1
00:00:12,303 --> 00:00:14,264
- Rolling.
- Rolling.
2
00:00:17,267 --> 00:00:18,351
And action.
3
00:00:36,661 --> 00:00:37,579
Mr. Soprano?
4
00:00:39,039 --> 00:00:40,123
Yeah.
5
00:00:50,884 --> 00:00:51,885
Have a seat.
6
00:00:54,888 --> 00:00:55,847
Okay.
7
00:01:05,565 --> 00:01:07,859
Can you recall what
your first memory was?
8
00:01:07,984 --> 00:01:09,694
Your actual first memory?
9
00:01:10,236 --> 00:01:12,489
My actual first memory
is a dream.
10
00:01:15,992 --> 00:01:17,911
I guess my mother had these.
11
00:01:17,911 --> 00:01:22,040
It's like a metal kind of
a thing with a curlicue.
12
00:01:22,165 --> 00:01:23,333
The hand comes out
from the wall
13
00:01:23,333 --> 00:01:25,210
and you can hang
a plant from it.
14
00:01:25,710 --> 00:01:28,380
I was swinging from that thing.
15
00:01:29,339 --> 00:01:31,800
That is my first memory,
actually.
16
00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:33,009
It really impressed me.
17
00:01:33,009 --> 00:01:34,135
Maybe it was the first time
18
00:01:34,135 --> 00:01:35,804
I remember a dream
and I was going,
19
00:01:35,804 --> 00:01:37,013
"Wow, what was that?"
20
00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,809
"The hell's going on
in my head?"
21
00:01:42,727 --> 00:01:45,480
You know, it's funny
how much I've forgotten.
22
00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:47,399
When people remind me
of things.
23
00:01:48,066 --> 00:01:50,193
That make me laugh.
Like, I don't remember.
24
00:01:50,193 --> 00:01:52,862
I don't remember doing that,
or I don't remember...
25
00:01:52,862 --> 00:01:54,948
But... yeah.
26
00:02:02,580 --> 00:02:03,456
Cut!
27
00:02:04,916 --> 00:02:07,836
I was born in Mount Vernon,
New York, right near the Bronx.
28
00:02:07,836 --> 00:02:10,422
Then we moved to Jersey
when I was four.
29
00:02:10,547 --> 00:02:12,007
My mother's family
was from Jersey.
30
00:02:12,007 --> 00:02:14,050
We moved to my
aunt's house in Boonton,
31
00:02:14,050 --> 00:02:15,468
Revolutionary War town.
32
00:02:15,468 --> 00:02:17,095
You can still see where
the furnaces were.
33
00:02:17,220 --> 00:02:19,097
They made musket balls.
A river goes through it.
34
00:02:19,222 --> 00:02:21,266
That's the town we used
for when the character Vito
35
00:02:21,391 --> 00:02:22,809
went to New Hampshire.
36
00:02:22,809 --> 00:02:24,894
And I loved that town.
It was so mysterious.
37
00:02:27,731 --> 00:02:29,607
I loved going into New York
at Christmas.
38
00:02:29,733 --> 00:02:33,111
Rockefeller Center, the tree,
the whole thing blew my mind.
39
00:02:33,236 --> 00:02:35,488
Huge toy department.
Santa. Trains.
40
00:02:35,488 --> 00:02:36,948
You were on my lap
five minutes ago.
41
00:02:37,073 --> 00:02:39,325
- No, I wasn't.
- Yes, you were.
42
00:02:39,325 --> 00:02:41,453
Now you're goin' on Santa's List
and you're getting nothing!
43
00:02:41,578 --> 00:02:43,163
Fuck you, Santa!
44
00:02:45,498 --> 00:02:47,625
My father,
I started begging him,
45
00:02:47,751 --> 00:02:50,628
could we please go home down
the West Side Highway?
46
00:02:50,754 --> 00:02:52,839
Because to the Lincoln Tunnel,
there were ships in the harbor
47
00:02:52,839 --> 00:02:55,967
that the prow of the ship
was, like, over the road.
48
00:02:56,092 --> 00:02:57,969
I couldn't get over it.
I just, I wanted to see that.
49
00:02:58,094 --> 00:02:59,804
Plus, I loved going through
the Meadowlands.
50
00:02:59,929 --> 00:03:02,515
There's all these legends that
Jimmy Hoffa is buried there.
51
00:03:02,515 --> 00:03:05,143
Pennsylvania Station,
all that rubble was out there.
52
00:03:05,268 --> 00:03:07,896
That's where The Sopranos,
we shot the first season there.
53
00:03:07,896 --> 00:03:10,357
And so, but anyway, we moved out
of my aunt's house
54
00:03:10,357 --> 00:03:12,233
to Clifton, New Jersey,
kind of working-class,
55
00:03:12,233 --> 00:03:15,445
larger kind of semi-city,
then moved to West Essex.
56
00:03:15,445 --> 00:03:18,114
My father got this idea
to open a hardware store.
57
00:03:18,114 --> 00:03:19,741
Next door was
a Chinese restaurant.
58
00:03:19,741 --> 00:03:22,327
See these Chinese guys
plucking chickens down there.
59
00:03:22,452 --> 00:03:24,412
My parents weren't that fond
of the whole deal.
60
00:03:24,412 --> 00:03:26,748
They liked Chinese food,
but didn't like being close
61
00:03:26,748 --> 00:03:27,999
to the Chinese restaurant.
62
00:03:28,124 --> 00:03:29,793
They sold that store
and they bought
63
00:03:29,793 --> 00:03:32,170
a Main Street hardware store
in a small town.
64
00:03:32,295 --> 00:03:34,422
My father worked really hard
65
00:03:34,422 --> 00:03:36,675
and they never got out
from behind the eight ball.
66
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,344
They were in business
for 35, 40 years.
67
00:03:39,469 --> 00:03:41,388
It was killing them,
but they kept going.
68
00:03:41,513 --> 00:03:42,430
They kept going, yeah.
69
00:03:42,430 --> 00:03:44,265
Until my father was sick
70
00:03:44,265 --> 00:03:46,851
and the whole thing
sold for $1,300
71
00:03:46,976 --> 00:03:48,103
at a sheriff's auction.
72
00:03:48,103 --> 00:03:50,480
Whole life.
73
00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:52,565
They just were not
happy people.
