The Sopranos and The Matrix star Joe Pantoliano has revealed he has considered leaving the United States due to the actions of the Trump administration.
The 73-year-old actor is soon set to join the cast of the hit HBO dystopian series The Last of Us as Eugene.
Speaking to Page Six at the premiere of Stanley Tucci’s food and travel show Tucci in Italy. Pantoliano said: “I’m so uncomfortable with the nature of what’s happening in our country, and I just want to run for the hills.”
He added: “It’s hard for me to think about people’s bulls*** like making a TV show. The world is on fire, it’s hard for me to concentrate.”
The actor, who played Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos, revealed that he and his wife Nancy Sheppard had recently returned from a vacation in Portugal and had debated moving there.
“We just got back. We really love it there,” he said, before admitting that he was concerned about the power outage that recently hit Spain and Portugal.
“They just got hit with a cyber attack,” he theorized, adding: “And I think that’s just a rehearsal for what will happen here.”
Pantoliano said he was so concerned about societal collapse that he keeps “a lot of cash at home, not a lot but enough to get me going for a couple of weeks.” He joked that burglars shouldn’t be tempted as “it’s buried and there’s no map!”
“What always upset me was that the majority of the audience didn’t get the genius of David Chase, and what David Chase was saying about these monsters,” he said.
“Tony Soprano becomes a hero, when he’s a broken down gangster and a murderer. Scumbags like Trump and Roger Stone, all these white-collar criminals, continue to be quoted as using The Godfather and The Sopranos as a blueprint for being douchebags! I mean, how f***ed up is that?”
At the time he was promoting Sean Cisterna’s movie From the Vine, about a Canadian who relocates to Italy following a mental breakdown. “There’s got to be some kind of correction,” said Pantoliano of the theme of the film. “There’s gonna be a financial correction, and a spiritual correction. But for the time being this kind of lighthearted movie provides some kind of relief, where you can forget your troubles for a couple of hours.”
