One of the final films actor James Gandolfini made before his heartbreaking passing this past June was Nicole Holofcener’s indie dramedy Enough Said. The film pits the former Tony Soprano as the budding love interest for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character, a woman on the throes of impending empty nest syndrome as her child goes off to college. Complicating matters is the new-found friendship she develops with Catherine Keener, who happens to the ex-wife of Gandolfini’s character. It looks promisingly droll, to be expected from fans of Holofcener’s past work, which includes Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing, Friends With Money and Please Give. Enough Said will have its world premiere next month at the Toronto Film Festival and is set for release by Fox Searchlight Pictures on September 20th. Toni Collette (The Way, Way Back) and Ben Falcone (Bridesmaids and Mr. Melissa McCarthy) co-star.
Gandolfini, who appeared in last winters Best Picture nominee Zero Dark Thirty, the indie Not Fade Away (written and directed by his Sopranos creator David Chase) and the 2013 comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone still has one more completed project following Enough Said – the crime drama Animal Rescue starring Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) and Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone), from director Michael Roskm (Bullhead) and writer Dennis Lehane (novelist of Shutter Island and Mystic River) due out in 2014. However, it’s his work in Enough Said that may come of one of the more surprising turns in the career of the talented actor, playing against type in talky romantic comedy.
Holofcener, who began her career as an apprentice film editor for Woody Allen on films like Hannah and Her Sisters, made a splash in the independent film world with 1996’s Walking and Talking and his collaborated with Academy Award nominated actress Catherine Keener in each successive film. Her last, 2010’s Please Give, earned Holofcener a Writer Guild nomination for Best Original Screenplay as well as the Robert Altman Prize at the 2011 Independent Film Awards, which rewards a film’s director, ensemble cast, and casting director. Holofcener has also directed episodes of Parks and Recreation, Enlightened and Sex and the City.