74
00:03:54,109 --> 00:03:56,820
My mother was very difficult,
but she functioned.
75
00:03:56,820 --> 00:03:58,947
She worked, came home,
she made us dinner,
76
00:03:58,947 --> 00:04:01,741
but she was terrified
and angry at everybody.
77
00:04:01,741 --> 00:04:04,786
You know, somebody
called here last night.
78
00:04:04,786 --> 00:04:06,287
After dark.
79
00:04:06,287 --> 00:04:07,414
Who?
80
00:04:07,414 --> 00:04:09,249
You think I'd answer?
It was dark out.
81
00:04:09,249 --> 00:04:13,044
And she was given
to having screaming nightmares.
82
00:04:13,169 --> 00:04:14,963
Her family had ten girls
and two boys.
83
00:04:14,963 --> 00:04:16,840
Parents had come over
from Italy, lived in Newark,
84
00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:19,759
which was a big Italian
immigrant community.
85
00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:22,137
We used to go down every
Saturday night for dinner.
86
00:04:22,137 --> 00:04:23,221
They spoke no English.
87
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,348
And her father,
my grandfather,
88
00:04:25,348 --> 00:04:27,517
Vito Bucco,
he never learned English.
89
00:04:27,517 --> 00:04:29,686
He refused. Not a nice guy.
90
00:04:30,395 --> 00:04:32,063
Did you feel
unappreciated by her?
91
00:04:32,063 --> 00:04:33,273
- My mother?
- Yeah.
92
00:04:33,273 --> 00:04:35,650
She had so many
negative things
93
00:04:35,650 --> 00:04:36,568
to say about me.
94
00:04:36,693 --> 00:04:38,528
Very complex. My father too.
95
00:04:38,528 --> 00:04:39,779
It was very strange.
96
00:04:39,904 --> 00:04:41,072
I mean, appreciated...
97
00:04:41,865 --> 00:04:43,867
One time we were in the car
with my mother and father
98
00:04:43,867 --> 00:04:46,619
and my cousin Johnny.
I forget what song was playing,
99
00:04:46,745 --> 00:04:48,455
but I was tapping along with it.
100
00:04:48,455 --> 00:04:50,415
He said, "He should be
playing the drums.
101
00:04:50,540 --> 00:04:51,791
He's got a good sense
of rhythm."
102
00:04:51,791 --> 00:04:53,585
She said, "Over my dead body.
103
00:04:53,710 --> 00:04:55,754
That Gene Krupa
was a drug addict!"
104
00:04:55,879 --> 00:04:58,214
Speaking of crystal meth,
look at this wayo.
105
00:04:58,214 --> 00:04:59,841
I did not feel
appreciated,
106
00:04:59,841 --> 00:05:02,218
that would never have
come into my mind.
107
00:05:02,218 --> 00:05:05,430
Were you scared of her?
Scared she would explode?
108
00:05:05,555 --> 00:05:08,600
Stop telling me how to
live my life. Just shut up.
109
00:05:08,725 --> 00:05:11,811
I am nervous.
As a kid, I was fearful.
110
00:05:11,936 --> 00:05:13,271
And then I became
kind of a punk.
111
00:05:16,232 --> 00:05:18,360
And that saved my life
in a way.
112
00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:19,986
I fell in with this group
of guys.
113
00:05:20,111 --> 00:05:21,112
Holy shit.
114
00:05:21,237 --> 00:05:23,031
Bullies, wiseguys.
115
00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:27,369
We got into switchblades,
leather armbands, cigarettes.
116
00:05:27,369 --> 00:05:28,787
We got our driver's licenses,
117
00:05:28,912 --> 00:05:31,456
it was all about cars
and girls and alcohol.
118
00:05:32,499 --> 00:05:35,335
The drinking age in New York
was 18, Jersey was 21.
119
00:05:35,335 --> 00:05:36,878
So we were constantly
going there.
120
00:05:36,878 --> 00:05:39,798
Upper East Side was kind of hip,
and then the Village.
121
00:05:40,256 --> 00:05:42,676
I remember coming back
from Manhattan,
122
00:05:42,676 --> 00:05:44,761
and it was a car full
of greasers next to us,
123
00:05:44,761 --> 00:05:46,054
we started cursing
at each other
124
00:05:46,054 --> 00:05:47,681
and somehow scaling plates.
125
00:05:47,681 --> 00:05:50,475
Somebody's mother's plates,
I guess. You know, "Pew!"
126
00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,144
This is in the Lincoln Tunnel.
All of us were drunk.
127
00:05:55,063 --> 00:05:57,649
1964, I go to college
down South,
128
00:05:57,774 --> 00:05:59,776
Wake Forest in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina.
129
00:05:59,776 --> 00:06:01,111
- Hated it.
- Why?
130
00:06:01,111 --> 00:06:03,113
You're going to cut this.
131
00:06:03,113 --> 00:06:04,572
Yeah, it was the South.
132
00:06:04,572 --> 00:06:07,075
The Klan was really active
around where we were.
133
00:06:07,075 --> 00:06:10,412
The big fraternity on campus
was inspired by Robert E. Lee.
134
00:06:10,412 --> 00:06:12,539
It was a Baptist school. Had to
go to chapel twice a week.
135
00:06:12,539 --> 00:06:14,749
No drinking, no dancing,
no card playing.
136
00:06:14,749 --> 00:06:17,711
So why did I go there?
I got rejected at Princeton.
137
00:06:17,836 --> 00:06:19,254
I got rejected at Dartmouth.
138
00:06:19,254 --> 00:06:21,047
My best friend was going
to Wake Forest.
139
00:06:21,172 --> 00:06:23,299
Because he was going there,
I went there.
140
00:06:23,299 --> 00:06:24,634
And we both were miserable.
141
00:06:24,634 --> 00:06:25,969
But fortunately,
142
00:06:25,969 --> 00:06:28,179
someone started
foreign film night.
143
00:06:29,931 --> 00:06:32,684
That's where I saw Godard,
Bergman,
144
00:06:32,684 --> 00:06:34,477
Fellini, La Dolce Vita...
145
00:06:34,477 --> 00:06:37,188
Marcello, come here!
146
00:06:37,689 --> 00:06:38,857
Hurry up.
