David Chase Revives "The Sopranos" with New Line Prequel Movie The Many Saints of Newark
by Mike Fleming Jr
March 8, 2018


David Chase is finally ready to return to the New Jersey turf of his iconic creation "The Sopranos". New Line has purchased the screenplay The Many Saints of Newark, the working title for a feature prequel of "The Sopranos" that 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.




The script was written by Chase and Lawrence Konner. This is a real coup for Warner Bros Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich.

“David is a masterful storyteller and we, along with our colleagues at HBO, are thrilled that he has decided to revisit, and enlarge, the Soprano universe in a feature film,” Emmerich said.




I couldn’t get any more information about the plot, but the time period indicates there will be room for Tony Soprano’s father, Giovanni “Johnny Boy,” the former captain of the Soprano crew (played in flashbacks by Joseph Siravo), and a younger version of his wife Livia (played indelibly in the show’s first season by Nancy Marchand), and Tony’s uncle Junior, played by Dominic Chianese.

http://deadline.com/2018/03/david-chase-the-sopranos-prequel-movie-the-many-saints-of-newark-new-line-1202319202/

"The Sopranos" Prequel Movie Taps Director Alan Taylor
by Dave McNary
July 3, 2018


New Line is moving ahead with its movie prequel to "The Sopranos", hiring Alan Taylor to direct The Many Saints of Newark.

New Line set up the feature film in March when it bought the script from "The Sopranos" creator David Chase. The film is set in the 1960s in Newark, New Jersey, amid conflicts between African-American and Italian residents. Over four days of rioting in July, 1967, 26 people died and hundreds were injured in Newark.




"The Sopranos" was set in contemporary New Jersey, ran for six seasons on HBO between 1999 and 2007. The acclaimed series nabbed 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, including one for Taylor for directing.

Lawrence Konner, who worked on "The Sopranos" with Chase, is a co-writer for the project. Chase will also produce the film. Chase Films’ Nicole Lambert will serve as executive producer.




The Many Saints of Newark is expected to feature younger versions of some of the characters from "The Sopranos".

Taylor directed nine of the 86 episodes of "The Sopranos".

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/sopranos-prequel-movie-alan-taylor-directing-1202865087/

"The Sopranos" Prequel Film Taps Alessandro Nivola for Lead Role
by Etan Vlessing
Nov. 20, 2018


Actor Alessandro Nivola (Face/Off, American Hustle) is in talks to play Dickey Moltisanti in "The Sopranos" prequel movie for New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.

Alan Taylor is set to direct The Many Saints of Newark, which returns David Chase to the world of "The Sopranos" for the feature prequel, which he co-wrote with Lawrence Konner.




Nivola, who also stars in Sebastian Lelio's Disobedience opposite Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams, will play Moltisanti, a charismatic but violent made man who falls in love with his own father’s much younger bride, a recent immigrant from Italy.

Childless himself, Moltisanti meanwhile does his best to mentor a teenage Tony Soprano, the son of a family friend who’s serving a multi-year sentence in prison. The story for the prequel is set in the era of the Newark riots in the 1960s, when African-Americans and Italians in New Jersey were at each other's throats and, among the gangsters of each group, it became lethal.




Other fan-favorite "Sopranos" characters besides Moltisanti (who was never seen during the series, but whose son Christopher was a central character) will be seen in the film.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/alessandro-nivola-play-dickey-moltisanti-sopranos-prequel-film-alan-taylor-direct-1163195

"The Sopranos" Creator David Chase Offers Glimpses of Prequel Movie as Groundbreaking HBO Series Turns 20
by Mike Fleming Jr
January 7, 2019


It’s official. Tony Soprano lives on! In the week that "The Sopranos" celebrates the 20th anniversary of the launch of the groundbreaking HBO series, David Chase has given Deadline a bit of clarity on the prequel feature film The Many Saints of Newark that he wrote with "Sopranos" alum Lawrence Konner.

Chase confirms that a young Tony Soprano will be part of the tapestry of the period film.




The film will be made by New Line and Warner Bros. As was the case with the show, Chase is clearly the guiding creative influence. That included setting director Alan Taylor, who helmed nine episodes of the show, and Alessandro Nivola to play Dickie Moltisanti. He was the father of Tony Soprano’s future protégé Christopher and a mob soldier who died in the ’70s at the hands of a crooked cop whom Christopher (Michael Imperioli) would later murder on the day of his retirement from the police force.

That 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.









Chase spoke to Deadline as part of an oral history on the series that will run Wednesday. Chase and many of the cast will gather for The Sopranos Film Festival, which kicks off Wednesday with five days of live events and airings of classic episodes at the IFC Center, presented by the Split Screens festival.

