It’s hard to believe that “The Sopranos” is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. For those of us that are old enough to remember the premiere, the anniversary is yet another reminder of impending old age (those gray hairs are adding up). But the recognition of two decades isn’t without some good news. In a new interview with Deadline, ‘Sopranos’ creator David Chase is celebrating the upcoming milestone with some tasty tidbits about the upcoming spin-off prequel film, “The Many Saints of Newark.”
Tony Soprano lives! Well, kind of.
No, Chase isn’t going to reveal the true ending of “The Sopranos,” saying what happened after the infamous cut to black. No, what he revealed is that Tony Soprano is going to be featured quite heavily in the upcoming prequel, albeit a much younger version of the future crime boss.
READ MORE: ‘The Sopranos’ Prequel Film ‘The Many Saints Of Newark’ Casts Its Dickie Moltisanti
For those that don’t know, ‘Many Saints’ tells a story that was only hinted at in “The Sopranos,” detailing the rise of the mob in the ‘60s thanks to Dickie Moltisanti, played by Alessandro Nivola in the film. The film will focus on the mob’s contentious beginnings as Newark, New Jersey was ground zero for racial tensions between communities of African Americans and the Italian Americans. And apparently, Tony Soprano was there to experience it all first-hand.
In explaining his reasons for working on a prequel, Chase also discusses Tony’s involvement, saying, “I was interested in Newark and life in Newark at that time. I used to go 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.”
“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,” Chase said.
Of course, we still don’t know who will play the young Tony, but the creator assures fans that this isn’t just some cash grab to capitalize on the anniversary or legendary status of the series. “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,” he said. “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.”
And the way the mob is depicted in ‘Many Saints’ is going to be very different than the way fans came to know it in “The Sopranos.” You have to remember, this is going to be a film about the heyday of the crime family.
“It is going to depict when it was good,” he said. “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.”
There’s no release date yet for the film, which is written by Chase and helmed by director Alan Taylor, who was responsible for numerous episodes of the series.