147
00:06:43,028 --> 00:06:44,571
8 1/2, just,
148
00:06:44,571 --> 00:06:46,573
I don't even think
I understood it.
149
00:06:50,952 --> 00:06:53,788
I don't even think I knew
what a film director was.
150
00:06:53,788 --> 00:06:55,749
But it just blew my mind.
151
00:06:57,876 --> 00:06:59,627
A whole new universe.
152
00:07:02,339 --> 00:07:04,132
I left Wake Forest,
went to NYU,
153
00:07:04,132 --> 00:07:06,885
and I saw Cul-de-sac
by Roman Polanski.
154
00:07:09,846 --> 00:07:12,182
That's when I started thinking,
155
00:07:12,182 --> 00:07:13,767
"Maybe I could do that."
156
00:07:14,351 --> 00:07:17,062
It was the art of it
that was so engaging.
157
00:07:17,187 --> 00:07:18,063
That's it.
158
00:07:18,188 --> 00:07:20,106
October of 1965,
159
00:07:20,106 --> 00:07:22,525
my friend was going to
Bard College.
160
00:07:22,525 --> 00:07:25,153
I went up there to take acid.
That was my first time.
161
00:07:25,153 --> 00:07:27,572
I remember being on the banks
of the Hudson River,
162
00:07:27,697 --> 00:07:29,783
two o'clock in the morning,
and I started saying,
163
00:07:29,908 --> 00:07:31,368
"I want to make movies."
164
00:07:31,368 --> 00:07:34,162
That was when the idea
first occurred to me, like,
165
00:07:34,162 --> 00:07:36,414
actually pursue this somehow.
166
00:07:39,376 --> 00:07:41,378
- Take your mark.
- And action.
167
00:07:41,378 --> 00:07:42,671
Hey, Tony.
168
00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:45,256
- You okay?
- How are you doing?
169
00:07:45,382 --> 00:07:46,758
- Are you okay, David?
- Yeah, yeah.
170
00:07:46,883 --> 00:07:48,843
Yeah, I'm just talking
my fucking head off.
171
00:07:48,843 --> 00:07:50,804
I can't believe it.
172
00:07:50,929 --> 00:07:52,138
Just talking too much.
173
00:07:52,138 --> 00:07:54,182
- No, man. It's good.
- No, it's not.
174
00:07:54,724 --> 00:07:57,143
I really regret the amount
of fucking verbiage
175
00:07:57,143 --> 00:07:58,478
from this morning.
176
00:07:59,729 --> 00:08:02,524
Seriously, I don't know
about this. Who gives a shit?
177
00:08:02,524 --> 00:08:05,360
- All these personal questions.
- People will give a shit.
178
00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,278
It's like, as Tony says...
179
00:08:07,404 --> 00:08:09,989
Remember when is
the lowest form of conversation.
180
00:08:11,408 --> 00:08:12,951
And I would leave now,
181
00:08:13,660 --> 00:08:16,454
but I see what you've done,
all this stuff and...
182
00:08:17,622 --> 00:08:19,582
Yeah, it-it was a round office.
183
00:08:19,582 --> 00:08:21,292
It looks a lot like it.
184
00:08:23,169 --> 00:08:24,671
I did say I'd do this.
185
00:08:24,796 --> 00:08:25,922
But what I said was,
186
00:08:25,922 --> 00:08:27,507
"Yeah, I'll be part of this
187
00:08:27,632 --> 00:08:29,134
Sopranos documentary."
188
00:08:29,259 --> 00:08:31,928
But I didn't realize it was
going to be about me.
189
00:08:36,391 --> 00:08:40,770
♪ You woke up this morning,
got yourself a gun ♪
190
00:08:41,604 --> 00:08:46,317
♪ Mama always said you'd be
the chosen one ♪
191
00:08:46,443 --> 00:08:48,737
♪ She said you're
one in a million ♪
192
00:08:48,737 --> 00:08:51,614
♪ You've got to burn to shine ♪
193
00:08:51,614 --> 00:08:54,242
♪ But you were born
under a bad sign ♪
194
00:08:54,242 --> 00:08:57,454
♪ With a blue moon
in your eyes ♪
195
00:08:57,454 --> 00:09:00,081
♪ You woke up this morning ♪
196
00:09:00,081 --> 00:09:02,375
♪ All that love had gone ♪
197
00:09:02,959 --> 00:09:07,172
♪ Your papa never told you
about right and wrong ♪
198
00:09:08,131 --> 00:09:10,342
♪ But you're looking
good, baby ♪
199
00:09:10,467 --> 00:09:12,677
♪ I believe
you're feeling fine ♪
200
00:09:12,802 --> 00:09:13,803
♪ Shame about it ♪
201
00:09:13,803 --> 00:09:15,680
♪ Born under a bad sign ♪
202
00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:18,016
♪ With a blue moon
in your eyes ♪
203
00:09:18,141 --> 00:09:19,476
♪ Sing it now ♪
204
00:09:19,476 --> 00:09:21,436
♪ Woke up this morning ♪
205
00:09:21,436 --> 00:09:22,854
♪ Got a blue moon ♪
206
00:09:22,854 --> 00:09:24,856
♪ Got a blue moon
in your eyes ♪
207
00:09:24,981 --> 00:09:26,691
♪ Woke up this morning ♪
208
00:09:29,819 --> 00:09:31,696
♪ Woke up this morning ♪
209
00:09:31,821 --> 00:09:34,324
♪ Your world turned
upside down ♪
210
00:09:34,324 --> 00:09:36,493
♪ Lord above,
things ain't been the same ♪
211
00:09:36,618 --> 00:09:39,788
♪ Since the blues
walked into town ♪
212
00:09:40,330 --> 00:09:42,707
♪ But you're one in a million ♪
213
00:09:42,707 --> 00:09:44,959
♪ You've got that
shotgun shine ♪
214
00:09:44,959 --> 00:09:46,211
♪ Shame about it ♪
215
00:09:46,336 --> 00:09:47,796
♪ Born under a bad sign ♪
216
00:09:47,796 --> 00:09:50,715
♪ With a blue moon
in your eyes ♪
217
00:09:51,591 --> 00:09:53,968
♪ Woke up this morning ♪
218
00:09:55,345 --> 00:09:57,263
♪ Got yourself a gun ♪
219
00:09:58,014 --> 00:10:02,435
♪ Got yourself a gun ♪
220
00:10:08,191 --> 00:10:10,110
Let me explain
a little bit, which is that
221
00:10:10,819 --> 00:10:13,613
part of what interests me
about The Sopranos
222
00:10:13,738 --> 00:10:17,867
was how it was personal to you.
