In a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Sopranos stars Steve Schirripa and Michael Imperioli revealed that Gandolfini, who passed away in 2013 at 51, once became so fed up with Weinstein that he threatened to assault the man. Apparently, Gandolfini was never a fan of late-night talk shows and only ever agreed to a sit-down interview
`He said, 'Harvey Weinstein keeps calling, he wants me to do Letterman and I said no,'` Schirripa said, recounting the tale during his podcast appearance. `And he got fucking nasty with Jim. And Jim said, 'I will beat the fuck out of Harvey Weinstein! He fucking calls me again, I will beat the fuck out of him! For the money he paid me, I'm not fucking doing it!' Swear to God. And this is before all the Harvey Weinstein shit when he was still king shit,` Schirripa said.
Given all that we now know, it's not exactly a surprise to hear that Weinstein resorted to rude bullying to get his way. Now, we can add Gandolfini to a long list of Hollywood types that threatened violence against Weinstein. In 1995, Pitt threatened to kill Weinstein after learning from then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow that he had sexually harassed her. In 1996, a producer for Princess Mononoke director Hayao Miyazaki sent Weinstein a samurai sword with a note that read `No cuts` when the Weinstein Company was tasked with the film's U.S. release.