Two projects that James Gandolfini left behind when he died on June 19 will have very different fates. An HBO pilot he had recently filmed will not be broadcast, at least with him in it. Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight has announced the release date for his one of his final films, Enough Said.
Gandolfini had filmed the pilot for an ambitious HBO project called Criminal Justice. The pilot was written by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and Richard Price with Zaillian directing. While HBO did not specifically comment on the project following the Sopranos star’s death, during the Television Critics Association Press Tour event on Thursday, HBO said that it will not air the pilot as it currently stands.
According to the Associated Press, HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo said airing the pilot with Gandolfini would be unimaginable. The future of the project, based on a 2008 BBC series, is still undecided. In it, Gandolfini played a New York lawyer who visited jails to find his clients.
“I can't imagine us airing the pilot with James in it,” Zaillian said, reports AceShowBiz. “It's hard to think about replacing him. The conversation would be about re-shooting the scenes that Jim had already performed in and recasting going forward.”
However, Gandolfini fans will still get to see one of his final film roles with the romantic comedy Enough Said, co-starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The Huffington Post unveiled the film’s poster and confirmed that the film will start its run on Sept. 19 in limited theaters. The film is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Catherine Keener, Toni Collette and Ben Falcone co-star.
Gandolfini also starred in Animal Kingdom with Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace, which will likely hit theaters next year.
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