
“And he said, ‘No, that’s not hard enough. Do it harder.’ I tried a little harder and he said it wasn’t hard enough, so I said, ‘Man, I’m an actor! I don’t want to injure you on purpose.’ So by that point, my stunt double was so pissed off at James for having shot that sequence that she said, ‘Give me that f***in’ pen!’ And just nailed him in the foot with it,” Arquette said.
What Patricia Arquette had to say after James Gandolfini’s death
Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Rome, Itality in 2013. Although Arquette hadn’t worked with Gandolfini since True Romance, she recognized the contributions her former co-star continued to make in the entertainment industry. Speaking with HuffPost, Arquette shared her condolences.
“My heart goes out to his family. James was incredibly talented and I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to work with him,” she said. “He was very committed during the shooting of True Romance. I remember Tony Scott saying he slept in his suit in his car to stay in character. His work as Tony Soprano was flawless. It is a real loss to the creative community.”
