James Gandolfini’s son Michael has shared his and Cooper Hoffman’s hilarious response to being called “nepobabies” – and it’s fair to say their unorthodox response likely stops people in their tracks.
Michael and Cooper are both now actors, following in the footsteps of their respective fathers, The Sopranos legend James and The Hunger Games star Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The pair’s Hollywood pedigree has, understandably, led to them being hit with the nepobaby label, but Michael has now revealed their unique way of responding.
During an appearance on The Downside podcast, he explained to host Gianmarco Soresi: “Me and Cooper Hoffman have this bit where we're like, ‘we’ve gotta get rid of those nepobabies’. And then when someone says ‘...aren’t you guys that?’, it’s like ‘if one of your parents is dead, it’s fine. That’s the rule’.”
James Gandolfini, who won three Emmys and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Mafia boss Tony Soprano, died aged 51 in 2013. Michael’s mother is film producer Marcy Wudarski.
Cooper’s mother is costume designer Mimi O'Donnell. His father Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won an Oscar for his starring role in 2005’s Capote, died in 2014 at the age of 46.
Not all celebrity offspring are willing to be quite so tongue-in-cheek when quizzed about their famous parents.
Lily Rose Depp, the daughter of actors Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, previously disputed that her parentage had helped her secure roles. “I can definitely say that nothing is going to get you the part except for being right for the part,” she told Elle magazine in 2022.
Elsewhere, Dakota Johnson – the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith – dismissed scrutiny of Hollywood nepobabies as “incredibly annoying and boring”, while Emma Roberts, the niece of Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts, has claimed she’s actually lost jobs over her famous family.
More recently, Kate Winslet drew criticism after wading into the debate with a passionate defence of her 21-year-old son Joe, who wrote the screenplay for her movie, Goodbye June. “I don’t like the nepo baby term because these kids are not getting a leg up,” she insisted.
Winslet added that Joe, who has Oscar winners for parents in the form of the Titanic star and her ex-husband, Sir Sam Mendes, “would say to me, ‘I don’t want people to think that this film is just being made because you’re my mum’”.
“The film would have been made with or without me, the script is so, so good,” she said.
