On this week’s episode of Tulsa King, Robert Patrick’s Dunmire crashes the bourbon release party of Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi. While Manfredi is stunned by Dunmire’s audacity, the old-school criminal taunts him with the bizarre, but effective, line, “How’s your balls, Manfredi?” As it turns out, there’s a history to that line, one that stretches back to Robert Patrick’s legendary supporting role in the early days of The Sopranos on HBO. On a video post on his Instagram account, Robert Patrick himself explained where the line came from.
The line, “How’s your balls?” came from a chat the actor had with The Sopranos star James Gandolfini. While preparing for the scene where Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano has to emasculate and slap around Patrick’s Davey Scatino, Robert Patrick asked Gandolfini to not hold back, to really bring it to him, that he could take it (after all, Patrick got his start doing Roger Corman-produced action movies in the Philippines, so he’s always been a ‘full contact’ performer). On the day, when Gandolfini and Patrick arrived on set, the former asked, “How’s your balls?” Clearly, the friendly taunt stuck with Robert Patrick, and he managed to bring it back in Tulsa King to masterful effect.
Back in the day, Patrick’s role in The Sopranos was seen as a major change of pace for the actor. He’d cut his teeth as an action star and overall tough guy. Davey Scatino, on the other hand, was perpetually ‘in over his head,’ as they say, and unprepared to get in the ring with actual gangsters. Patrick was only in three episodes of The Sopranos, but he left such a strong impression thanks to his tremendous performance and the fact that he was so ‘against type,’ it remains, to this day, one of his most memorable roles.
If you haven’t seen The Sopranos yet, the whole series, plus the 2021 prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, is available to stream on HBO Max. As for Tulsa King, the show is currently airing its third season. New episodes can be found every week on Paramount Plus.
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