Michael Gandolfini is another The Many Saints Of Newark star who’d never seen The Sopranos
At least, unlike co-stars Ray Liotta and Alessandro Nivola, the 22-year-old actor has an excuse
TV News The Sopranos
The Many Saints Of Newark might not be receiving the kind of critical acclaim that parent series The Sopranos traditionally got, but that’s not stopping late-night shows from booking the cast en masse. Last night, Stephen Colbert did two segments with the ensemble film’s lead, Alessandro Nivola (who revealed that he’d never watched the show), while last night saw Seth Meyers uncovering the fact that guest and Newark star Ray Liotta still, to this day, hasn’t sat down to watch more than a few episodes of David Chase’s landmark prestige TV mob drama. Meanwhile on Wednesday, Jimmy Fallon got a sit-down with Michael Gandolfini, who took on the role of Tony Soprano himself in Newark, playing the younger version of the future mob boss made famous by his father, James.
In his first-ever late-night interview, Gandolfini told Tonight Show host Fallon that he’d had some understandable reservations about stepping into his late father’s role as the high school-age Tony. “I want to be my own actor, my own person,” said Gandolfini, who has, indeed, already worked with acclaimed creator David Simon on The Deuce, among other notables. Still, the actor said that ultimately the opportunity was too good to refuse, citing not just Chase’s trust in casting him as “on of the greatest characters” in TV history, but the chance to work with Vera Farmiga, Leslie Odom Jr., Nivola, and Jon Bernthal for his decision. Plus, with Fallon showing off photos of Gandolfini’s breakout role in a high school production of Shrek, the actor clearly knew something about playing oddly sympathetic monsters. Not to scoff at a live-action Shrek (Gandolfini credits his turn in green for getting him his first agent), but that first crack at the Shrek makeup the actor was forced to endure (and present to children) is the stuff of nightmares. Think The Goonies’ Sloth crossed with Leatherface. Pleasant dreams, kids.
As for his father’s iconic turn as Tony Soprano, Gandolfini dropped the Liotta- and Nivola-sized bomb that he, too, had never seen The Sopranos when Chase asked him to audition. Of course, Gandolfini has better excuses for missing it than either co-star. For one, Michael Gandolfini was born on May 10, 1999, exactly four months after The Sopranos’ first episode aired on HBO. That means that, for the young Gandolfini, the blood- and profanity-drenched set was merely his “jungle gym” growing up, where Tony’s battles with depression, conscience, and rival mobsters looked like just “my dad eating a sandwich in a robe.” There’s a picture of toddler Michael watching filming while his track-suited dad and Edie Falco check up on him from the background that is equally sweet and melancholy after James’ shocking early death in 2013. Dealing with yet another late-night host aghast at the revelation that not everybody in the world has already binged The Sopranos several times over, Gandolfini calmed Fallon down by asserting that he did a quick catch-up on his father’s performance by watching the series before his audition. Well, the first season anyway—the guy’s got a life.
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I mean, it isn’t like watching a movie – there’s 80+ hours to watch. I’m a little surprised Gandolfini hasn’t wanted to see his dad’s most iconic performance, but for everyone else it isn’t really that surprising.
I think it’s a bit different when it’s your parents are in the media. Would I want to watch my parents if they were in a movie or tv show? It’s the job they come home and complain about so, meh, maybe not. It’s also just got to be a weird dynamic all around.
True, but I AM surprised that apparently nobody on the cast has seen it.
While true, it’s one thing to say “I haven’t watched every episode”, and quite another to say “I haven’t watched any episodes”. Particularly if it’s the show that made your father famous.
Maybe watching his father makes him sad?
I’d think it’d be kind of strange to watch your parent act in something R -rated. Presumably some kids of actors get used to seeing their parents in roles that are very different from how they are off screen, but that might vary from kid to kid.
Yeah that was my first thought. Plus his father died when he was 13ish so maybe it would have been difficult to watch him in anything, much less a show where he has a lot of sex scenes.
Heck, I didn’t even watch the first Borat movie, because Borat looked so much like my dad looked when I was a kid. It actually *being* my parent would be a whole other thing.
Imagine your own dad plowing a lady while wearing just a tank top.
That would be pretty weird, admittedly.
He said in the interview that he has since watched the show
Wait till he sees how the show ends!
