CODE VIOLATION I: It’s a standoff between mob boss Tony Soprano and HBO execs. But actor James Gandolfini, who made the character famous and helped turn “The Sopranos” into the network’s biggest hit, is not alone in this showdown. On the boss’s shoulder is a loyal soldier – someone fans of the show might have least expected.
Federico Castelluccio’s character Furio Giunta fell in love with Tony’s wife Carmela (Edie Falco) last season, and at one stage thought about whacking the boss by pushing him into an airplane propeller. But in real life, Castelluccio is backing Gandolfini all the way in his battle for a raise.
“I not only encourage James to pursue this fight, but I will be standing right behind him,” Castelluccio told me in a telephone interview last week from Los Angeles, where he is scouting for work.
And why is he doing the rounds there? I might be violating the code of omerta for telling this, but secrecy can be a casualty of this job.
When Furio returned to Italy in the last episode, most of us assumed it was just another twist in his slow-burn affair with Carmela. We all expected sooner or later she would pick the telephone up and he would be on the other end, finally confessing his love. Well, don’t expect that to happen any time soon, even if the Gandolfini standoff can be solved and shooting begins on the new series.
Castelluccio says Furio has been “whacked” from the show’s line-up – for the foreseeable future, anyway. “They told me I should be thankful that my character wasn’t killed on screen – meaning there’s hope that one day Furio will be brought back. Yeah, right,” Castelluccio said.
The show’s publicist Toby Becker declined to comment, saying “no one” has seen the script for the first show of the next season yet.
But Castelluccio insists what he tells me is true, and adds that he is angry about the way his involvement in the show has turned out.
Castelluccio was on the low end of the cast’s pay scale and uses words like “stinginess” and “greed” when he talks about HBO’s reluctance to properly reward the show’s entire cast – particularly its talented headliners like Gandolfini and Falco.
Some might argue that Gandolfini’s request for more than $1 million an episode is over the top. But it’s all about market value. Right now Tony and Carmela are part of our Sunday nights. I don’t know too much about salary negotiations with studio bosses, but surely HBO is not serious about dumping Gandolfini rather than chipping in an extra $200,000 or so an episode for the best-known mob boss in America.
I’m sure every fan will attest that without Tony, there is no “Sopranos.” And no “Sopranos” leaves a huge hole in HBO’s “original series” agenda.
CODE VIOLATION II: Now that omerta has gone out the window and I’ve spilled the beans about “The Sopranos,” I’ll also let you in on a little secret about daytime TV.
Fans of “All My Children” will know that uber-diva Susan Lucci’s character Erica Kane has had more husbands than Liz Taylor. But right now in the show, the cosmetics mogul/model/resident bitch is embroiled in a hot and heavy romance with Chris Stamp, played by miniseries veteran Jack Scalia. But this romance won’t end up at the altar.
Stamp will be killed off in front of the cameras any day now – and that comes from Scalia. He says he learned of his on-screen demise in a recent phone call from the show’s producers, a decision that surprised him, to say the least. “The story line was good. The chemistry between Erica Kane and my character, Chris Stamp, was intense,” a puzzled Scalia said.
Maybe so, Jack. But what did you expect from a woman who gets bored with her men faster than the A train pulls out of Penn Station and TV writers willing to do anything for a ratings boost?
VICTORIA’S SECRET: Actor Nicolas Cage is a practical joker and a good sport. Recently, he stepped outside an L.A. nightclub for a quick smoke and was mistaken for the bouncer by two patrons. So he checked their IDs, collected the $10 cover charge for the venue and moved on to the next group of unsuspecting clubgoers!