DECIDER – James Gandolfini‘s alleged addiction issues and “apparent discomfort with fame” while filming The Sopranos have been rehashed in the book On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry, which is written by Mark Kamine, who was a location scout on the hit HBO series during its six-season run.
According to Kamine, Gandolfini — who played the iconic mob boss Tony Soprano — began to fall apart by Season 5.
In his book, the author recalls one alleged incident in which the actor invited him to Atlantic City after filming the Season 4 episode titled “Pie-O-My” at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
“I am at the hotel bar when the crew member closest to Jim asks if I want to go down to Atlantic City with Jim and a few others. It’s over an hour away. I decline,” he writes, per Page Six. “The next morning I’m not surprised when Jim cannot be roused.”
Kamine claims Gandolfini — who reportedly struggled with addictions to cocaine and alcohol — showed up four hours late to work “cursing his way through his half-learned lines, doing take after take, drinking coffees and bottles of water, alternatively sheepish and churlish, the way he always is when he f*** up” …
