This is an extract from a piece from December 2011 on Tony Soprano, depression, and the end of the world. You can read the full piece here.
The thing with Tony Soprano is that I actually know him. Well, knew him. Well not him, but I knew James Gandolfini, the actor who played him. Because we did a film together a few years back. At the time, having never seen The Sopranos, I was quite relaxed around him. I noticed others looking nervous and staring at the floor in a half-witted way. But to me he just seemed like a large and quite nervous actor from New York.
I offered to show him a slice of west London life. One afternoon we met at the Serpentine. It was June and it was raining. I offered him a small pop-up umbrella but he didn’t want it, and we walked lopsidedly towards Kensington Palace.

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