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Holofcener, the director of the mother-daughter comedy "Lovely & Amazing," had nearly cast Gandolfini in the Oliver Platt role for her 2010 film "Please Give." Although Holofcener says she was "intimidated by him as a person and an actor," she knew she wanted to work with him. Gandolfini, in turn, had long wanted to move away from some of the more thuggish characters he's best known for
-- not only Tony Soprano but his henchmen of "True Romance" and "Get Shorty." "I didn't feel like I was taking a risk," Holofcener said. "A lot of people said,
'Oh, no one's ever seen him in a role like this.' But if you watch 'The Sopranos,' he has an enormous range. That character wasn't just a bully." Premiering the film in Toronto without Gandolfini, Holofcener said, is "bittersweet." "I really wish he could have seen the finished film," she said, "because hopefully he would have seen how lovely he is in it."
[Associated
Press;
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