Christopher Walken has been married to Georgianne Walken for 35 years. She's one of Hollywood's top casting directors. Her name appears in movie credits all the time. Below is a link to her impressive resume.

Georgianne is also the casting director for the Sopranos and has been since the show's debut. I've often wondered why she doesn't cast her husband on the show for three or four episodes Can you just imagine Walken playing Tony's rival? He personifies gangster.

I have a theory that Walken is too big a name and would overshadow the cast and the show in general. I'm sure he would do it if he could. I think Georgianne Walken is making a carefully strategic decision by not casting her husband....or other big names for that matter. She surely has many Hollywood connections.

Does this make sense to anyone? To tie it in, does anyone think that if Robert DeNiro offered to appear on the show -- would they accept his offer?


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0907467/

No doubt that Christopher Walken and Robert Deniro would overshadow the rest of the cast and the show lose focus.

Obviously if they appeared at this point their distincitions in being big stars- one a noteable nut and eccentric, and the other tattooed with Mob movies to his credit (Godfather II and Goodfellas, no less)- would contribute to the show losing coherence and direction. And the audience would be too interested in them instead of the story and regulars.

Even Steve Buscemi has been made a wet blanket to tone down his usual wacky characters (though nowhere near a big star).

Even if Walken appeared in the beginning I know I would be as interested in his character as Tony- if not more so. And that just would defeat the intent of David Chase and his story.

So not in not casting Walken, it was a great casting move.

And I think Deniro would have no interest in being cast in The Sopranos at this point, though I think if he asked, David Chase may have no choice.

I don't know exactly if she is doing it on purpose. Then again, she seems to find the perfect actor for each role. If Deniro wanted to do it, they probably would cast him as himself.

I agree dlemond that it would be hard to concentrate on anything else with megastars on board. James Gandolfini would possibly have a thing or two to say about it as well.

Brian, interesting thought about casting DeNiro as himself. I can see that. I remember Frank Sinatra Jr. playing cards...wait, did he play himself?

Originally posted by Janice
Brian, interesting thought about casting DeNiro as himself. I can see that. I remember Frank Sinatra Jr. playing cards...wait, did he play himself?

Yes he did as well as David Lee Roth and Lawrence Taylor playing themselves. So did Jon Favreau and Jeanine Garafalo.

Was that David Lee Roth in one of the poker scenes during the fifth season????? I remember the scene and he made some wise crack and the other players laughed (I can't remember the exact line right now). It was something about "when I was a rock singer . . . ." If that was David Lee Roth, I didn't even recognize him and didn't realize it was him. What episode number was it???? Personally, I thought it was pretty cool when Frank Sinatra, Jr. appeared on the Sopranos.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch

That was David Lee Roth, but I forget what episode number that was.