If my dead dad was a famous actor it would be a lot to process to watch him perform especially if I’m only 22.
Not to mention watching all the times his dad almost dies/has super intense panic attacks that look like heart attacks.Also, by all accounts James Gandolfini was a lovely man who had a great relationship with his family. It might not be that fun to watch your dad play someone who is not that for 80-100 hours, especially when you only have memories of the real version.
It’s getting to the point where I wonder if anyone has seen the Sopranos. Or is it one of those things that we’re all supposed to have seen, like reading the 20th Century literary canon or listening to modernist symphonies?
Lolwut. Just watch it, it’s great.
I think I’ve watched the entire series 4 times now.
I’m starting to think it’s more of an over 40 thing at this point. I don’t think it’s being picked up by younger generations like The Wire and Breaking Bad are but you can’t even imagine how huge The Sopranos was in the early 00s.
Maybe, I’m 30 and quite a few people in my age range have seen it.
Why Is Every Young Person in America Watching ‘The Sopranos’?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/magazine/sopranos.html
What? The Sopranos has had a huge resurgence with younger millenials and gen-z in the last few years. The Wire had its due in the 2010’s and Breaking Bad isn’t that old, but The Sopranos is easily the most popular right now.
I’m not so sure. At least with younger millennials and Gen Z, I think The Sopranos has been one of the most popular pandemic binges, maybe only behind Survivor. I have some anecdotal evidence of this along with at least three think pieces I have recently seen about the newfound popularity of The Sopranos with younger viewers.
My college roommate watched it while I was in the room and I still haven’t seen it.
I felt that way about the Wire. It seemed like I was the only person alive who hadn’t watched the Wire. It took the pandemic to make me finally hunker down and watch the whole series. And I did it in like two weeks. I think I’d rather rewatch that than the Sopranos at this point.
I devoured the Wire from start to finish – no difficulty there. Sopranos I got maybe two episodes in and decided it wasn’t for me: mainly as there’s no-one to root for. Is Tony an anti-hero? He just seems like a villain with a home life. I confess all the hype has long had me thinking I’ll try to return to it. But knowing how it ends, I don’t know if that’s how I want to spend those hours.
I enjoyed it while I was watching it, but it was just so tense at times that I really actually started to dread it. Like a huge feeling of anxiety every Sunday night. Kind of also why I stopped watching Curb Your Enthusiasm for a while. I’m sure if I started watching the Sopranos again I’d get caught up in it, but there are certainly a few key, extremely haunting scenes that really hit hard that I never really wanna see again. I don’t know if you’ve watched Six Feet Under, but it’s kind of like the ep where David gets kidnapped. Just too goddam tense to watch again.But I get what you say about no knowing if there’s anyone to root for int he Sopranos. Though there is a funny throwaway bit in a later season where an FBI agent sort of forgets for a while what side he’s on and starts openly cheering for one side in the mob war, which I thought was kind of acting like an audience surrogate. You definitely end up rooting for people, and changing your rooting interest over and over.
Does the Sopranos possibly exist in the same universe as Sinbad’s Shazaam film?
I’ve watched the pilot and 46 Long, maybe a couple episodes after that before giving up. It’s kind of weird. I liked the Godfather and I loved Goodfellas but the Sopranos never seemed to click with me. Maybe it was because of the modern setting, maybe it was something else. All I remember was my biggest impression being, “just slip this Pussy guy a note! Or tell a friend to tell a friend to tell him!” But no, instead they (Christopher) try to save a restaurant by blowing it up! Made me wonder how organized crime managed to do anything.
I think The Sopranos has had a resurgence in popularity among a certain corner of the internet that happens to also be the same people who write articles. I’m in my 20s and not that no one’s heard of it, but it’s not a show I hear about people I know in real life binging a ton of. The Wire was the show that people my age are telling me to see.
I haven’t seen it.
I’ve seen the Mad TV parody. Does that count?
Still a classic.
The lookalike son of James Gandolfini got an agent based on his performance in a high school play. You know, as one does.
He said he didn’t watch it when he was a child. Blah blah blah. Headlines. Payday.Also: just because you guys gave it a bad review doesn’t equal universally bad. Get the flying fuck over yourselves.
So the guy who was a child when the show aired and decided not to watch it afterwards because his dead dad was the star deserves an article about not watching a show where his dead dad was the star, but then when he had to for work he did. This place is a bummer.