James Gandolfini to play Sonny Vaccaro in New HBO Film

Authored by Scott Goldberg on August 14, 2007 - 3:58am.

Can we picture James Gandolfini as anyone other than Tony Soprano? We’ll get the opportunity sooner than expected. Gandolfini will play Sonny Vaccaro, a legend in the basketball world and former marketing executive in a new HBO film called ABCD Camp, the name of Vaccaro’s famed summer basketball camp. Vaccaro recently decided to retire from the camp to pursue a speaking career advocating the rights of student athletes.

Gandolfini will be an executive producer on the project through his Attaboy Films. Baron Davis, point guard for the Golden State Warriors, who knocked off the Dallas Mavericks in one of the biggest upsets in sports history in the playoffs this year, will also be an executive producer. David Aaron Cohen, the screenwriter of Friday Night Lights, is writing the film.

“Sonny's a pioneer,” Baron Davis said yesterday. "He revolutionized the game and empowered players and their families, educating them about sports and business.”

“As popular as he is, Sonny has always had people who fought against him," Davis added. "He has been an underdog in trying to do something positive for student-athletes."

Vaccaro’s impact on basketball is immeasurable. He signed Michael Jordan to his first million-dollar shoe deal at Nike and is credited for starting the era of giant shoe deals through his positions at Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and of course his camp. To some his impact has been negative, having ushered in the mass-migration of high school phenoms like Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady directly to the NBA, bypassing college. He’s also known for the deals he brokered with college coaches to outfit their teams with brand names.

But Vaccaro’s true motivation, to those who know him, was pure.

"He's a controversial figure in the sports world, but I think the film will depict who he really is and what his true intentions are in the basketball world," Davis said. "He has been a mentor to me and to so many other individual players. He cares about people and truly has the player's best interest in heart."

The role’s expected to fall in line with the type of character Gandolfini created in Tony Soprano.

"He was looking for something that would not really reinvent but add to what he created with The Sopranos,” said Cash Warren, a partner of Baron Davis.

Scott Goldberg