“I was interested in Newark and life in Newark at that time,” Chase told Deadline. “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.”




It harkens back to "The Sopranos" early episodes, when Soprano had his first sessions with psychiatrist Janice Melfi and lamented how organized crime had changed for the worse, and that he’d missed the good all days. It wasn’t all great, though.

“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.









Chase could have at any time done a sequel film, but for many years was content for the legacy of the series to speak for it. The sequel became impossible when its iconic star James Gandolfini died in 2013.

The prequel seemed a new way to further explore the subculture and the origins of Ganfolfini’s iconic mobster, 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.




“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.”




Chase acknowledged there was also the opportunity to explore the period that Tony Soprano glorified in the show’s early episodes.

“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,” he said.

“Those traditions were followed more loosely in the series. These weren’t guys who wore tracksuits, back then.”




Chase understands that the movie will be running up against the memory of the original series.

“Yeah, I feel they’re out there with shotguns, just waiting,” he said.

https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-sopranos-david-chase-20th-anniversary-prequel-film-tony-soprano-the-many-saints-of-newark-1202530544/

Vera Farmiga and Jon Bernthal Join New Line’s "The Sopranos" Prequel
by Anthony D'Alessandro
January 14, 2019


Vera Farmiga and Jon Bernthal are in final negotiations for New Line’s The Many Saints of Newark, joining Alessandro Nivola in the ensemble drama.

Farmiga and Bernthal’s characters aren’t being disclosed. Some of the beloved characters from the Emmy-winning HBO series are expected to also appear in the film.

https://deadline.com/2019/01/vera-farmiga-jon-bernthal-join-new-lines-sopranos-prequel-1202534868/

"The Sopranos" Prequel Adds Corey Stoll and Billy Magnussen
by Anthony D'Alessandro
January 15, 2019


Count Corey Stoll and Billy Magnussen in for New Line’s "The Sopranos" prequel The Many Saints of Newark.

The roles are not being disclosed.

https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-sopranos-prequel-adds-corey-stoll-billy-magnussen-1202535485/

"The Sopranos" Prequel Film Finds Young Tony: Michael Gandolfini
by Mike Fleming Jr
January 22, 2019


"The Sopranos" creator David Chase has found his Tony Soprano.

Michael Gandolfini has been set to play the future New Jersey organized crime family boss in The Many Saints of Newark, the feature prequel to Chase’s groundbreaking TV series "The Sopranos" that Alan Taylor is directing for New Line.



He is the son of James Gandolfini, who originated the iconic role of Tony Soprano.

The late actor’s son has been gaining experience and had a breakout turn on the HBO drama series "The Deuce".

https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-sopranos-prequel-movie-michael-gandolfini-tony-soprano-james-gandolfini-the-many-saints-of-newark-james-gandolfini-david-chase-1202539160/

I guess someone or a few guys went to David Chase and told him that he was going to do a prequel. When Chase declines, they grab him, throw him in a trunk and drive him to the Pine Barrens and offers him a shovel.

There is now a prequel.

I guess someone or a few guys went to David Chase and told him that he was going to do a prequel. When Chase declines, they grab him, throw him in a trunk and drive him to the Pine Barrens and offers him a shovel.

There is now a prequel.

A "Sopranos" movie was talked about for years after the series ended, but they obviously couldn't do a sequel after Gandolfini's death so I guess they went w/ this prequel storyline instead.

Warner Bros Dates "The Sopranos" Prequel Newark for Fall 2020
by Anthony D'Alessandro
March 14, 2019


New Line’s "The Sopranos" prequel feature will hit theaters on September 25, 2020. The movie’s current working title is Newark (nee The Many Saints of Newark).

"The Sopranos" series creator David Chase is co-producing and writing with Lawrence Konner.




The pic, directed by Alan Taylor, stars Alesandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga, Ray Liotta, Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, John Magaro and Michael Gandolfini; the latter playing the younger role his late father James Gandolfini made legendary: New Jersey kingpin Tony Soprano.

Nivola will play young Dickie Moltisanti, the late father of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) and cousin of Carmela Soprano. Dickie never appeared on the HBO series, and was whacked before the story’s timeline. His legend hangs large as a pivotal member, along with Tony and Uncle Junior, as someone who transformed the family into one to be reckoned with in the Tri-State area.





The filmmakers are keeping quiet on details for the project and the roles, but it is known that some of the beloved characters from "The Sopranos" will appear in the film.

