James Gandolfini gave the Sopranos cast $30,000 each, but not Edie Falco

Bad Bing.

A new documentary about the making of the HBO mafia hit “The Sopranos” shows how the late star James Gandolfini gave money to his fellow actors – except for one.

In “Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos,” currently airing on HBO and Max, series creator David Chase says onscreen of Gandolfini: “He was great to that crew. He made them laugh and gave the other cast members $30,000.”

This information was previously published in the 2021 book “Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers.”

According to the book, Gandolfini signed a contract that paid him $5 million per season. HBO doubled his salary after the third season aired in 2001.

“The Sopranos” ran for six seasons, from 1999 to 2007. Gandolfini died of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of 51.

In “Wise Guy David Chase and The Sopranos,” Drea de Matteo, another actress, said: “When Jim [Gandolfini] “When he got the deal, none of us knew it was on the table. Like we didn't know how to negotiate. I think he felt terrible about it. So he called us into his trailer one by one and gave each of us a check for $30,000.”

However, this did not apply to everyone.

Edie Falco, who played Gandolfini's wife Carmella Soprano, said on-screen in the documentary, “What? I never got $30,000. Well… I don't know about that.” Sounding confused, she repeated, “He gave money to the actors?”

However, the former “Nurse Jackie” actress did not seem to hold any grudges.

“That sounds like him. He was a very kind-hearted, friendly man who cared about his friends,” she added.

Chase noted that Gandolfini was “a generous man.”

“I think he felt like HBO had screwed them over and he wanted to make amends,” he continued. “I think there was also a little bit of regret about the days he hadn't shown up for work.”

Gandolfini had drug and alcohol problems at the time.

“I don't think Jim knew or expected how difficult it is to be the lead in a series,” Chase continued.

“The Sopranos” co-star Steven Van Zandt estimated that Gandolfini “probably left the show every other day.”

“We would go to a bar, get drunk and have the exact same conversation. He would say, 'I'm done, I'm not going back!' There were a couple of times where he would disappear for a couple of days,” he said in the document. “You know, that just wore him out.”

Falco, meanwhile, said Gandolfini “put an incredible amount of effort into making the character believable, and if you're not really careful, you can end up taking your work home with you. And as an actor, that's not always a good idea.”

However, Drea de Matteo defended Gandolfini.

“We all celebrated, we all had a damn great time,” she said.

“And maybe there were some mornings when we all had a harder time getting out of bed. It wasn't just Jim.”

Co-star Michael Imperioli added that Gandolfini “had his own problems, like we all do” and that the pair's fame through the show changed Gandolfini's life “dramatically.”

Imperioli described how strange the “erasure of privacy” was for Gandolfini: “He was in the spotlight everywhere. And he was very different from Tony. Very relaxed… The funny thing is that a lot of fans look to Tony as a role model, which is very scary in many ways. He probably sensed that – the fans thought he was Tony, but he's not.”