223
00:10:17,867 --> 00:10:19,661
That you had an idea,
224
00:10:20,203 --> 00:10:23,289
which was an amalgam
of a lot of things
225
00:10:23,289 --> 00:10:25,834
that you had lived through,
thought about.
226
00:10:25,834 --> 00:10:28,586
Well, for years,
everybody told me
227
00:10:28,712 --> 00:10:31,089
that I had to write something
about my mother.
228
00:10:31,214 --> 00:10:33,508
She was so out there
and so funny.
229
00:10:34,384 --> 00:10:38,013
My wife, Denise,
was the first one to say that.
230
00:10:38,013 --> 00:10:40,098
And then everybody was saying,
231
00:10:40,223 --> 00:10:42,100
"You gotta write something
about your mother."
232
00:10:44,227 --> 00:10:46,980
In like '88,
I was looking for a job,
233
00:10:47,105 --> 00:10:50,066
and David Chase had a new show.
234
00:10:50,066 --> 00:10:53,486
It was called Almost Grown,
and he wanted to meet writers.
235
00:10:53,486 --> 00:10:56,573
So I met with David
on Ventura Boulevard,
236
00:10:56,573 --> 00:10:57,949
some restaurant.
237
00:10:58,074 --> 00:10:59,367
I got there first, of course,
238
00:10:59,367 --> 00:11:01,745
and I see him coming
in the door.
239
00:11:01,745 --> 00:11:04,164
I think, "Oh, fuck."
He just looked so dour.
240
00:11:04,622 --> 00:11:06,750
You know what I mean?
He looked so miserable.
241
00:11:06,750 --> 00:11:11,546
And he sat down,
and in probably ten minutes,
242
00:11:11,546 --> 00:11:14,382
we were just laughing with tears
coming down our faces
243
00:11:14,382 --> 00:11:16,593
because we were talking
about our mothers.
244
00:11:16,593 --> 00:11:19,971
And so we became friends.
It was like that, you know?
245
00:11:20,096 --> 00:11:21,139
And I said to him,
246
00:11:21,264 --> 00:11:23,641
"Here you are,
the most powerful man."
247
00:11:23,767 --> 00:11:26,853
He, like, had the suits
at Universal,
248
00:11:26,978 --> 00:11:30,190
you know, crying and-and upset.
249
00:11:30,190 --> 00:11:32,525
Um, and you're this
powerful man,
250
00:11:32,525 --> 00:11:34,903
and your mother
makes you into a little
251
00:11:34,903 --> 00:11:36,905
screaming gerbil or something,
you know?
252
00:11:36,905 --> 00:11:40,367
And I said, "This is what
you should write about."
253
00:11:40,367 --> 00:11:42,452
Robin said,
"You should write a show
254
00:11:42,452 --> 00:11:45,163
about your mother
and a TV producer."
255
00:11:45,663 --> 00:11:47,957
And I thought,
"Who's gonna watch that?"
256
00:11:48,792 --> 00:11:52,712
But maybe if he was like
a really badass guy,
257
00:11:52,837 --> 00:11:54,172
maybe that would work.
258
00:11:54,297 --> 00:11:56,466
Was the bad guy
already a mobster?
259
00:11:56,466 --> 00:11:57,759
Yeah.
260
00:11:57,759 --> 00:12:00,345
I wanted to get De Niro
and Anne Bancroft.
261
00:12:01,221 --> 00:12:03,473
At first, I thought of it
as a feature.
262
00:12:03,473 --> 00:12:05,642
It was the story that actually
was the first season.
263
00:12:05,642 --> 00:12:08,687
It was about a mobster
who goes to a shrink
264
00:12:08,812 --> 00:12:10,563
after having panic attacks.
265
00:12:10,563 --> 00:12:13,775
Any thoughts at all
on why you blacked out?
266
00:12:13,775 --> 00:12:15,026
I don't know.
267
00:12:15,151 --> 00:12:16,236
Stress, maybe.
268
00:12:16,361 --> 00:12:17,570
About what?
269
00:12:17,570 --> 00:12:19,322
He's having problems
with his uncle,
270
00:12:19,322 --> 00:12:20,949
a feud of some kind.
271
00:12:20,949 --> 00:12:22,117
You may run
North Jersey,
272
00:12:22,117 --> 00:12:23,493
you don't run
your Uncle Junior.
273
00:12:23,493 --> 00:12:25,370
He puts his mother
in a nursing home.
274
00:12:25,495 --> 00:12:27,956
I don't see you trying
to mix with the other ladies,
275
00:12:27,956 --> 00:12:30,500
or talk to the nice gents
I see walking around.
276
00:12:30,500 --> 00:12:32,335
You're not making the most
of your opportunities.
277
00:12:32,335 --> 00:12:34,170
What do you care?
278
00:12:34,170 --> 00:12:35,922
Out of sight, out of mind.
279
00:12:35,922 --> 00:12:38,967
His mother sides with
his uncle in this gang war.
280
00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:41,428
Three of my capos have
their mothers in this place?
281
00:12:41,428 --> 00:12:43,596
Instead of living in
normal homes
282
00:12:43,722 --> 00:12:45,557
with their sons
283
00:12:45,682 --> 00:12:47,058
like human beings.
284
00:12:47,183 --> 00:12:49,227
This must be some kind
of fucking end move.
285
00:12:49,352 --> 00:12:51,146
His mother conspires
with his uncle
286
00:12:51,146 --> 00:12:52,647
to have him killed.
287
00:12:52,647 --> 00:12:55,191
...was a gangland
execution gone awry.
288
00:12:55,191 --> 00:12:56,693
And his shrink
is the one
289
00:12:56,693 --> 00:12:58,570
who helps him
to understand that.
290
00:12:58,695 --> 00:13:00,238
On the day before
the shooting,
291
00:13:00,363 --> 00:13:02,866
you said to me that
she kept going on, yet again,
292
00:13:02,866 --> 00:13:05,201
about news stories of mothers
293
00:13:05,201 --> 00:13:07,704
throwing their babies
out of windows.