What we know: Newark is set in the era of the Newark riots in the ’60s, when African Americans and Italian Americans in the city were at each other’s throats. That clash became lethal when it spread to gangsters of each group.

https://deadline.com/2019/03/sopranos-prequel-movie-opens-september-2020-1202575803/

James Gandolfini's son visited The Sopranos series finale booth (https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2019/03/michael-gandolfini-went-to-holstens-to-sit-in-tony-sopranos-booth-because-we-never-stopped.html)

Michael Gandolfini, who will play a young Tony Soprano in the David Chase Sopranos prequel movie Newark, visited Holsten's Ice Cream Parlor in New Jersey on Thursday. Holsten's posted an image of the young actor sitting in the booth from The Sopranos' cut-to-black series finale scene.

This will be one movie I'll skip.

Tony-Winning Hamilton Star Leslie Odom Jr. Set for Key Role in Newark
by Mike Fleming Jr
March 20, 2019


New Line has set Tony-winning actor Leslie Odom Jr. for a starring role in "The Sopranos'" prequel film Newark.

Details of his role were not revealed.

https://deadline.com/2019/03/the-sopranos-prequel-the-many-saints-of-newark-hamilton-leslie-odom-jr-key-role-1202579070/

First photos: Tony Soprano from The Sopranos prequel movie (https://pagesix.com/2019/04/10/michael-gandolfini-spotted-in-brooklyn-filming-sopranos-prequel)

Michael Gandolfini, son of James Gandolfini, was spotted in character (https://pagesix.com/2019/04/10/michael-gandolfini-spotted-in-brooklyn-filming-sopranos-prequel/) filming The Many Saints of Newark in Brooklyn on Thursday.

Michael Gandolfini wears a retro ensemble in new set photos from The Sopranos prequel movie (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6982143/James-Gandolfinis-son-Michael-dons-retro-ensemble-set-Sopranos-prequel.html)

James Gandolfini's son, playing a young Tony Soprano, was photographed on set in Yonkers, New York Tuesday wearing a multi-colored striped shirt and brown bell-bottom pants. The Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark takes place in the late 1960s.

Michael Gandolfini had never watched The Sopranos before auditioning for the prequel movie (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a28519626/michael-gandolfini-the-many-saints-of-newark-tony-soprano-interview/)

The 20-year-old Gandolfini, who's a dead ringer for his dad James Gandolfini, was born in 1999, the year The Sopranos premiered. He was just 14 and vacationing with his dad in Italy when the elder Gandolfini died of a heart attack in his hotel room in 2013. “The funny thing is, before the audition, I had never watched a minute of The Sopranos," says Michael Gandolfini, who landed the young Tony Soprano role in The Many Saints of Newark after recurring on HBO's The Deuce, in an interview with Esquire. "I was just a kid when he was making it. I would go to the set and ask him what it was about, and he’d say, ‘Oh, it’s about this guy who’s in the mob and kind of goes to therapy.’ The hardest part of this whole process was watching the show for the first time." He added: "It was an intense process. 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. 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 (Sopranos creator) David (Chase) and I looked down at my hands, and they were my dad’s hands.” ALSO: Michael Gandolfini says his dad never wanted him to be an actor (https://www.etonline.com/james-gandolfinis-son-michael-says-his-dad-never-wanted-him-to-be-an-actor-130397).

Michael Gandolfini films a fight scene as a young Tony Soprano (http://www.justjared.com/2020/03/13/michael-gandolfini-films-a-fight-scene-as-young-tony-soprano)

Check out images of James Gandolfini's son shooting The Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark in the Bronx on Thursday.

"The Sopranos" Prequel Film The Many Saints of Newark Pushed to Fall 2021
by Tyler Aquilina
January 13, 2021


The return of Tony Soprano will be delayed a bit longer.

Warner Bros. has postponed the release of the upcoming "The Sopranos" prequel film The Many Saints of Newark from March to Sept. 24, 2021. The film was originally scheduled for release in September 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.




This new release date, however, is likely not due to the current pandemic surge, as Warner Bros. plans to release all its 2021 films in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously to prevent further delays.

