Steven Van Zandt based Silvio Dante’s relationship with Tony Soprano on his own friendship with Bruce Springsteen
The E Street Band member had plenty of practice as the righthand man
TV News Steven Van Zandt
New Jersey sweetheart Steven Van Zandt had plenty of practice giving hard truths to his friend Bruce Springsteen long before he ever had to do the same for Tony Soprano. Ahead of the E Street Band member’s memoir, Van Zandt tells The Times his friendship with the iconic rocker influenced his role of character Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
“I could certainly draw on my relationship with Bruce” Van Zandt says. “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.”
Like the mob boss Tony Soprano, Springsteen—who remains one of the biggest names in rock music—carries a lot of influence and power. As Springsteen’s righthand man in real life and as Tony’s righthand man throughout the 6 seasons of The Sopranos, Van Zandt kept these successful men grounded.
“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?” Van Zandt asks. “The mindset is: did you just sell 20 million albums? I was the only guy who wasn’t scared of Bruce, so I could tell him what I thought.”
One pivotal moment in their “tell it like it is” friendship happened when Van Zandt shared his honest opinion about Springsteen’s 1987 track “Ain’t Got You” from his album Tunnel Of Love. “We had been separate for a while at that point and he was trying to adjust from being this ridiculously successful guy, after coming from nothing,” Van Zandt explains. “He was trying to be honest about his situation in that song, but sometimes you can be too honest.”
In the track, Springsteen sings about his many riches, like “fortunes of heaven in diamonds and gold.” Van Zandt told him what no one else would—no one likes a bragger. “I had to say to him: ‘Nobody cares about your life. Nobody wants to hear about how rich you are,’” Van Zandt recalls.
In 2020, Van Zandt first touched on how he built his character from the ground up, turning to his lifelong friendship with Springsteen for inspiration. “I decided that I had to create this guy. First of all, I wrote a biography of who the guy was and I made up my own story. He grew up with Tony Soprano, he was his best friend, he’s the only guy who doesn’t want to be the boss, he’s the only guy he trusts,” Van Zandt told Rolling Stone. “I kind of used my relationship with Bruce, basically.”
Last week, Van Zandt revealed that The Many Saints Of Newark creator David Chase sought his feedback on early cuts of the film. A younger version of Silvio Dante appears in the origin story film, played by John Magaro. “I saw several of the early cuts. He’s been tinkering now with it for a couple of years. So it may be a whole different movie by the time I see it again.”
The Many Saints Of Newark is set to premiere on HBO Max and in theaters on October 1.
36 Comments
Ask Bruce to write a song about what happened to the Russian.
The Ghost of Vlad Joad.
He got a little lost along the way.
“That was the latest from Bruce Springsteen, cryptically titled ‘It’s Pretty Obvious the Russian Died’.”
“Incident with the Interior Decorator and Czechoslovakians”
He was Born to Run.
That wasn’t what Born to Run was about?
“Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact
But maybe everything that dies some day comes back”
I mean, he kinda’ already did . . . . from a first-person point of view. I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
Part of me hopes that like halfway through The Many Saints of Newark he shows up Terminator style from the future to kill young Paulie and Christopher.Anyway in case you’re not aware, someone, I wanna say Terrance Winter or Tim Van Patten has spoken about how he pitched a resolution to that to Chase but was shot down. Basically Chris and Paulie end up at the russian boss’s place running an errand and see him there mopping the floor. The he turns and like part of his head is missing from where they shot him. Some boy scouts found him in the woods and he lived but had a diminished mental capacity.I’d google the story but I’m on a hotspot with a shitty connection and not even sure if this post will go through.
Wasn’t there a huge flap about how Bruce wanted to expand his style and move past his Joe Lunchbox image but Steven convinced him if he did, he’d be betraying all his fans? I’m not sure he did him a service there.
I would attempt to answer that if I knew what a Joe Lunchbox image is.
You know, Joe Lunchbox. Eats a lot of ham sandwiches on 100th floor girders of skyscrapers under construction.
I mean, it’s not as if he hasn’t presented himself as an avatar of heterosexual white male blue-collar workers for decades or anything. Not really that complicated.
Oh. Then the answer is no.
Joe lunchbox is Joe six-pack only at noon instead of 5pm
Sil was my favorite character except maybe Furio. Love that Van Zandt was able to draw on his real life experience. From “The Boss” to the mob boss.
My take on Furio was that he was smart enough to get the fuck outta’ Dodge when Carmella started making eyes at him.
Yeah he was all “is she worth dying or killing over” “No” “Peace”
I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR ADRIANA, SIL
Still the most brutal scene in the show to me. Straight up hard to watch.
It was even though I don’t think you see any violence, but her reaction was so upsetting
The implication of violence instead of just seeing him cap her almost made it more unsettling. The fact they had a top guy such as Sil do it instead of some soldier showed how heavy it was when you had to whack somebody who means something to you. Like with Big Pussy in the first season. Whenever I drive to the airport I think of the title of the episode. Silvio is still my favorite though. Then Furio and Adriana.
Anyone else remember the theories that he DIDN’T kill her? I argued with so many people that they were idiots who didn’t understand good tv. Then she showed up in one of the trailers for season six (it was a dream) and people were like SEE!
Van Zandt really showed off his acting chops going from “Oh no, Chris is at the hospital” to stone cold killer.
Totally get where Stevie was coming from. Either bragging about wealth or songs about the industry itself are always the nadir of the creatively bankrupt.
It shows you’re in too deep and can’t relate to anyone else anymore.
Bruce may be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, but he wisely doesn’t sing about that.
See also: Rose, Axl
When he came into the studio one morning, there Bruce was with his head half in the toilet. His hair was in the toilet water — disgusting.
I SAID MY PIECE BRUCIE
“Aren’t you the guy who broke into Stu Leonards and stole all those pork rinds?”“…Yes, but that’s not why I’m here today.” That whole intervention may be funniest sequence in the entire show, which is really saying something.
I think it’s either the intervention or Paulie going to the psychic.
I read how Chase wanted Van Zandt to play Tony Soprano, I wonder if that would have gave the world a mobster Bruce Springsteen.
Terrible actor. It’s like watching a bad SNL character
he’s the only guy who doesn’t want to be the boss.I’ve always wondered if Jackie really floated the idea of Sil taking over and he turned it down, or if that’s just something Sil invented later to cope with dealing with Tony as boss.
“Van Zandt told him what no one else would—no one likes a bragger. “I had to say to him: ‘Nobody cares about your life. Nobody wants to hear about how rich you are,’”But i love Migos.
So I’m a little confused. Stevie tells Bruce that no one cares about how much wealth you have and he thinks Springsteen listened to him? Seems like the lyrics are exactly the same. And the song is fine as long as you make it to the end of each verse.