GANDOLFINI GIVES VOICE TO SHARKSLAYER
Copyright 2002 www.hollywoodreporter.com

[ April 4th 2002 ]

james Gandolfini has signed on to voice the Soprano of all sharks in DreamWorks Pictures' animated project Sharkslayer. Animation helmers Eric Bibo Bergeron (The Road to El Dorado) and Vicky Jenson (Shrek) are teaming for the first time to direct the CGI-animated project, which will also feature the voices of Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and Renee Zellweger.

Sharkslayer - described as an underwater mob film - is in preproduction, with a 2004 release date planned. It tells the story of how the undersea underworld is shaken up when the son of the Soprano of all sharks gets killed and a young fish named Oscar is found at the scene of the crime. Being the bottom-feeder hustler that he is, Oscar takes advantage of the opportunity to play the hero, only to find that there are serious consequences to posing as the great Sharkslayer.

Michael Wilson, who wrote the Jackie Chan-Jennifer Love Hewitt starrer The Tuxedo for DreamWorks, penned the screenplay. Gandolfini, repped by Writers & Artists Agency, has worked for DreamWorks twice before. He starred opposite Robert Redford and Mark Ruffalo in the prison action-drama The Last Castle and opposite Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in The Mexican. He is in front of the cameras on his fourth season of the award-winning HBO series The Sopranos. His other feature credits include The Man Who Wasn't There and A Civil Action.