JamesG
07-24-2021, 06:13 PM
Steven Van Zandt on How his Friendship with Bruce Springsteen Informed his Role on "The Sopranos"
July 24, 2021
by Abbey White
Spending decades as Bruce Springsteen’s righthand man helped Steven Van Zandt craft his on-screen performance as Silvio Dante, Tony Sopranos’ childhood friend and consigliere.
Speaking to The Times about revelations in his upcoming memoir Unrequited Infatuations, which is out on September 28, the E Street guitarist and "The Sopranos" star said that he “could certainly draw on my relationship with Bruce” to play the role of Tony’s second in command.
“Part of the obligation of being a best friend is that sometimes you have to bring the bad news, to express an opinion that they’re not going to like,” Van Zandt said. “With success like Bruce had in the ’80s, you cannot help but lose perspective. You start thinking you’re a genius, the greatest thing in the world, and who’s gonna argue with you?”
The actor and musician said that in the position he was in, he was up against the mindset of “did you just sell 20 million albums?”
But where others might be more hesitant to call out Springsteen or characters like Tony, he was going to speak his mind. “I was the only guy who wasn’t scared of Bruce, so I could tell him what I thought,” he said.
Van Zandt also shared his thoughts on his near casting as Tony, and the scene he called both “horrifying” and “less than pleasant” to film.
That scene was when his character, Silvio, murders Adriana La Cerva. “I’ve got a serious problem with bullies in general, all the political stuff I’ve done has been about taking bullies down, so filming that for a few hours was not pleasant.”
“It wasn’t so much killing her that was the problem,” he continued. “It was putting my hands around her neck and dragging her out of the car. But Drea de Matteo is such a great actor that she said, ‘If this is going to be my last scene, let’s make it real. Don’t go easy on me.’ As far as I was concerned it was horrifying.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/steven-van-zandt-friendship-bruce-springsteen-sopranos-role-1234988047/
July 24, 2021
by Abbey White
Spending decades as Bruce Springsteen’s righthand man helped Steven Van Zandt craft his on-screen performance as Silvio Dante, Tony Sopranos’ childhood friend and consigliere.
Speaking to The Times about revelations in his upcoming memoir Unrequited Infatuations, which is out on September 28, the E Street guitarist and "The Sopranos" star said that he “could certainly draw on my relationship with Bruce” to play the role of Tony’s second in command.
“Part of the obligation of being a best friend is that sometimes you have to bring the bad news, to express an opinion that they’re not going to like,” Van Zandt said. “With success like Bruce had in the ’80s, you cannot help but lose perspective. You start thinking you’re a genius, the greatest thing in the world, and who’s gonna argue with you?”
The actor and musician said that in the position he was in, he was up against the mindset of “did you just sell 20 million albums?”
But where others might be more hesitant to call out Springsteen or characters like Tony, he was going to speak his mind. “I was the only guy who wasn’t scared of Bruce, so I could tell him what I thought,” he said.
Van Zandt also shared his thoughts on his near casting as Tony, and the scene he called both “horrifying” and “less than pleasant” to film.
That scene was when his character, Silvio, murders Adriana La Cerva. “I’ve got a serious problem with bullies in general, all the political stuff I’ve done has been about taking bullies down, so filming that for a few hours was not pleasant.”
“It wasn’t so much killing her that was the problem,” he continued. “It was putting my hands around her neck and dragging her out of the car. But Drea de Matteo is such a great actor that she said, ‘If this is going to be my last scene, let’s make it real. Don’t go easy on me.’ As far as I was concerned it was horrifying.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/steven-van-zandt-friendship-bruce-springsteen-sopranos-role-1234988047/