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Long before the so-called "golden age of TV" arrived, "The Sopranos" seemed to hint at what was in store for the small screen. The groundbreaking show suggested what today seems axiomatic: that TV could be just as compelling, contain just as much tight storytelling, and feel just as premium as any movie. As far as television dramas go, "The Sopranos" set a standard that few series, even today, manage to meet.

Still, not everything the writers did was met with unanimous praise. The legacy of "The Sopranos" wasn't exactly sullied by what is surely one of the most divisive endings in TV history, but that infamous fade-to-black left some fans feeling let down by a series that never shied away from depicting the brutality of mob life. Put simply, you never really knew who was going to be offed from episode to episode, and while killing off characters on "The Sopranos...

Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti with his father’s (Ray Liotta) wife Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi) and his nephew Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) in The Many Saints Of Newark

In the second instalment with Alessandro Nivola, star of Alan Taylor’s The Many Saints Of Newark we discuss how Chase and Taylor ended up deciding to have Ray Liotta play his own brother, the need for Dickie Moltisanti (Nivola) to unburden himself as Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, had in The Sopranos series, Al Hirt versus Miles Davis, Alessandro’s longtime double Carl Paoli, the David O Russell technique, and why he wanted to be an actor since he was a kid.

'Hollywood Dick' Moltisanti (Ray Liotta), Buddha (Joey Diaz), Junior Soprano (Corey Stoll), Pussy Bonpensiero (Samson Moeakiola), and Paulie Walnuts (Billy Magnussen)

From New York City, Alessandro Nivola joined me on Zoom for an in-depth conversation on The Many Saints Of Newark...

The Many Saints of Newark Review — The Many Saints of Newark (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Alan Taylor and starring Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Corey Stoll, Ray Liotta, Michela De Rossi, Michael Gandolfini, Billy Magnussen, John Magaro, Michael Imperioli, Samson Moeakiola, Joey Diaz, Germar Terrell Gardner, [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Many Saints Of Newark (2021): An Entertaining Origin Story of Tony Soprano...

It’s hard to walk in an old gangster’s shoes, even if they are patent leather, but it helps if you have the Og’s custom tailored, classic wide collar mustard-yellow coat. Front-buttoned, with wool blend material, soft inner viscose lining, long sleeves, and open hem cuffs, it is stylish and smart, though not blood resistant. Billy Magnussen is too young for gray wingtips in his hair, but he’s just the right age to flip from one mob player to another. In The Many Saints of Newark, the prequel to David Chase’s influential TV series The Sopranos, Magnussen plays a young Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri, a fan favorite played almost inimitably by Tony Sirico.

Sirico was a real mobster before he went into acting, even did a semester in prison. He brought a street-wise authenticity into the role, which is now lodged in Sopranos fans’ consciousness like a...

To some, The Many Saints of Newark is just a period piece mob movie that will pop up in their HBO Max feed on October 1. To others, however, it’s manna from heaven – the first time we’ll see classic characters from The Sopranos onscreen since the legendary HBO show signed off in 2007.

Slated to appear in The Many Saints of Newark’s 1967 version of Tony Soprano’s New Jersey are: a young Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini), his father Giovanni “Johnny Boy” Soprano (Jon Bernthal), uncle Corrado “Junior” Soprano Jr. (Corey Stoll), mother Livia Soprano (Vera Farmiga), Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri (Billy Magnussen), Silvio Dante (John Magaro), Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (Samson Moeakiola), and potentially more.

According to The Many Saints of Newark director Alan Taylor though, the film nearly opened with a scene featuring one of the series’ most important characters played by her original actress. Taylor first told Collider...

We haven't yet seen the highly anticipated Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, but it looks like if all goes to plan there is a very high chance that another deep dive into the younger years of Tony Soprano will be following very soon afterwards. As we have seen with Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa's buddy cop movie going from speculative Twitter banter to in development project, things can move fast in the movie industry if the right combination of events come together at just the right time. The Sopranos creator David Chase only mentioned in a Deadline interview earlier today that he would definitely consider doing more movies about the formative years of the mobster, but only if series writer Terence Winter was on board. A few hours later, Deadline had contacted Winter for a comment, and that comment was "The idea of doing another one, and doing it with David,...

Exclusive: Call it an offer he couldn’t refuse. After The Sopranos creator David Chase told Deadline in today’s interview that he would be interested in doing another film about the formative years of Tony Soprano — as long as it meant reuniting with longtime series writer and executive producer Terence Winter, Deadline reached out to Winter, who said: “The idea of doing another one, and doing it with David, I’d be in in a heartbeat. Absolutely.”

Before fans of The Sopranos get too hot and bothered about the idea of another film tracing the formative years of the core cast, The Many Saints of Newark has to please Warner Bros and New Line, the studios that made it. There is a solid cast in that film that plays younger versions of the series stalwarts. Michael Gandolfini plays young Tony; Vera Farmiga plays his mother, Livia; and Jon Bernthal plays his father,...