'Kate talked dirty to me'

Kate Winslet stars in Romance & Cigarettes.

10 April 2012

Pit poor James Gandolfini. He had to keep still with Kate Winslet lying on top of him, adlibbing dirty talk. "I was very impressed with how much stuff she could make up about sex," he says with a sly smile that makes him look every bit Tony Soprano, the troubled mobster from the hit TV series for which he is so well known.

"I remember being underneath Kate and she was chatting away; she kept going and going and going. I was thinking, 'God, I hope we stop at some point!' Every time she'd make up new stuff, the director would say, 'Keep going!' And she went for it."

The director demanding such indignity of his actors was John Turturro. He was filming his oddball and hugely entertaining musical, Romance & Cigarettes, which casts Gandolfini as Nick Murder, a life-weary construction worker who cheats on his wife, Kitty (Susan Sarandon), with a British "broad" named Tula (Winslet).

These two women wrenching at Nick's troubled heart are poles apart: one a put-upon wife who seeks solace in the church (the happy-clappy variety, overseen by an amusing, and at times bemusing, Eddie Izzard); the other a brash, sexually charged strumpet with a shocking turn of phrase.

"Sure, the language is way out there," admits Gandolfini, "but it doesn't come from anger, it comes out of sex. I'm sure some people will find it vulgar. Some people might find 'shove it up my stove pipe' vulgar, definitely ... some suburban wives. We'll have to see. I hope they react well and laugh."

There is certainly an abundance of laughs - many provided by the wonderful Winslet and a crackling Christopher Walken, who plays the fizzy Cousin Bo. But the song and dance numbers belong to Gandolfini, who slips easily from Soprano to tenor.

The 44-year-old New Yorker is a revelation, surprisingly light on his feet as he hoofs across the screen, and displaying a more than passable singing voice when called upon to do more than lip-synch.

He makes a fine job of numbers such as Jerry Ragavoy's Piece of My Heart, Bruce Springsteen's Red-Headed Woman and, the pick of the bunch, Engelbert Humperdinck's A Man Without Love.

The result is a strange but bold movie that mixes music into the drama as an expression of unspoken feelings. It's not coincidence that this is the work of Turturro, only the third film from the director better known as an actor who came up with the idea while playing a struggling writer in the Coen Brothers' darkly bizarre Barton Fink.

Romance & Cigarettes has its dark side, too. As the title suggests, Nick enjoys a fag or 50, and is diagnosed with lung cancer. That's why the humour is important, Gandolfini says, to offset the sudden tragic turn that the film takes.

"The comedy element is essential, as this is essentially a very honest, and at times very moving movie. I had to talk to people with lung cancer, and I was surprised at how quickly it all happens. Once you know you have it, it's very quick what happens ..."

As you might expect, the diagnosis and Nick's hospitalisation administer the film's final act with an extra dose of poignancy. For all the improvised banter and skittish singsongs, Romance & Cigarettes is an open and honest portrayal of the archetypal blue-collar American worker, his life, successes and innumerable failings. Like Winslet's Tula, the movie wears its heart on its sleeve.

"People really interest me, especially the way things affect them," says Gandolfini. "It's basically why I became an actor. I have this big passion for the lower-middle class and the blue-collar guy - it's how I was brought up, and I don't like the way our country treats them. By becoming an actor, well, I found this job that lets me, on occasion, stand up for the blue-collar guy, in a small way."

Empathy with the respectable working man is no surprise in a New Jersey boy. Gandolfini was born in Westwood, New Jersey, to American-Italians Michael, an engineer and bricklayer, and Joann Gandolfini, who worked in a school canteen.

He grew up with two sisters, about whom he remains secretive. He worked through his degree course at Rutgers University as a bouncer before moving on to work in New York clubs, where he eventually became a manager.

He turned to acting later than most, after going with a friend to his acting class. "That really opened the door for me," he says. "I saw that I could find a career that let me explore people, and their nature. I was never interested in business or anything like that."

Gandolfini's early roles were in theatre; he made his Broadway debut in the 1992 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, with Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange. Since then, he has appeared in a string of movies, including 8mm, A Civil Action, She's So Lovely, Crimson Tide, True Romance, Night Falls on Manhattan and Get Shorty.

He hasn't confined himself to playing the tough guy: his roles have embraced a gay assassin, in The Mexican, and a smug store manager in the Coen Brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There.

To come are appearances in the murder thriller, Lonely Hearts, with John Travolta and Salma Hayek; All the King's Men, with Sean Penn and Jude Law; and, yet to be shot, a film about Ernest Hemingway.

Despite his foray into the movies, however, Gandolfini will for ever remain Tony Soprano, the messed-up Mafia boss with a conscience. First cast in 1999 as the mobster who spends almost as much screen time in sessions with his analyst as he does taking care of business, he has just returned to American television after a 21-month hiatus. The long-awaited sixth season of The Sopranos is not yet scheduled for the UK, but will surely not be far off.

His small screen alter ego has provided well for Gandolfini, with a reported $1 million per episode, huge international exposure and a string of prestigious awards, including three Emmys and a Golden Globe.

"Basically, we were all surprised at the show's success," he says. "When we started, I looked around this group of fat, ugly guys and said: 'Let's do the pilot and go home!' But I didn't count on the writing. It's smart writing; The Sopranos resembles movies such as GoodFellas or

Donnie Brasco because it shows the mob's family life. Tony is completely abused by the women in his life; it's a bit like my life!"

Gandolfini went through a messy divorce four years ago, from Marcy Wudarski, whom he married in 1999. His struggle with drink and drugs only came to light when it was cited in court, in the custody battle over his son, Michael, now six. Gandolfini refuses to discuss personal problems - or his rehab - in interviews. But he will admit that he's not perfect.

"I think Tony and I do share a few flaws, yes. So you need to distance yourself. Playing Tony is a hard place to get to sometimes. It was much easier when I was younger, mainly because of the anger I have to summon.

"And in many ways that's true of my life; as I get older I realise that cursing and shouting around the place is just stupid. Now I can simply be stupid on screen. You know, being an actor does let me make good money - and act like a fool."

And, of course, there are other perks. How many men, after all, get paid to get to grips with Kate Winslet?

Romance & Cigarettes opens on 24 March.

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'Kate talked dirty to me'

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