A few months ago The Sopranos creator David Chase revealed he and Lawrence Konner, one of the show’s producers, were writing a prequel feature film to the series, The Many Saints of Newark. No other information had been given at the time, but now TheWrap has learnt director Alan Taylor has been chosen to helm the project.
This actually marks a return for Taylor to the world of The Sopranos. He directed several episodes of the hit series, including the Emmy Award-winning ‘Kennedy and Heidi’ from the show’s seventh season. He has also directed several episodes of HBO’s other hit series Game of Thrones as well Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie and, most recently, an episode of the anthology Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams. On the film side, he directed Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World and the latest attempt to reboot the Terminator franchise, Terminator: Genysis.
The Many Saints of Newark is set in the 1960s during the Newark riots where tensions between Newark African-Americans and Italians were at an all-time high with conflict between gangs of each group escalating to lethal encounters. While no further plot points were revealed, its possible the film will centre around Tony Soprano’s father, Giovanni ‘Johnny Boy’ Soprano, his mother Livia and his uncle Corrado ‘Junior’ Soprano.
The Sopranos became a huge success for HBO by putting them on the map for original content and is often regarded as one of, if not the best, television series ever made. It was also one of the first to establish a profitable DVD market for famous television series. The original series ran from 1999 – 2007 and starred James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Steven Van Zandt, Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese Steve Schirripa.
