Anthony LaPaglia on Coogee beach in Sydney: ‘There wasn’t a single word in the Lantana script that I wanted to change, which is so unusual for me.’ Photograph: Joel Pratley/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Anthony LaPaglia on Coogee beach in Sydney: ‘There wasn’t a single word in the Lantana script that I wanted to change, which is so unusual for me.’ Photograph: Joel Pratley/The Guardian 10 Chaotic Questions Film Anthony LaPaglia: ‘There is not a role I didn’t get that I ever gave more than four hours of grievance to – even Tony Soprano’ The actor on surviving 2000s network television in Without a Trace, the role that made him take Brad Pitt seriously, and leaving the US to ‘ride out Trump’
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Sian Cain Sat 24 Oct 2026 21.00 CEST Last modified on Sat 24 Oct 2026 23.55 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google I didn’t know before reading your new memoir that you were almost Tony Soprano. Is there a role that you really wanted that you didn’t end up getting?
It’s not Tony Soprano. There is not a role that I didn’t get that I ever gave more than four hours of grievance to. When I don’t get something, I move on. Because there’s no point. I’m very pragmatic that way. It’s for your own mental health. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
The thing you have to understand is if you don’t get something, it’s not personal. It can be as simple as the director has already got three brunettes or three male actors and they don’t need a fourth. It’s never personally about you. It’s about the picture they have in their head … Or sometimes a role is already out to another actor and they’re just waiting for them to say yes. That is one thing I wish they wouldn’t do, because that’s a waste of my time. If you’ve got an offer out to Ben Affleck or whoever, don’t put me on the revolving wheel of possibility. Because if I find out, I’m not doing it. Not that they care! [laughs]
If you were casting your dream project with three actors you’ve already worked with, plus one new face, who would be on your team?
Allison Janney. Kerry Armstrong. Alison Whyte. And a new face … I just saw Moneyball and I don’t think I ever took Brad Pitt that seriously but that guy is phenomenal. Great movie .
View image in fullscreen Alison Whyte as Linda Loman with LaPaglia as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Photograph: Jeff Busby Acting opposite Janney in A View from the Bridge on Broadway sounds as though it was a transcendental experience for you.
It was. That’s the thing about Arthur Miller’s plays: the women are the glue. The women make the plays work. My performance is not going to be enough to make it work – I’ve been so lucky to have two phenomenal women [Janney and Whyte in Death of a Salesman] play the lead roles with me. Without them, you have no play.
Your account of your years working on Without a Trace is really fascinating – that era of network television where they were making 24, 25, 26 episodes a season feels like a bygone time. Would you ever do a show like that again?
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When I wrote an episode it totally transformed relationship with the writers because I suddenly realised how difficult it was to write a story that gets chopped into four pieces, where you have to pause for five minutes of commercials then come back and re-…