Sources close to the production told Variety that the change is intended to allow The Many Saints of Newark to premiere on the fall film festival circuit and to better position it for an awards season campaign.

https://ew.com/movies/sopranos-prequel-many-saints-of-newark-pushed-september-2021/

Michael Gandolfini watched dad James Gandolfini on The Sopranos for the first time before auditioning for The Many Saints of Newark (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/02/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-a-young-tony-soprano)

“My dad didn’t want me to see Tony Soprano—the violence, the angry, the mean," says the actor, who was born in 1999, the year The Sopranos premiered. "Of course I was on set and would visit him in his trailer, but I had never watched the show…. I never knew Tony Soprano. I only knew my dad.” But Michael Gandolfini decided to start watching the HBO drama before auditioning for its prequel movie directed by creator David Chase. “It was really hard to watch my dad,” he says. “I recorded four hours of his monologues with Melfi and walked around New York with them constantly, constantly, constantly playing in my ear.” As for his three-month casting process, Gandolfini says: "I had this unspoken trust that David wasn’t going to cast me if there was even a shred that this isn’t going to work.”

David Chase "had no hesitancy" casting James Gandolfini's son as young Tony Soprano, says he'd be interested in returning to TV for a limited series (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/07/david-chase-on-our-continued-sopranos-obsessions)

“I looked at some tape, to see if he could put one word in front of the other,” says Chase of casting Michael Gandolfini in The Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark. “But no, I had no hesitancy. I just had this sneaking suspicion that the DNA was going to be the same.” Chase tells Vanity Fair that these days he watches the Criterion Channel after consuming cable news during the Trump presidency. As for retuning to TV, the 76-year-old Chase says: “Nowadays there’s limited series. I would do that. Features are still my first love. I don’t know, is there a feature business? Do movies really exist?"

The Many Saints of Newark's premiere boosts The Sopranos to record-breaking HBO Max viewership (https://variety.com/2021/film/news/the-sopranos-many-saints-of-newark-streaming-ratings-1235084744/)

The Sopranos "broke HBO Max records for weekly viewing of a series, and nabbed the highest daily viewership in service history last Sunday" thanks to the prequel movie, reports Variety's Matt Donnelly. Sopranos viewership was up 65% over the previous week. Andy Forssell, executive vice president and general manager of WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer, adds: "We knew there would be interplay, but we were surprised. The Sopranos is such a popular series. It pops in and out of the Top 10 from time to time, and it’s not a juggernaut like Friends in terms of breadth, but it does very well."

ALSO:


The Many Saints of Newark undermines the key insight of The Sopranos and TV's Golden Age (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/06/many-saints-newark-undermines-key-insight-tvs-golden-age/)
Decoding seven parallels between The Sopranos and The Many Saints of Newark (https://www.vulture.com/2021/10/decoding-many-saints-of-newarks-parallels-with-the-sopranos.html)
The Many Saints of Newark should've been a Sopranos prequel series (https://mashable.com/article/many-saints-of-newark-review-sopranos-movie)

Why Breaking Bad movie El Camino worked, while The Sopranos movie The Many Saints of Newark didn't (https://www.avclub.com/too-many-saints-of-newark-why-the-sopranos-movie-faile-1848019035)

"The Many Saints Of Newark is the latest—and most high profile and most expensive—of movie codas to television shows," says Matt Schimkowitz. "Unfortunately, it’s also the most divisive. While movies have made for good TV prologues and epilogues for decades, The Many Saints Of Newark is among the most disappointing. After two years of COVID-related delays, the film landed at the box office with a thud. Though it fared better on streaming, Many Saints already feels a bit forgotten. Fans almost immediately returned to posting memes from the original series. At the same time, David Chase went back to press tours about making movies and revealing what became of Tony Soprano after the finale. Compared to other movie revivals for acclaimed, prestigious television shows, Many Saints falters. The decidedly more low-key El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Deadwood: The Movie prove that some approaches to the growing (or shrinking) pains of going from prestige TV show to tentpole movie work better than others." Why did El Camino work? "To the 2019 film’s benefit, El Camino is essentially inessential," says Schimkowitz. "(Vince) Gilligan’s approach is slight, refusing to disturb the main narrative but homing in on the show’s stylistic quirks and emotional catharsis. Like its source, El Camino is about the process of how one escapes a seemingly impossible situation. While it doesn’t succeed as a standalone movie (one that anyone would watch on a whim without seeing Breaking Bad), it packs enough familiar thrills and faces to make a worthy supplement that could be tucked neatly into the main narrative. One could imagine Jesse’s heist of Todd’s (Jesse Plemons) apartment spread across several episodes, with the reveal of rival thieves, providing several cliffhangers for commercial breaks and episode cappers along the way. El Camino’s reluctance to take risks ends up helping it. It’s a familiar Breaking Bad story, complete with tense plotting, brutal violence, and propulsive energy. El Camino is both pretty good and also totally inconsequential. It doesn’t pose a big question like, 'Who made Tony Soprano?' Instead, it focuses on the immediate escape and conclusion that never felt necessary but is available if fans want it."