Earlier this year, it was reported that James Gandolfini rejected a role as the new boss in The Office, after Steve Carell’s Michael Scott departed during season seven. Now, B. J. Novak, an actor and producer on the US sitcom, has confirmed that the Sopranos star was actually in the running to become Carell’s replacement.
“I was at the meeting with James Gandolfini where we tried to convince him to join the show,” Novak says in a recent interview with Watch What Happens Live. “He was shy and intrigued. He’s my favourite actor of all time, in anything, so I just thought it would be great.”
The actor also explains that Gandolfini had his own ideas for the office manager role. “We suggested a white collar character for him to sort of play against type,” he says. “And he said something I’ll never forget, which is, ‘I feel as an actor, whoever comes out at 3am, that’s who you should be playing. And at 3am what comes out of me is a blue-collar guy.’ I thought that was really interesting.”
Of course, we never actually got to see Gandolfini’s blue collar manager on The Office (the closest we get is Michael Scott trying to order gabagool in season six). According to a Talking Sopranos podcast episode aired in July, this is because he was offered $3 million by HBO to decline the deal, ensuring that The Sopranos’ legacy remained untouched.
Novak does add, however, that the crime series was partly responsible for how The Office turned out. “To me, The Sopranos was actually the biggest influence on The Office,” he says. “Because of the way that comedy and drama and character were all completely indistinguishable.”
“In fact, the way Michael Scott will say something very serious but mispronounce a word I feel is a direct descendent of the Tony Soprano sense of humour. I thought he (Gandolfini) would have been an incredible replacement. I really wanted to work with him.”
More recently, James Gandolfini’s son, Michael Gandolfini, has taken on his late father’s role in a prequel to The Sopranos, titled The Many Saints of Newark. Read Dazed’s interview with Michael Gandolfini on becoming a young Tony Soprano, and the “intense experience” of looking back on the show, here.