Joe Pantoliano and his improbable Sopranos look: “It was my homage to Chris Nolan!”
Before playing Ralphie in the series, the actor had worked with the filmmaker on Memento.
The Sopranos just celebrated his 25th anniversary. There are plenty of anecdotes about this series by David Chase, broadcast on HBO between 1999 and 2007, mixing mafia crimes and family stories, and carried by an incredible cast (James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Steven Van Zandt, Steve Buscemi… all are excellent in the show).
However, four years ago, one of them revealed that he had not never wanted to watch the series. Joe Pantoliano (The Goonies, Matrix…), who joined the team from season 3 to play Ralphie, played such a dark role that he preferred not to see himself on screen. Nor show The Sopranos to his children, even once adults! “I don’t want them to see their father like that, he explained to Deadline. Ralphie, I’m taking him, I don’t miss him. No way.”
A shocking role for which he chose his look himself, he also said. From his expensive clothes to his (fake) bouncy hair, he made suggestions to David Chase and his team, and his ideas were validated.
“I was the one who asked for this wig, it was my homage to Chris Nolan!he laughed. I like his hair and I said to David: ‘Look, I live in Hoboken, New Jersey. It’s in the epicenter of the world of The Sopranos. I need to remain anonymous. I want to be able to walk peacefully down the street!’“
Request accepted, and there it is like the haircut of the director of Mementoa thriller in which Joe Pantoliano had participated a few years earlier, inspired that of Ralphie, an execrable character from Soprano !
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