This short video of James Gandolfini menacing a Guest of a Guest photographer who was videotaping him in the West Village is funny, but also kind of sad, for a couple reasons. First, Gandolfini's worked hard to find roles that take his career past the Tony Soprano archetype, and now here he is acting just like Tony about to thrash the Bada Bing bartender for not being sufficiently anxious about Al Qaeda.
The other sort of sad part is that the photographer has his mom with him, and she's probably the only thing saving him from ending up in the hospital just like Georgie at the Bing. Will this inspire more paparazzi to bring their moms along on stalk-and-shoots? Because that would be kind of awesome.
UPDATE: The Guest of a Guest photographer has now posted an explanation about the altercation, and it turns out that wasn't his mom you hear on the video, it was Gandolfini's ex-wife, who was telling the photographer to get away from her son, who was trick-or-treating. Oh well, we still think it would make for great television if paparazzi chased celebs with their moms.
UPDATE 2: Apparently, this was Gandolfini's "costume," which he was not wearing during the video, unfortunately, because that would have made for even greater television.
What Would Tyler Durden Do? has a whole gallery and wonders, "AHH WHATTHEFUCK! Did he rip the eyes open with his bare hands?"
