James Gandolfini was paid 2.5 million euros not to appear in The Office

Eternal Tony Soprano would fill Steve Carell’s departure, but he wasn’t “white collar” at three in the morning. And The Sopranos were “the biggest influence” on The Office.

Few know the story, but in 2010, we came very close to seeing the eternal boss of the mafia family DiMeo in a very, very different boss role.

That year, Steve Carell announced that he would abandon the role of Michael Scott in the North American version of the series The Office. The challenge of NBC’s production of replacing the “best boss in the world”, for many, would never truly be overcome.

For months, several names were tested or temporarily integrated into the cast, not as a direct replacement for Michael Scott, but rather to make up for the departure of the renowned comedy actor. Other giants arrived: Will Ferrell, James Spader…but without Carell, the series foundered and would end up lasting just two more seasons.

At that time, there was another worthy candidate to fill the void left by Steve Carell: James GandolfiniTony Soprano on The Sopranos, who passed away in 2013.

Num do podcast Talking Sopranosaccording to , presenter Steve Schirripa told the comedian Ricky Gervais — the creator of the original, British version of the successful comedy series — that Gandolfini reportedly received a proposal of 4 million dollars (around 3.39 million euros) to be part of the eighth season of the series, that is, the first without Michael Scott.

But HBO, creator of The Sopranos, apparently threw a punch: it paid the actor 3 million dollars (around 2.5 million euros) to refuse the invitation.

HBO, according to Schirripa, intended to protect Tony Soprano’s legacy. Furthermore, the actor was contractually tied to a project that would give rise to the miniseries The Night Of — although the role designed for Gandolfini would be played by John Turturro.

The writer and producer of The Office, BJ Novak (who plays Ryan in the series), on Watch What Happens Live, the existence of a meeting in which they tried to convince Gandolfini. He used a curious argument: the supposed profound influence (“the biggest influence, in fact) that The Sopranos had on the creation of The Office, due to the way it crossed comedy and drama.

“He was a big fan of comedy”, said Novak: “his favorite film was The Rocker”, he revealed, a film whose main character is… Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute em The Office).

Gandolfini will have shown interest, but not necessarily in the register intended by those responsible for the series. But “at three in the morning, what comes out of me is a blue collar guy,” the actor responded (The Office wanted him in a white collar role).

Gandolfini would die in 2013 following a heart attack, about a month after the end of The Office.

The nine seasons of The Office are currently available for viewing in the .