Subscribe
HomeTV/Film

EXCLUSIVE: CASSIUS Sits Down With The Cast of ‘The Many Saints of Newark’

Dismiss

Who made Tony Soprano? That’s the complicated question that The Sopranos’ prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, answers. 

 

Michael Gandolfini Shares How His Late Father Inspired His Tony Soprano

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

The film from The Sopranos creator David Chase tells the story of a young Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) while growing up in the DiMeo crime family in Newark, New Jersey late 1960s, early 70s. The movie is narrated by Tony’s dead nephew, Christopher Maltosanti, who Tony killed out of pity in the HBO crime drama. The prequel follows Dickie Maltosanti (Alessandro Nivola) and his rise to power in the DiMeo family. It also shows how he influenced a young Tony while also dealing with a loyal soldier in Harold (Leslie Odom Jr.), who has grown tired of working for the Italians and wants to start making moves on his own.

The Many Saints of Newark

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

Dickie is also dealing with his tumultuous relationship with his father, Hollywood Dick Moltisanti (Ray Liotta), who returns from Italy with his new Italian bride, Giuseppina Bruno (Michela De Rossi).

Cassius Life had the opportunity to talk with Nivola, Gandolfini, Leslie Odom Jr., Liotta, and De Rossi about their roles in the highly-anticipated Sopranos’ prequel film.

Cassius Life: Dickie was a character of legend in the original Soprano show. You took on the task of bringing this character that we only knew based on descriptions from Tony to life. What was it like actually being in the pivotal role in this film?

Well, this was just the role that I’d been looking for for 25 years making movies.

Alessandro Nivola:  Well, this was just the role that I’d been looking for for 25 years making movies. So I was out of my mind with celebration when I was asked to do it. In one sense, I felt kind of liberated from the show, partly because David told me not to pay any attention to what people had said about me in the series because those characters are all liars. But also just because I wasn’t saddled with playing a character that had appeared in the show. And having to impersonate that person the way that some of the other actors, this guy included, did so brilliantly. But in other ways, there were elements of the show that were really valuable to me to be able to draw on in terms of the tone and the kind of black humor of the scenes, but also just Tony as a character in the series and Dickie in the film do share certain qualities, even though Dickie cuts a different profile than he does.

He’s a slick rat pack looking guy or whatever, but they’re both characters who are struggling to understand the effect that their own violence has on their own psyches and emotional lives and are both kind of ill-equipped to be able to do that. And both the movie and the series track their growing awareness of the terrible effect that has on them.

The Many Saints of Newark

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

CL: Leslie, your character Harold comes at a time where Black Americans are still dealing with some of the same issues that the Black characters in your film dealt with. What was it like going through those scenes during the Newark riots, and what was it like taking on this heavy role?

Leslie Odom Jr.: I took a lot of inspiration from my grandfather as a man that I knew really well, who migrated from the south like Harold, like six million other black people did between 1910 and 1970 to divorce themselves from the plantation economy, to create a better life for themselves and for their families. So there’s a part of Harold that I felt like I knew really well. And the parts that I felt like I didn’t know as well, I had David and his imagination and his great writing there to inspire me in those parts. So it was great fun and just such an honor to be a part of the expansion of the mythology in this way.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

CL: Michael, you did an excellent job of playing a younger version of a character your dad made popular TV history, and we had goosebumps watching a few scenes with you. Was your portrayal of this character fresh, or did you take any hints from watching your dad at all?

Michael Gandolfini: I’d say a very, very complicated and fine balance of both. I felt it very important to understand his physicality, the accent, how he stands, how he breathes, how he holds his head down and uses his eyes a lot, how he squints. All those things I knew were going to really embody the characters so the audience could experience the Tony that they know. And also even emotionally, how his sarcasm kind of manifests. How his lies and his trickery kind of manifest. One of my favorite lines is when he [Tony} is in the phone booth and Dickie lies that he is not there. And Joanne’s like, “Oh, he’s not here,” instead of being like, “I know he’s there,” he just goes, “Yeah, well, how’s Christopher?” Like, that’s just such a Tony way. So those little things that would call back to the audience, but then emotionally, he’s a completely different sort of Tony, someone who’s very sensitive and a little nerdy and a little naive because he’s a kid.

The Many Saints of Newark

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

And I think a lot of people at first, when I heard about it, expected an eight-year-old Tony or a 12-year-old Tony or a 15, 16, 17-year-old Tony to be gun-wielding and robbing a bank or whatever. And like, of course not. Of course, he wants a dog, and he’s sensitive, and he’s gentle. And he kind of gets whittled down into that aggressor. So it was about making it my own where I can thrive, but also calling back to the show.

and he’s sensitive, and he’s gentle. And he kind of gets whittled down into that aggressor.

CL:  Michela, your character is very important in shaping the DiMeo crime family’s power structure in a way. And we likened it to Helen from Greek mythology because you indirectly started a war within that family and conflict with another whole faction of people. Is that a fair comparison?

Michela De Rossi: No, I think you’re right, but she doesn’t want to. She is just pure and smart too. She came from a poor place. She knows poverty.  She’s ambitious. And she just wants to say the truth every time.

The Many Saints of Newark

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

CL:  You’re not in the original show, but a lot of your cast members from other movies were. Did you always want to be a part of the Sopranos” franchise, and when you got the role? Was this like your yes moment for you as well?

Ray Liotta: No, I mean, it wasn’t the burning desire. But it was a burning desire in terms of working with David Chase and being able to say his words. I just really liked that they gave me this honor to do it, to work with him.

But it was a burning desire in terms of working with David Chase and being able to say his words.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK

Source: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark

CL: Also, I always wanted to know, how would you feel your partners from GoodFellas would fare in the DiMeo crime family? How would you think they would fare with this family?

RL: Hopefully, on top.

CL: We don’t know if you guys have watched The Sopranos, but the ending to the series was regarded as one of the best endings in the world. What do you think happened with Tony at the end of the Sopranos? What do you think happened to him?

MDR:  I don’t really know. I know that the thing that I thought it’s been, I mean, in my opinion, it ended like that because it’s like David could keep going to writing on and on and on. And it’s just that kind of message. So that’s why maybe he chose for a prequel. I don’t really know what I think about Tony’s end. I don’t know.

CL: Ray, you want to chime in?

RL: I didn’t see a lot of it and definitely didn’t see the end, so I can’t really make a comment without seeing. One day, I plan to sit down and catch all of them, but right now I wouldn’t know.

The Many Saints of Newark is now streaming exclusively on HBO Max and in theaters.

Photos: Warner Bros. / The Many Saints of Newark