UPDATE: The late actor's assistant tells THR "something happened" when the "Sopranos" star went to the bathroom after an activity-packed day in the Italian capital.
TAORMINA, Sicily – The Taormina Film Festival was in mourning Thursday after the death of 51-year-old actor James Gandolfini,
who was scheduled to travel to the event to receive a special prize and
participate in a round table discussion about Italian-American views on
cinema.
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Gandolfini had been traveling in Italy to, as Taormina artistic director Mario Sesti
said in an interview, reconnect with his Italian roots, ahead his
anticipated arrival at the festival Thursday. Sesti said he spoke to the
actor just a few hours before his death.
"He was so happy to be in Italy, to reconnect with his Italian
roots, and he was very excited to come to Taormina and receive this
award," Sesti said.
Tom Richardson, Gandolfini’s assistant, agreed:
"The family had a marvelous day together, and when he returned to the
hotel Jimmy [Gandolfini] went to the bathroom and that is when something
happened," Richardson said, adding the actor was still alive when the
ambulance arrived.
Indeed, family friend MIchael Kobold told The Associated Press that Gandolfini has a "medical emergency" in his room.
Gandolfini's teenage son, Michael, found his father collapsed in the bathroom, after he suffered a suspected heart attack, NBC News reports. Michael then called for help and hotel staff rushed to the room, according to NBC.
Workers reportedly tried to resuscitate him before the ambulance arrived.
The head of the emergency room at Rome’s Policlinic Umberto I told THR
the hospital received the emergency call at 9 p.m. local time Wednesday
and that the first of two ambulances arrived within 8 minutes. They
again tried to revive Gandolfini and when they were unable to do so they
transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:40
p.m.
Modini told the AP that an autopsy would be performed 24
hours after his death, which is required by law. Preliminary autopsy
results are likely to be due on Friday, according to NBC News.
The U.S. Embassy will help prepare Gandolfini's body for return to the United States.
Taormina festival officials said they found out about Gandolfini’s
death after midnight and immediately began discussing how to honor the
actor best known for his role as the star of The Sopranos.
“Gandolfini is probably less well known in Italy than in the United
States, but he was an important figure in Italy,” Sesti said. “He was a
big strong man, but also delicate and refined. And his weaknesses --
women, emotion, family, a flirtation with taboo -- these are things that
we see in ourselves.”
The round table, which will feature Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino and actress Marisa Tomei,
will still take place. But Sesti said Saturday will be transformed into
a special tribute to Gandolfini, including a Master Class Sesti will co
host with The Hollywood Reporter’s Eric J. Lyman.
Saturday night, in the festival’s signature Teatro Antico venue,
officials will screen a special video montage of several of Gandolfini’s
best-known roles ahead of the international launch of Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, the festival’s closing film.
It is the second time in four years the 59-year-old Taormina event
had been connected to a tragic death as the result of a heart attack: in
2010, Hollywood Reporter film critic Peter Brunette died while on assignment at the festival.
Twitter: @EricJLyman
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