take over for a while, i ll be right back. no, no. no, no, no. that s it. no, no, no. you dare not change it. it s too good. think of the possibilities. james, every time i meet an actor i am in love with and think is great and you meet them and realize, somebody once said this of cary grant, you met cary grant and you wish you hadn t met him because he isn t cary grant. nobody can be cary grant in real life, because you need a line, a great moment, you need a scene. you need a camera. what was he like as opposed to his character? are you talking about cary grant or james gandolfini? let s go with the more immediate question. james gandolfini. what was he like? he was absolutely what you see on the screen there. he was himself. he was never anything but himself. you mean in your show, on your show. that s correct. that s right. remember that my show is a master class and a master s degree program at pace university. he was there to teach, and he taught our student
qualities that a person can have. we like to know that someone is vulnerable, that someone is evil. why? because we re vulnerable and evil. we like to know these people are like us, and tony soprano was like us. here is some reaction to this. he died you get older and you realize how young 51 is. here is the reaction from the new jersey political community. first of all, governor chris christie said in his statement james gandolfini was a fine actor, a rutgers alum and a true jersey guy. i was a huge fan of his and the character he played so authentically. tony soprano. i have gotten to know jimmy and many of the other actors in the sopranos cast, and i think each of them are an individual new jersey treasure. cory booker, running for the senate now, my condolences to the family and all those who loved the james gandolfini family. a true nj great and original. it s interesting that we re concerned that italians are portrayed certainly unfairly as all crooks, but certainly you hav
back with more coming up here on the death of the sopranos star james gandolfini. actor jeff daniels worked with gandolfini on broadway. he will join us on hardball in just a minute.
up next, an actor with a personal perspective on james gandolfini, jeff daniels. of course he is the star of newsroom , but he also starred on broadway with gandolfini. they worked together every night. he will tell us what this guy we just lost was like as a person as well as an actor as well as an actor, as well as an icon. this is hardball, the place for politics. we got adt because i walked in on a burglary once.
wow. he did things like that constantly. it was so brave of him to come to broadway. that s the proving ground. a lot of film actors can t do it. it s eight times a week. it s tough to make it look like it s happening for the first time month after month after month. i think there was part of jim that looked at sopranos as this cooped of i don t want to be a one-hit wonder. and i m a big star, but am i good actor. and he bravely came to broadway with god of carnage to prove to himself that he was a good actor. and it was a joy for the four of us, for mar sharks hope and myself in particular to kind of watch him feel good about what he did as an actor. and i know by the end of it, we walked off stage. and i said you did it. and you could see in his eyes that, yeah, i did. i did it. and that now he wasn t just a star. now he was a good actor in his own mind.