ADFF: James Gandolfini “anxious” during his last film

Don’t let James Gandolfini’s macho persona on The Sopranos fool you. When the actor showed up to the set of The Drop, his last completed film before he died of a heart attack in 2013, he had a case of the new-guy jitters.

“He was a fantastic guy, great fun to work with — very humble and very fresh. He wouldn’t step in, rely on his experience, and you know, just open a trick box,” Belgian director Michael R. Roskam told tabloid! at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival’s (ADFF) 8th edition, where The Drop screened on October 27.

“If you didn’t know him, you would think it was his first part. He was anxious, he was nervous — like every good artist. That’s how you learn.”

Based on a short story-cum-debut screenplay by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone), The Drop is a crime film that references the origins of film noir without completely reproducing them. In it, Gandolfini plays Cousin Marv, boss to lead character Bob, played by Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Bronson, Inception). Hardy shines as the quiet and unassuming bartender who turns a blind eye to the Chechen mobsters stirring up trouble at his “drop bar”. Throughout the film, however, he ever so slowly shows his hand.

Apparently, the 37-year-old actor was just as unsure of himself on the set of the film as Gandolfini was.

“It’s incredible — this guy, he’s been doing so much acting in his life, and he’s still running around, wondering if he’s still good. And that’s inspiring,” said Roskam. “He questions himself, always double-thinking. And he would never go for the obvious. He would always find something special.”

Awkward hero

So much of the film hinges on that “something special” that Hardy brings to the carefully-constructed, Frank Capra-reminiscent character, an “awkward, strange hero who doesn’t seem to be a hero”.

“His character’s not fancy — he lives in this house that still has the interiors of his parents that were way too old when they got him,” said Roskam. “By his actions, we find out he’s not who he seems to be. He’s not even what we think he is. Is he hiding? Or are we not looking well? It could be both. That has a Capra kind of feel to it.”

Roskam, who was behind the Oscar-nominated film Bullhead (2011), became attached to The Drop in October 2012, and began filming in March of 2013. He took inspiration for the film’s visuals from famed American painter George Bellows.

“We used his eye to portray the real Brooklyn. We went into the streets, we found the places the way they are — blue collar, working class neighbourhoods — and [didn’t] change anything. Just take it as it is, but with an eye and aesthetic that was inspired by all those paintings,” he said.

As for what Roskam himself brought to the film, he took the humble route. “The director’s role, I joke about it: I feel that I’m doing 100 per cent my best job when nobody needs me. They don’t need me, they know what they want, and it’s going perfect, and then I just solve problems,” he said.