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\"It was an intense process,\" says Gandolfini, who appears on HBO's show \"The Deuce.\" \"Because, as an actor, I had to watch this guy who created the role, to look for mannerisms, voice, all those things I would have to echo. But then I'd also be seeing my father.\"

He added, \"I think what made it so hard was I had to do it alone. I was just sitting alone in my dark apartment, watching my dad all the time. I started having crazy dreams. I had one where I auditioned for David [Chase] and I looked down at my hands, and they were my dad’s hands.\"

His father's death spurred him to try acting -- and helped him deal with his loss, he tells the magazine.

\"From the first day, I fell in love with it,\" he says of acting. \"It actually started my grieving process with my dad.\"

View this post on Instagram

6 years is too long. Every year without you is. But I know you’re around. Miss you. More than anything. In this particular second it’s your laugh that I miss most. I love you so so much. We celebrate you today. Working hard to make you proud, I know you are, but I’ll never stop working at it. Love you dad

A post shared by Michael Gandolfini (@mgandolfini) on Jun 19, 2019 at 9:21am PDT

The young Gandolfini also spoke about what episodes were especially tough, yet fulfilling for him to watch.

\"There’s a scene where Meadow comes home late at night, and he’s sitting with a drink, and he’s like, ‘You know I love you, right?’ That hit hard. The other one that crushed me was when he yells at A. J., and he gets a pizza to apologize, and he sits by his son’s bed and says, ‘I couldn’t ask for a better son.’ I just knew he was talking to me in that scene,\" he added.

\"The Many Saints of Newark\" is still shooting around New York and New Jersey. The '60s-set drama is set to hit theaters sometime in 2020.

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