Last year it was reported that David Chase is returning to the world of The Sopranos with a prequel movie entitled The Many Saints of Newark, and during an interview with Deadline to mark the celebrated crime drama’s 20th anniversary, Chase has offered up a few details on what fans can expect with the big screen project.
“I was interested in Newark and life in Newark at that time,” said Chase when asked about his inspirations for the movie. “I used to go to down there every Saturday night for dinner with my grandparents. But the thing that interested me most was Tony’s boyhood. I was interested in exploring that. The movie will deal with the tensions between the blacks and whites at the time, and Tony Soprano will be part of this, but as a kid.”
“I was against [the movie] for a long time and I’m still very worried about it, but I became interested in Newark, where my parents came from, and where the riots took place,” he continued. “I was living in suburban New Jersey at the time that happened, and my girlfriend was working in downtown Newark. I was just interested in the whole Newark riot thing. I started thinking about those events and organized crime, and I just got interested in mixing those two elements. It is going to depict when it was good. The mafia was very polished at that time, how they dressed and what they did. Those traditions were followed more loosely in the series. These weren’t guys who wore tracksuits, back then.”
Chase is writing the script for The Many Saints of Newark, which has Alan Taylor – who helmed nine episodes of the series – attached to direct and Alessandro Nivola (Selma) on board to play Dickie Moltisanti, the uncle of Tony Soprano.
