5 Years Later, The Sopranos Creator Admits To 1 Critical Canon Mistake With HBO’s Prequel Movie

David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, just admitted that the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark includes a major mistake that doesn’t align with the canon of the original series.

After The Sopranos ended in 2007, it took 14 years for Chase to revisit the crime drama franchise. He did so by co-writing (with Lawrence Konner) and producing the movie The Many Saints of Newark, which was directed by Alan Taylor, who has extensive experience at HBO on shows like Game of Thrones, Sex and the City and The Sopranos.

Now Chase is opening up about both projects. During a Q&A at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the TV creator revealed (via Deadline) that his biggest mistake on The Many Saints of Newark was not keeping everything consistent with Christopher Moltisanti’s father, Dickie.

“We had talked about him all through The Sopranos, that he was a drug addict and an alcoholic and insane,” Chase explained. “And then when we made the movie,” the character was presented in a different light, as if he wasn’t a drug addict.

While reflecting on that time, the main problem was that he “didn’t want to cross [Dickie] with Tony Soprano.” Both Dickie and Tony are similar figures (“some kind of rage-filled idiot,” as Chase described them), so it might have been for the best to write the script in the way that he did.

“I can tell you, we just made a mistake. There was the character of Dickie, who was Chris’ father. We had talked about him all through The Sopranos, that he was a drug addict and an alcoholic and insane. And then when we made the movie, he wasn’t in it. I don’t know how we forgot that, but we did. The problem was we didn’t want to cross him with Tony Soprano. We thought, well, he looked like the same kind of guy, some kind of rage-filled idiot, so we didn’t do it.”

Even though The Sopranos was a hugely successful and iconic series, Chase didn’t have an easy time getting projects made after that show ended. He developed multiple ideas, but no studio or network signed on. The creator and producer had one particular idea he pitched to HBO, but executives at the premium cable network rejected it over budget issues.

But then he, HBO and Warner Bros. teamed up for The Many Saints of Newark, which was greenlit because, as Chase noted, “They want everything they’ve seen before. They want things they’ve seen make loads of money before. It’s very simple, really.”

Unfortunately, with a total gross of $13 million, The Many Saints of Newark flopped when it was released in theaters in October 2021, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After being delayed multiple times once the pandemic began, Warner Bros. decided to give its 2021 movies a simultaneous release in theaters and on HBO Max. Chase acknowledged that Newark “wasn’t successful in the theater,” but it performed better on TV.

“I wasn’t that lucky, and that’s the reason why. There was something at HBO I really wanted to do, and then they didn’t want to do it. That fell apart because of money, and then nobody else wanted to do it. After that, we did what they called a prequel to The Sopranos, which is not what I ever thought it was, and that wasn’t successful in the theater; it was successful on television.

“I hadn’t been that lucky before that because I know that I write outside of what they want. They want everything they’ve seen before. They want things they’ve seen make loads of money before. It’s very simple really. And they want the Oscars and to go to the parties.”

Despite its underwhelming box office returns, the movie earned solid reviews from critics and a 72% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Since The Many Saints of Newark is a prequel, fans got to see younger versions of some of the characters, including Tony Soprano himself.

Michael Gandolfini, the son of the late James Gandolfini, stepped into his father’s shoes to play Tony, alongside a cast that included Alessandro Nivola (as Dickie Moltisanti), Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Ray Liotta and Vera Farmiga.

Chase has talked before about possibly making another movie, but it’s now been five years since The Many Saints of Newark was released, and there haven’t been any updates on that front lately.

Release Date

September 22, 2021

Runtime

120 minutes

Director

Alan Taylor

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  Alessandro Nivola

  Dickie Moltisanti

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  Leslie Odom Jr.

  Harold McBrayer

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