It's a "Sopranos" Reunion on Nickelodeon Film "Nicky Deuce"

[JamesG]

Nickelodeon's Nicky Deuce Gives Fans a "Sopranos" Family Reunion
by KARA YORIO / STAFF WRITER
Monday, May 27, 2013


It's a family reunion, Nickelodeon style.

When Steve Shirripa, who played Bobby Baccalieri on "The Sopranos", was finally getting his novel turned into a movie, he made a few phone calls to fill out the cast. In no time, fellow "Sopranos" cast mates James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Curatola and Tony Sirico agreed to be in Shirripa's film, Nicky Deuce, which airs tonight on Nickelodeon.

"They knew I'd been trying to get this made a long time," said Shirripa. "They knew how I felt about it, so when the time came, I called. Without hesitation, every one of them said, 'Of course I'll be there.'"

It's also a North Jersey reunion of sorts; Gandolfini is from Park Ridge and Curatola lives in Upper Saddle River.





In the movie that Shirripa calls both a coming-of-age story and fish-out-of-water tale, Nicholas Borelli — played by "iCarly's" Noah Munck — is a suburban smart kid whose summer camp gets canceled. His parents then drop him in Brooklyn to spend time with Grandma Tutti and Uncle Frankie (Shirripa).

The film is based on the book by the same name that Shirripa wrote in 2005. He sold the rights to Nickelodeon in 2007 and has been trying to get the movie made ever since.

"It took me six years to make, a long six years," said Shirripa. "Many, many scripts, many, many screenwriters, but we finally got it made and I'm happy about it. … The best time was actually making the movie. We shot it in Montreal, which doubled for Brooklyn. It was a really nice crew and the director John Rosenbaum was great. It was really a good experience. You know, sometimes you do things and they're OK. Sometimes you do things and you don't like them. This was a good one."





His friends enjoyed it too.

"We're 'The Sopranos' cast," said Curatola, who played Johnny Sack on "The Sopranos." "We can have fun doing anything as long as we're together."

One thing they love to do together is eat.

"We try out just about every restaurant we can find," he said. "It's a habit of ours. We've been doing it since '98."





Fans will see a different side of their favorite actors from the HBO hit.

"The Jim Gandolfini stuff, if you never saw him do comedy, you'll laugh out loud," said Shirripa. "Michael Imperioli, who's not known for comedy, his scenes are great. Vince. All those guys are great."



Curatola said it's all in the script.

"Every one of us played straight to the wall," said Curatola. "You don't play it for comedy. It's within the dialogue itself. If it comes out that way, fine, but we don't play it for comedy."





"iCarly" fans know Munck as Gibby, but Shirripa said everyone should learn this young actor's name.

"He's 16 years old and he's going to be a terrific actor," said Shirripa. "He was toe-to-toe with all of us. He was toe-to-toe with Jim and with Michael and myself. He's a really sweet boy and I think he's going to really go far."

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