294
00:13:07,704 --> 00:13:10,081
In the end,
he suffocates her.
295
00:13:10,206 --> 00:13:13,626
Ma, I know what you did.
Your only son.
296
00:13:13,626 --> 00:13:16,755
But then I thought,
"That would work as a TV show."
297
00:13:20,842 --> 00:13:22,802
We took it around
to all the networks:
298
00:13:22,802 --> 00:13:27,182
Fox, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
299
00:13:27,182 --> 00:13:28,683
Nobody wanted it.
300
00:13:28,683 --> 00:13:30,352
And Les Moonves he said,
301
00:13:30,352 --> 00:13:32,103
"Script's very good,
very funny.
302
00:13:32,228 --> 00:13:34,689
But he's gonna see
a psychiatrist?
303
00:13:34,689 --> 00:13:36,983
Are you married
to him taking Prozac?"
304
00:13:40,403 --> 00:13:43,031
So I said, "Yeah, I guess
you'd say I'm married to it."
305
00:13:43,031 --> 00:13:45,450
He said, "Well, then... no."
306
00:13:46,659 --> 00:13:47,577
So it was dead.
307
00:13:49,412 --> 00:13:52,457
But then I started saying,
"Can't we go to HBO?"
308
00:13:52,582 --> 00:13:55,043
Simply the best choice on TV.
309
00:13:56,252 --> 00:13:57,796
We were finding our way
310
00:13:57,921 --> 00:13:59,631
from the time I got there
in '85.
311
00:14:00,298 --> 00:14:02,008
Television, you know,
was still,
312
00:14:02,133 --> 00:14:04,010
at that time, the Big Three,
313
00:14:04,135 --> 00:14:06,429
and four, if you count Fox.
314
00:14:06,429 --> 00:14:09,974
We didn't look at them
so much as competition
315
00:14:10,100 --> 00:14:14,604
as a mark for us to compare
ourselves against,
316
00:14:14,604 --> 00:14:16,815
and we knew we needed
to be different.
317
00:14:16,940 --> 00:14:19,150
What HBO was trying to do
318
00:14:19,275 --> 00:14:22,237
was make a name for itself,
you know?
319
00:14:22,237 --> 00:14:25,990
Boxing and movies was really
what HBO was known for.
320
00:14:27,701 --> 00:14:30,328
The sort of change
moment became The Sanders Show.
321
00:14:30,453 --> 00:14:32,205
Someone has been
sitting in my chair.
322
00:14:32,330 --> 00:14:35,041
Maybe it's Mama Bear.
323
00:14:35,166 --> 00:14:38,628
Talentless fat fuck.
Just worry about the couch
324
00:14:38,628 --> 00:14:40,338
and trying not to fuck up.
325
00:14:40,463 --> 00:14:41,631
It set a mark down
326
00:14:41,631 --> 00:14:43,633
that HBO could do
something different,
327
00:14:43,633 --> 00:14:46,678
maybe better, than what's on
the broadcast networks.
328
00:14:47,554 --> 00:14:49,264
We started trying
to figure out,
329
00:14:49,264 --> 00:14:51,391
can we get into
the series business?
330
00:14:51,516 --> 00:14:52,684
Oh, boy.
331
00:14:53,476 --> 00:14:54,561
Schillinger's home.
332
00:14:55,478 --> 00:14:57,480
We developed Oz.
333
00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,399
He's not such a bad guy, Diane.
334
00:15:00,567 --> 00:15:02,861
What drugs are you on?
335
00:15:02,986 --> 00:15:04,320
And Sex and the City.
336
00:15:06,114 --> 00:15:08,241
Basically, it was
a style of working,
337
00:15:08,366 --> 00:15:11,411
which was, like, let's find
really great storytellers
338
00:15:11,411 --> 00:15:12,996
and let them do their thing.
339
00:15:13,872 --> 00:15:17,042
So David came in
and I knew his résumé.
340
00:15:17,167 --> 00:15:19,252
He was a real TV veteran
341
00:15:19,252 --> 00:15:21,421
and had worked on
some good things,
342
00:15:21,546 --> 00:15:23,506
but hadn't really had success
with his own.
343
00:15:24,966 --> 00:15:27,218
♪ Love and happiness ♪
344
00:15:28,887 --> 00:15:30,096
♪ Yeah ♪
345
00:15:30,805 --> 00:15:33,683
♪ Something that can
make you do wrong ♪
346
00:15:34,225 --> 00:15:36,311
♪ Make you do right ♪
347
00:15:36,853 --> 00:15:39,147
Denise and I,
we got married.
348
00:15:39,147 --> 00:15:41,107
This is 1968.
349
00:15:42,692 --> 00:15:44,736
A couple of my uncles
took me aside and said,
350
00:15:44,861 --> 00:15:46,237
"You have to get out of here.
351
00:15:46,363 --> 00:15:48,990
You're not going to stay
married if you stay here."
352
00:15:48,990 --> 00:15:51,743
Because they knew
what my parents were like,
353
00:15:51,868 --> 00:15:53,995
and they really were talking
about my mother.
354
00:15:57,874 --> 00:16:00,085
My wife wouldn't have
been able to take it.
355
00:16:00,210 --> 00:16:02,295
♪ Love and happiness ♪
356
00:16:02,420 --> 00:16:04,089
My mother
was just nuts.
357
00:16:04,214 --> 00:16:07,425
♪ Wait a minute,
something's going wrong ♪
358
00:16:08,551 --> 00:16:10,762
So we left
the night of our wedding
359
00:16:11,763 --> 00:16:13,640
and started for California.
360
00:16:14,724 --> 00:16:16,351
♪ Talkin' about ♪
361
00:16:17,727 --> 00:16:20,855
♪ How she can
make it right, yeah ♪
362
00:16:22,899 --> 00:16:25,694
We cross the country,
and I get the word
363
00:16:25,694 --> 00:16:27,987
that I get a fellowship
to film school.
364
00:16:28,113 --> 00:16:29,447
Stanford University.
365
00:16:32,158 --> 00:16:33,576
I remember somebody telling me
366
00:16:33,576 --> 00:16:35,620
that the short version
of American history is,
367
00:16:35,745 --> 00:16:37,455
the scum floats west.
368
00:16:40,291 --> 00:16:42,335
When I got here,
I sort of understood it.
369
00:16:43,294 --> 00:16:44,462
Alcatraz.
370
00:16:45,171 --> 00:16:47,215
Some of the biggest boys
did time there.
371
00:16:47,924 --> 00:16:50,510
Even Capone.
Got him for tax evasion
372
00:16:50,510 --> 00:16:52,637
'cause they couldn't get him
for anything else.
373
00:16:53,138 --> 00:16:56,641
Did 11 years and died
of the big S in 1947.
374
00:16:58,101 --> 00:17:00,311
Of course, that was
a long time ago.
375
00:17:00,979 --> 00:17:02,647
I went to Stanford
for two years.
376
00:17:03,356 --> 00:17:05,942
I did a narrative
for my thesis film,
377
00:17:05,942 --> 00:17:08,236
The Rise and Fall
of Bug Manousos.
378
00:17:09,279 --> 00:17:11,156
We thought we were
doing Godard.
379
00:17:12,699 --> 00:17:15,201
I don't know what we thought
Godard was doing, but
380
00:17:16,327 --> 00:17:17,662
we weren't doing it.
381
00:17:19,456 --> 00:17:22,334
♪ Who do you love? ♪
382
00:17:22,459 --> 00:17:24,002
My name is Manousos.
383
00:17:24,127 --> 00:17:26,921
I'm Greek, or of Greek descent.
However you want it.
384
00:17:26,921 --> 00:17:29,799
♪ Well, I lied, in the town
they use a rattlesnake whip ♪
385
00:17:29,799 --> 00:17:32,093
♪ Take it easy, Arlene,
don't give me no lip ♪
386
00:17:35,805 --> 00:17:39,851
♪ Oh, who do you love? ♪
387
00:17:44,022 --> 00:17:47,609
Ma, the greatest
little lady that ever lived.
388
00:17:49,986 --> 00:17:52,238
Let's dump this stiff
and get it over with.
389
00:17:53,156 --> 00:17:55,492
Take that smile off your face,
sweetie pie.
390
00:17:55,492 --> 00:17:57,994
You son of a bitch!
391
00:18:11,257 --> 00:18:12,842
Ma!
392
00:18:12,842 --> 00:18:14,761
They got me in the back.
393
00:18:16,846 --> 00:18:18,598
After the two-year
graduate program
394
00:18:18,598 --> 00:18:19,724
and I was graduating,
395
00:18:20,684 --> 00:18:22,602
a friend of mine and I
wrote a script.
396
00:18:22,602 --> 00:18:26,064
And the writing teacher
sent it to this guy,
397
00:18:26,189 --> 00:18:29,109
Roy Huggins,
who was a big TV producer.
398
00:18:29,109 --> 00:18:31,111
But we kind of forgot about it.
399
00:18:35,365 --> 00:18:37,325
Denise and I moved to LA,
400
00:18:37,325 --> 00:18:39,119
rented an apartment,
401
00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:42,122
and Denise got a job
at a law firm.
402
00:18:42,122 --> 00:18:46,334
And I started looking for work,
but I just couldn't get a job.
403
00:18:47,210 --> 00:18:49,045
Finally, I did get a job
404
00:18:49,045 --> 00:18:52,257
working for this outfit
called Clover Films.
405
00:18:53,049 --> 00:18:54,134
These movies...
406
00:18:55,802 --> 00:18:57,554
Not ten kilometers
from here,
407
00:18:57,554 --> 00:18:59,264
there's a golf course
and a country club
408
00:18:59,389 --> 00:19:01,474
surrounded by German guards.
409
00:19:01,474 --> 00:19:05,645
Every German son-of-a-bitch
soldier is to be killed.
410
00:19:08,481 --> 00:19:09,941
One of the movies,
we shot it
411
00:19:10,066 --> 00:19:12,027
at a burned-out
apartment complex
412
00:19:12,027 --> 00:19:14,154
in Las Virgenes Canyon.
413
00:19:15,447 --> 00:19:18,491
It was a German fort
or something,
414
00:19:18,491 --> 00:19:22,162
inhabited only now by these
German prostitutes.
415
00:19:25,165 --> 00:19:26,875
I had a very small part,
416
00:19:27,625 --> 00:19:30,503
and I was supposed to be
the first assistant director,
417
00:19:30,503 --> 00:19:32,630
but I had no idea
what I was doing.
418
00:19:37,594 --> 00:19:38,845
And the movie itself,
419
00:19:38,970 --> 00:19:41,681
it was mostly soft-core
fucking and sucking.
420
00:19:47,354 --> 00:19:49,814
I did write a feature
for Clover Films
421
00:19:49,939 --> 00:19:51,858
called Grave of the Vampire.
422
00:19:52,776 --> 00:19:56,488
No! No!
No! No! No!
423
00:20:06,998 --> 00:20:08,333
Who are you?
424
00:20:09,334 --> 00:20:10,210
I'm your son!
425
00:20:10,210 --> 00:20:13,004
Your son conceived in a grave!
426
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:15,256
Yes!
427
00:20:16,299 --> 00:20:17,425
It was insane.
428
00:20:17,425 --> 00:20:18,843
Yes!
429
00:20:18,968 --> 00:20:20,261
While I was there,
430
00:20:20,261 --> 00:20:22,222
I heard that Roy Huggins,
431
00:20:22,222 --> 00:20:24,307
who had read that script
from two years ago,
432
00:20:24,307 --> 00:20:27,227
wanted to hire me
to write an episode.
433
00:20:27,227 --> 00:20:29,521
So I got my first job in TV,
434
00:20:29,646 --> 00:20:32,941
a series that was called
The Bold Ones: The Lawyers.
435
00:20:34,651 --> 00:20:35,985
And everybody back east was--
436
00:20:35,985 --> 00:20:39,906
And there it was!
There was my name on television.
437
00:20:40,031 --> 00:20:43,785
But I didn't set my mind
to learning how to direct,
438
00:20:43,785 --> 00:20:46,204
even though I wanted to be
a movie director.
439
00:20:46,329 --> 00:20:48,123
- Right.
- I did not--
440
00:20:48,123 --> 00:20:49,666
Maybe I was too embarrassed
441
00:20:49,666 --> 00:20:51,918
to, like, ask the DP,
"How do you do that?"
442
00:20:52,043 --> 00:20:53,545
"How do you do this?"
443
00:20:54,170 --> 00:20:59,134
I kept trying to write features
for years after that,
444
00:20:59,134 --> 00:21:01,302
and none of them got made.
445
00:21:05,682 --> 00:21:07,934
I believe it was 1973.
446
00:21:08,059 --> 00:21:09,936
Writers Guild went on strike,
447
00:21:09,936 --> 00:21:12,480
and I had to go on picket duty
at Paramount Studios
448
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:14,733
right in front of
the DeMille Gate.
449
00:21:16,234 --> 00:21:18,570
And that was great.
I mean, just to be there.
450
00:21:18,695 --> 00:21:21,865
It was like, these were all
professional writers
451
00:21:21,865 --> 00:21:23,575
that I was on picket duty with.
452
00:21:23,700 --> 00:21:25,785
And I got to really look
forward to picket duty
453
00:21:25,785 --> 00:21:29,247
because it was starting to feel
like I really am in Hollywood.
454
00:21:30,874 --> 00:21:33,626
And I met a guy named
Paul Playdon,
455
00:21:33,626 --> 00:21:36,338
the story editor
of Mission: Impossible.
456
00:21:37,088 --> 00:21:39,507
I had no agent,
so Paul got me an agent.
457
00:21:39,507 --> 00:21:41,343
I signed with his agency.
458
00:21:41,343 --> 00:21:43,136
And when the strike was over,
459
00:21:43,261 --> 00:21:46,222
there was a show called
The Magician with Bill Bixby,
460
00:21:46,222 --> 00:21:50,143
and Bixby played a magician
who solved crimes
461
00:21:50,143 --> 00:21:54,939
and defeated the bad guys
with scarves and hats.
462
00:21:58,526 --> 00:21:59,903
Get back! Get back!
463
00:21:59,903 --> 00:22:02,364
They brought me on
as story editor.
464
00:22:04,574 --> 00:22:06,451
And then I got on to
The Rockford Files.
465
00:22:08,453 --> 00:22:10,455
I did I'll Fly Away.
466
00:22:10,580 --> 00:22:12,624
And then I was
on Northern Exposure.
467
00:22:14,584 --> 00:22:16,544
So I was in the TV business.
468
00:22:16,544 --> 00:22:19,964
The problem was,
you knew what the limits were,
469
00:22:20,090 --> 00:22:22,008
but you were always
testing them,
470
00:22:22,133 --> 00:22:23,677
and you would always fail.
471
00:22:25,804 --> 00:22:27,722
It was the meetings
that were terrible,
472
00:22:27,722 --> 00:22:29,724
the network meetings,
what they...
473
00:22:29,724 --> 00:22:31,726
They had this unerring sense...
474
00:22:33,561 --> 00:22:35,605
...that the reason
you were writing this,
475
00:22:35,605 --> 00:22:37,982
the thing you love most
about this,
476
00:22:38,108 --> 00:22:39,818
was what they
were going to go for.
477
00:22:40,276 --> 00:22:43,863
So because I was used to
network TV,
478
00:22:43,863 --> 00:22:47,367
Sopranos was a mob show
where nobody got killed.
479
00:22:47,367 --> 00:22:48,910
'Cause I thought they
wouldn't want that.
480
00:22:52,622 --> 00:22:56,376
Then I realized, all those
Jimmy Cagney gangster movies...
481
00:23:00,505 --> 00:23:02,674
The Godfather?
Nobody got killed?
482
00:23:06,302 --> 00:23:07,846
Why would you ever
leave that out?
483
00:23:10,849 --> 00:23:14,227
So I rewrote it
to include a murder.
484
00:23:14,227 --> 00:23:17,230
That's when HBO got really
interested in the show.
485
00:23:18,815 --> 00:23:21,234
It wasn't just,
you got to put in a murder.
486
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:23,069
That had to be
part of the story.
487
00:23:23,069 --> 00:23:25,196
That had to be integral
to the narrative
488
00:23:25,321 --> 00:23:26,489
and to the culture.
489
00:23:27,365 --> 00:23:29,367
We had a big meeting
with David.
490
00:23:29,492 --> 00:23:33,997
My impression was, okay,
this is a network guy,
491
00:23:33,997 --> 00:23:37,500
but he's already showed us
in his writing
492
00:23:37,500 --> 00:23:41,087
that he doesn't think only
like a traditional network guy.
493
00:23:41,087 --> 00:23:44,758
And his take on the world,
and his--
494
00:23:44,758 --> 00:23:48,011
You could tell immediately,
these characters,
495
00:23:48,011 --> 00:23:51,264
it was like a second skin
to him.
496
00:23:51,848 --> 00:23:54,225
That was an easy yes
to make that pilot.
497
00:24:00,231 --> 00:24:02,359
You want to take it
from here or...
498
00:24:03,109 --> 00:24:05,945
In casting,
I don't react much at all.
499
00:24:05,945 --> 00:24:07,697
I say, "Oh, that's very good."
500
00:24:07,697 --> 00:24:09,741
- Really good.
- Thanks, guys.
501
00:24:09,866 --> 00:24:11,743
"Thank you very much,"
and people leave.
502
00:24:13,078 --> 00:24:14,871
Casting is a long process.
503
00:24:14,871 --> 00:24:17,040
- Just begin?
- Whenever you're ready.
504
00:24:17,707 --> 00:24:19,459
Next, I had
a breakfast meeting.
505
00:24:19,459 --> 00:24:20,752
I was called in to consult by
506
00:24:20,877 --> 00:24:22,754
a garbage hauling
company I represent.
507
00:24:23,421 --> 00:24:25,924
Big, what's the story
with Triboro Towers?
508
00:24:26,049 --> 00:24:28,635
The site manager wants to renew
his contract with Dick.
509
00:24:28,635 --> 00:24:30,929
Site manager wants to renew
his contract with Dick.
510
00:24:31,054 --> 00:24:34,683
The site manager wants to renew
his, uh, his contract with Dick.
511
00:24:34,683 --> 00:24:37,977
The site manager, he wants
to renew his contract with Dick.
512
00:24:37,977 --> 00:24:39,979
But, uh, these Kolar brothers...
