It’s an unenviable task following up one of the best television characters in the history of the medium, which is why Sopranos star James Gandolfini has thus far been extra careful about deciding on what he’ll do to kill the rest of his time on Earth. Now it looks as though he may have finally settled on something, as he's said to be close to taking the lead in an HBO remake of the French-Canadian comedy Taxi 0-22, which he’s producing through his Attaboy Films company with sitcom vet David Flebotte—and some sources are already saying he’s been confirmed.
The show would center on a “politically incorrect cab driver in New York City struggling to keep his life together,” and if the French-Canadian version offers any indication, it will involve lots of racially charged riffing (but in a loveable way, of course) with the various passengers who pass through his backseat. It’s a bold choice for Gandolfini, considering his Québécois counterpart is a talkative, somewhat hyperactive stand-up comic and improviser, and Gandolfini typically couldn’t get through a single line of Sopranos dialogue without sounding like the final moments of Darth Vader. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from his work in stuff like The Mexican, Where The Wild Things Are, and In The Loop, it’s to never underestimate him.
A clip from the original show: