Behind-the-Scenes Sopranos Feud: What Really Happened Between James Gandolfini & David Chase

According to Chase, the two were "soulmates" and their relationship was brotherly. And yet, they famously fell out and often didn't even speak to each other while filming.

So, what was the feud between James Gandolfini and David Chase all about?

Essentially nothing. There was no single pivotal moment that changed their relationship. But filming The Sopranos was pretty intense and the increasing brutality of Tony Soprano as the series went on eventually took its toll on Gandolfini.

The actor is generally remembered as a nice guy by those who knew him.

But he could be quite difficult to work with by all accounts – particularly as he grew to dislike Tony more and more. He once said, "playing Tony Soprano is what makes me an a**hole."

Of course, he was also learning to cope with a level of fame he couldn't have imagined when he got the part.

His party lifestyle began to mirror that of his character and some say negatively affected his acting – something that Chase wasn't impressed with. Neither was Gandolfini who, Chase says, was particularly hard on himself.

Then there were the times Gandolfini got drunk between takes or simply refused to come to work. Not that any of this should have come as a surprise to Chase.

Gandolfini even walked out of his audition for the role and had to be persuaded to come back in and finish it off.

According to Chase, they were just two angry men in a pressure cooker environment who frequently did small things that rubbed each other up the wrong way.

As a result, their relationship was always simmering. Gandolfini labelled Chase and the other writers as "vampires" when he realised they were taking stories from the real lives of the actors and dramatising them without any prior consultation.

And he often referred to Chase as "Satan" during filming.

Then, at the Emmy's, Chase's wife beckoned Gandolfini to come sit with them, but the actor refused. This led David Chase to admit that, at that moment he "really hated that mother***er." Ultimately, they ended up barely speaking.

Once The Sopranos was over, they never really discussed what had gone on between them during filming or why they argued so frequently. But they clearly patched things up as they went on to create the movie Not Fade Away in 2012.