New Details Regarding THE SOPRANOS Prequel Film THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK Reveals Tony Soprano Will Play a Role
Thanks to The Sopranos creator David Chase, we have some new details to share with you regarding his prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark. One of the things that is revealed is that Tony Soprano will play a role in the story.
It was previously revealed that the story for the prequel is set in the era of the Newark riots in the ‘60s. "That was a time when the African-Americans and the Italians of Newark were at each other’s throats, and amongst the gangsters of each group, those conflicts became especially lethal."
That means we’ll see a much younger version of Tony running around. Alan Taylor, who helmed nine episodes of The Sporanos, will direct the film and as of right now, Alessandro Nivola is the first person to be cast, and he will play Dickie Moltisanti.
Dickey was a part of the Soprano mob, and he was good friends with Tony Soprano. He was the father of Tony Soprano’s future protégé Christopher and a mob soldier who was killed in the 1970s when he was shot by a cop named Detective Lt. Barry Haydu.
It’s explained by Deadline that this character “will provide an entry point into a look at the mob’s origins in the turbulence of racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans in Newark, New Jersey at that time.” When talking about why he wanted to tell this story, Chase said:
“I was interested in Newark and life in Newark at that time. I used to go to down there every Saturday night for dinner with my grandparents. But the thing that interested me most was Tony’s boyhood. I was interested in exploring that.”
He went on to say:
“The movie will deal with the tensions between the blacks and whites at the time, and Tony Soprano will be part of this, but as a kid.”
I love that the film is going to explore the origins of the late James Ganfolfini’s iconic mobster character. Tony was “raised by tough guy father and mob soldier Johnny Soprano and Livia, his moody and nagging mother personified in later years by the late Nancy Marchand. The combination of those parents led to Soprano’s panic attacks that became a continuing narrative in the series and humanized Soprano.”
Chase went on to explain that he’s looking forward to exploring the period that Tony Soprano glorified in the show’s early episodes:
“It is going to depict when it was good. The mafia was very polished at that time, how they dressed and what they did. Those traditions were followed more loosely in the series. These weren’t guys who wore tracksuits, back then.”
It also turns out that Chase was against making this movie for a long time, but as he continued to think about and what it meant to him, he wanted to move forward with it:
“I was against [the movie] for a long time and I’m still very worried about it, but I became interested in Newark, where my parents came from, and where the riots took place. I was living in suburban New Jersey at the time that happened, and my girlfriend was working in downtown Newark. I was just interested in the whole Newark riot thing. I started thinking about those events and organized crime, and I just got interested in mixing those two elements.”
The movie is currently in the middle of casting and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I’m excited to see this group of mobsters explored in this era.
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched The Sopranos. I think I’m going to go through and watch the series again.
Are you happy to hear that Tony will be included in the film?