Gandolfini Mediating Mob Mess
Thu Jun 22, 8:00 AM

With the fates of Silvio and Paulie up in the air after the two mobsters decided to go to the mattresses with HBO, it's fallen to Tony to mediate a truce.

Things are down to the wire in Sopranos land as production on the final episodes is set to kick off in two weeks and two key players, Steven Van Zandt and Tony Sirico, remain locked in a protracted salary dispute with their bosses at the cable network.

The situation is so tense that James Gandolfini himself is calling for a sitdown with his consigliere and capo, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The meeting will apparently take place at Gandolfini's house, as opposed to say the Bada Bing! or Satriale's.

Gandolfini is hoping to save the swan-song season--and keep his goombahs from engaging in the same kind of knock-down, drag-out, lawsuit-trading brawl that characterized his own salary stand-off three years ago.

Van Zandt, who plays Tony's right-hand man Silvio Dante, and Sirico, Tony's well coiffed enforcer Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, are said to be asking HBO for $200,000 apiece each of the remaining eight episodes, a figure they refuse to budge on and one which is, according to various reports, more than double their current salary.

Last week, the New York Post reported that Van Zandt and Sirico's salaries fell at $80,000 and $85,000, respectively, last season. The newspaper claimed HBO was unwilling to part with more than $90,000 each, a considerable discrepancy by anyone's standards.

"HBO has made generous offers to the cast, and, as always, we're confident that we will resolve all of these matters amicably," a network spokesman said, declining to discuss specific numbers.

In any case, it was an offer they could--and did--refuse.

The money squabbles began last summer, when HBO announced it was splitting the Sopranos' final 20 episodes into two shorter seasons, the just concluded 12-show run and an eight-episode finale to air next January. Immediately, several of the show's stars began renegotiating their deals, stating they were now filming two separate seasons.

Gandolfini, Edie Falco (Carmela), Michael Imperioli (Christopher ) and Vincent Curatola (John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni) all managed to complete deals, with series don Gandolfini reportedly increasing his payday to $1 million an episode.

But not all the actors fared so well.

While Van Zandt and Sirico have made the biggest headlines, Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi), Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Meadow), Robert Iler (Tony Jr.), Steven Schirripa (Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri) and John Ventimiglia (Artie Bucco) are also currently without contracts.

According to the Post, Sigler and Iler each earned $85,000 per episode last season, though it's unknown what their new asking price is.

HBO, meanwhile, is flush after scoring a $195 million deal to sell the series' rerun rights to A&E and shouldn't have any trouble coming up with the cash to keep the key cast together for the network's anchor show. But the new contracts need to get inked fast--the table read for the first of the final episodes is set to take place July 5.

Otherwise we won't have to wait until next winter to see who survives the final round of whackings.

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