The cast of the acclaimed TV show The Sopranos have reunited for the show’s 25th anniversary, as they dished out secrets about everything from cast “interventions” to the series’ ending.
More than a dozen members of the cast and crew gathered to watch the Alex Gibney-directed HBO documentary, Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival to a packed-out audience of the show’s fans on Thursday night (14 June). The film centres on Chase, the award-winning writer and producer behind the influential show, and watches him track the making of the series.
The documentary is filled with old footage of audition tapes, as well as the story behind Chase’s inspiration for the show.
It’s revealed that HBO CEO Chris Albrecht held an intervention with the cast about James Gandolfini, the late actor who starred as the New Jersey mafia boss Tony Soprano, who was reportedly “battling his own demons” at the time.
Elsewhere in the documentary, the pivotal question is asked: Why wasn’t there a complete season 7? Chase revealed that by doing Seasons 6A and 6B, HBO pulled out from giving the cast pay raises.
At the premiere, some of the show’s best-known cast members reunited onstage for a teary reflection on their years spent filming and working together.
Edie Falco, who starred as Carmela Soprano in the series was joined by actors Aida Turturro, who played Janice Soprano, Annabella Sciorra, who played one of Tony’s mistresses Gloria, Steve Buscemi, who played Tony Blundetto and Katherine Narducci, who played Artie’s wife Charmaine Bucco.
They were joined by Chase’s daughter Michele, who played Hunter, Meadow Soprano’s best friend, Dominic Chianese, who played Uncle Junior, Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby Bacala, and Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti.
Falco, reflecting on Carmela’s “deal with the devil” and her decision to stick by Tony’s side, said that she and Gandolfini fell into “this relationship that felt like what Tony and Carmella put into it...I believe on some level that we know about ourselves, or families, you’re going to have to make some gigantic change or accept it”.
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Breaking down in tears, Narducci, who played Artie’s wife, reflected on yelling at Gandolfini during shoots and apologising to him before every on-screen fight, reports Deadline.
She’d ask Chase: “Can’t I be a little nice to him?” He’d say, ‘I knew her well, she wasn’t nice.’ I felt bad yelling at Jimmy because I loved him.”
Gibney claimed that The Sopranos broke the mould in its day of TV, when today, “you have to perform to an algorithm”.
Earlier this year, Chase claimed that the so-called golden era of TV is now over, recalling how he had recently been told to “dumb down” a production and was warned against making series that would “require an audience to focus”.
He went on to deem The Sopranos 25-year anniversary a “funeral” for the industry instead of a celebration.
“As the human race goes on, we are more into multitasking,” Chase told The Times. “We seem to be confused and audiences can’t keep their minds on things, so we can’t make anything that makes too much sense, takes our attention and requires an audience to focus. And as for streaming executives? It is getting worse. We’re going back to where we were.”
The Sopranos, which began in 1999, ended its run in 2007 after six seasons and 86 episodes, for which it won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards in total.
