Sopranos cast in sad farewell to show

[Brian Damage]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As the actors end their roles in "The Sopranos," a program that made many of them household names and faces, some worry about being typecast while others fear they might have trouble working again.

Take Dominic Chianese, the 76-year-old who plays Uncle Junior, for example. He knows he has been typecast just by the things that keep happening to him. He's not worried about working because he can always sing Italian love songs for a living.

Recently, he was sitting in a Mongolian restaurant in New York City and two Mongolians came over.


"They started teasing, and said 'you know your show is teaching people in Mongolia how to be criminals."'

And to add insult to injury, pretty much everywhere Chianese goes, people think he is the actual Uncle Junior, who, in the show, is now demented and, frankly, was never very nice to start with.

"They like the old bugger, I don't know why, but they do. He's falling apart, I feel so sorry for him. My health is fine but that would be real funny if I really had dementia. 'You do a great job there Dominic. How do you do that?' What? What are you talking about?"'

Chianese and other actors on the show say filming the last nine episodes of an extended sixth season on cable channel HBO has taken an emotional toll.

'EMOTIONAL ITALIANS'

The new episodes start on Sunday and continue on until early June, when, bada bing, it will all be over -- just as it was for so many other beloved TV series, including "M*A*S*H," "All in the Family" and "Seinfeld."

Brought together by the show's creator, David Chase, in 1999, they created a unique television ensemble. Almost all had strong Italian-American profiles, whether they were Italian or not and many had not received the kind of recognition they would get when "The Sopranos" swung into gear becoming a critical and ratings success.

Actors like James Gandolfini, who plays the conflicted mob boss Tony Soprano, hit instant stardom even though his character morally corrupts those he comes into contact with.

The question for him is whether he will be able to find the kind of textured roles that tap into his extraordinary power as an actor. The same may hold true for Edie Falco, who plays his wife Carmela on the show.

In various interviews, she has talked of leaving "The Sopranos" as a new beginning but then she said she immediately thinks she will have to sell all her possessions to make ends meet.

Chianese told Reuters recently that mood on the set has been hard.

"Everybody feels it coming to an end. But I know we'll all stay together somehow, stay in touch. But there is a feeling of sadness. You can tell ... everybody's emotional. They don't talk too much about it, but you can tell."

Falco agrees. In an interview with Reuters, she said, "We're pretty darn close, and things are getting a little heavy. For a bunch of emotional Italians, we're definitely feeling it."