Anthony LaPaglia discusses missed roles and Tony Soprano

In an interview published by The Guardian, actor Anthony LaPaglia discussed his pragmatic approach to casting rejection, revealing that he has never given more than four hours of grievance to any missed role, not even the near-miss of playing Tony Soprano.

Pragmatic Rejection and Missed Roles

Addressing the reality of not landing roles, LaPaglia stated that once an opportunity is gone, he moves on immediately for the sake of his mental health. He explained that rejections are typically not personal, noting that decisions often depend on the director’s vision, such as needing a specific mix of actors, or whether a role is already secretly offered to another performer like Ben Affleck while other actors are kept on a revolving wheel of possibility.

Reflecting on Career and Television Work

LaPaglia also shared insights from his career, including his time working on the network television series Without a Trace. He admitted that the heavy workload of making 24 to 26 episodes a season led him to act on autopilot and interfere with quality control. After writing two episodes himself, he gained a new appreciation for the difficulty of the writing process and realized the show would have been successful regardless of his micromanagement.

Favorite Collaborations and Projects

When asked about his dream project team, LaPaglia named Allison Janney, Kerry Armstrong, Alison Whyte, and Brad Pitt. He praised Arthur Miller’s plays for relying heavily on female leads as the glue that makes the productions work, citing his experiences acting opposite Janney on Broadway and Whyte in Death of a Salesman. Additionally, he highlighted the film Lantana as his most personally fulfilling project, praising Andrew Bovell’s script and the preparation he did alongside Sydney detectives.