Sopranos star James Gandolfini’s ‘struggle with personal demons’ and rampant alcohol use caused shooting delays, chaos and co-stars left frustrated filming later seasons of HBO hit

A new book details some of the demons Sopranos star James Gandolfini faced — including problems with alcohol — while filming the later seasons of the legendary HBO series.

The three-time Emmy winner’s personal struggles have been chronicled many times, with HBO executives admitting they feared he would die from alcohol. and drug binges before the end of the series.

A new book by Mark Kamine, a location scout on the show, details more of these issues in “On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry.”

Kamine writes that his experience with Gandolfini — who died of a heart attack in Rome in 2013 — began to falter in the show’s fifth season.

The cast and crew stayed at the Monmouth Park racetrack in central New Jersey to film the episode featuring Tony Soprano’s horse Pie-O-My.

As Kamine tells it, “I’m in the hotel bar when the crew member closest to Jim asks if I want to go to Atlantic City with Jim and a few others.”

Atlantic City, as Kamine notes, is about 80 miles and more than an hour’s drive from Monmouth.

Kamine said he rejected Gandolfini’s offer and that “the next morning I’m not surprised if Jim can’t be woken up.”

The location scout, who is now executive producer of HBO’s The White Lotus, said Gandolfini’s discomfort with fame led him to his darker impulses.

In fact, Gandolfini didn’t show up until he was hours late and the whole time he was ‘cursing his way through his half-learned lines, doing take after take, drinking coffee and bottled water, alternately sheepish and rude, as he did . It always is when he messes up,” Kamine wrote.

At the end of the series, the owner of the famous “Soprano house” where the family lived in North Caldwell, New Jersey, struck up a conversation with Gandolfini, as Kamine said he had done many times before.

‘Jim interrupts and says, with more than a little regret, ‘I’m really sorry, but my memory is a bit damaged and I can’t remember, who are you?’

The author claims the owner was ‘hurt’ and ‘shocked’ by the mild event.

The three-time Emmy winner’s personal struggles have been chronicled many times, with HBO executives admitting they feared he would die from alcohol and drug addiction before the end of the series.

A new book by Mark Kamine, a location scout on the show, details more of these issues in “On Locations: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry”

Kamine writes that his experience with Gandolfini — who died of a heart attack in Rome in 2013 — began to falter in the show’s fifth season.

Kamine said that at some point Gandolfini became “increasingly unreliable,” to the point that HBO held him financially responsible if his tardiness or excesses caused filming to be postponed or canceled.

It would sometimes anger his co-stars, as Kamine recalls Edie Falco – the iconic Carmela Soprano from Gandolfini’s Tony – angrily reacting to the news that Gandolfini missed a day of shooting with “are you kidding me?”

Falco, on the other hand, was ‘always fully prepared, always astonishing and immediate in character. She (was) nothing but an admirable presence on set throughout the entire run of the show,” Kamine said.

It had a negative effect on Gandolfini, he claims.

“Jim appears to be in awe and frustrated by her easy access to persuasive emotions,” Kamine wrote.

“He often gets into out-of-character, curses himself in the middle of the scene and calls up the script supervisor to give him lines.”

However, Kamine notes that “More than anyone else, Gandolfini (creator) David (Chase) makes the show (what) it is; his expressive features and rich readings and menacing, understated gestures provide great and consistent impact.”

Because of that, and because of his genuine goodwill, the cast and crew tolerated the beloved star.

Kamine said that at some point Gandolfini became “increasingly unreliable,” to the point that HBO held him financially responsible if his tardiness or excesses caused filming to be postponed or canceled.

Kamine notes that ‘Gandolfini more than anyone (creator) David (Chase) makes the show (what) it is, his expressive features and rich readings and menacing, understated gestures provide great and consistent impact’

The location scout, who is now executive producer of HBO’s The White Lotus, said Gandolfini’s discomfort with fame led him to his darker impulses.

After each week of shooting, Gandolfini would order sushi for the cast and crew and at the end of each season, Gandolfini would gift the cast something usually worth hundreds of dollars, as well as custom engraved watches after the series finale.

Gandolfini, who was the show’s intense and charismatic star throughout 1999-2007, had previously struggled with alcohol and substance abuse and died of a heart attack in 2013 at just 51.

The actor’s death saddened the world and sent ripples throughout Hollywood.

At the time of his death he was married to his second wife, actress Deborah Lin, with whom he had a daughter Liliane, now nine years old.

His son Michael, who was 14 when he found his father dead in a Rome hotel room, played a young Tony Soprano in the HBO prequel film Many Saints of Newark, released in October.

Michael, now 24, is the son of Gandolfini and his first wife, film producer Marcy Wudarski.