513
00:24:40,105 --> 00:24:42,023
Let's try this again.
Let me pick the energy up.
514
00:24:42,023 --> 00:24:43,692
I'm very tired.
515
00:24:43,692 --> 00:24:45,777
Yeah, the Kolar brothers.
They're some kind of
516
00:24:45,902 --> 00:24:48,279
Czechoslovakian immigrants
or some shit.
517
00:24:48,405 --> 00:24:50,699
They can save close to
a million a year
518
00:24:50,699 --> 00:24:53,118
if the Kolars haul the trash
and not Dick.
519
00:24:53,618 --> 00:24:56,079
They pay us 40 times the
monthly for stealing your stop.
520
00:24:56,079 --> 00:24:57,622
That's the thing, they won't.
521
00:24:57,747 --> 00:25:00,291
They said that if they can tell
those commie bosses...
522
00:25:00,417 --> 00:25:02,669
...back in Czechoslovakia
to go fuck themselves,
523
00:25:02,794 --> 00:25:04,462
- he could fucking tell us.
- Oh!
524
00:25:05,755 --> 00:25:07,966
In Czech Republic too,
we love pork.
525
00:25:09,092 --> 00:25:10,969
You ever have our sausages?
526
00:25:11,928 --> 00:25:14,723
See, I thought the only sausages
were Italian and Jimmy Dean.
527
00:25:14,723 --> 00:25:18,018
I thought the only sausages
were Italian and Jimmy Dean.
528
00:25:18,018 --> 00:25:20,437
You see what you learn when
you cross cultures and shit?
529
00:25:20,437 --> 00:25:23,023
My Uncle Uvzen
doesn't know I came.
530
00:25:23,148 --> 00:25:26,067
But if we make any progress,
I'll have to tell him.
531
00:25:26,067 --> 00:25:28,319
Oh, we gotta make progress,
"Email."
532
00:25:28,445 --> 00:25:31,031
I mean, you know, we must
stop the madness.
533
00:25:32,282 --> 00:25:34,534
The garbage business
is changing.
534
00:25:34,534 --> 00:25:38,038
We're the younger generation.
We have issues in common.
535
00:25:38,038 --> 00:25:40,290
Garbage business is changing,
you know?
536
00:25:40,290 --> 00:25:43,168
Younger generation.
We have issues in common.
537
00:25:45,128 --> 00:25:46,087
Emil.
538
00:25:46,963 --> 00:25:48,715
Where'd you go to high school?
Poland?
539
00:25:49,507 --> 00:25:50,633
I'm not Polish.
540
00:25:50,633 --> 00:25:52,427
What's Czechoslovakia?
Isn't that...
541
00:25:52,427 --> 00:25:53,803
That's a type of Polack, right?
542
00:25:53,803 --> 00:25:55,972
We came to this country
when I was nine.
543
00:25:55,972 --> 00:25:58,099
- I went to West Essex.
- Yo, money!
544
00:25:58,099 --> 00:25:59,976
You used to play my cousin
Gregory in football.
545
00:25:59,976 --> 00:26:01,936
- He went to Boonton.
- Where's the stuff?
546
00:26:01,936 --> 00:26:03,813
Ah, yes. Yes, yes.
547
00:26:06,149 --> 00:26:07,942
The reason for the visit.
548
00:26:07,942 --> 00:26:09,903
Got it all deployed for you.
549
00:26:11,529 --> 00:26:13,573
Taste the wares, "Email."
550
00:26:14,324 --> 00:26:15,367
Emil.
551
00:26:31,508 --> 00:26:32,384
Bam!
552
00:26:34,594 --> 00:26:36,429
♪ I'm a man ♪
553
00:26:36,429 --> 00:26:38,181
Cut! Yeah, we're good.
554
00:26:38,848 --> 00:26:41,434
You know,
the idea of a series on HBO,
555
00:26:41,434 --> 00:26:44,604
back then, there was no prestige
attached to that.
556
00:26:46,231 --> 00:26:47,982
To be really frank,
557
00:26:47,982 --> 00:26:50,276
it was kind of
the bargain basement of TV.
558
00:26:50,402 --> 00:26:51,569
It really was.
559
00:26:52,404 --> 00:26:53,988
But I loved the character.
560
00:26:53,988 --> 00:26:55,657
I thought the character
was really fun.
561
00:26:55,657 --> 00:26:58,410
His name was Dean Moltisanti
when I first read the script.
562
00:26:59,202 --> 00:27:02,455
Um, I didn't know who
David Chase was, I'll be honest.
563
00:27:02,455 --> 00:27:04,082
And I didn't know he was Italian
564
00:27:04,207 --> 00:27:06,126
when I saw his name
on the script,
565
00:27:06,126 --> 00:27:08,962
which kind of made me think,
"Who's this guy?
566
00:27:09,087 --> 00:27:10,922
Making a show about Italians
and he's not..."
567
00:27:11,047 --> 00:27:14,092
You know, Scorsese and Coppola
were Italian American.
568
00:27:14,718 --> 00:27:17,470
But I worked really hard on it
and went in for David.
569
00:27:17,470 --> 00:27:20,682
You know, David's very--
he's poker-faced.
570
00:27:20,682 --> 00:27:22,934
Michael came in
and he was great,
571
00:27:23,059 --> 00:27:24,602
but I played it
completely straight.
572
00:27:24,728 --> 00:27:25,770
Very good.
573
00:27:25,895 --> 00:27:27,147
I walked out thinking,
574
00:27:27,272 --> 00:27:29,065
"This ain't gonna happen.
Who cares?
575
00:27:29,065 --> 00:27:31,109
He's not even Italian.
What does he know?"
576
00:27:31,234 --> 00:27:33,403
"Who the fuck is this guy?
He's not even Italian.
577
00:27:33,403 --> 00:27:36,114
Fuck him." [chuckles] But, uh...
578
00:27:41,619 --> 00:27:42,954
Who's there?
579
00:27:43,079 --> 00:27:44,539
You locked the door behind you?
580
00:27:44,539 --> 00:27:46,916
Seemed to me like
we read a hundred actresses.
581
00:27:46,916 --> 00:27:48,335
This is a nursing home.
582
00:27:48,460 --> 00:27:49,627
They all came in
583
00:27:49,753 --> 00:27:51,546
and did their crazy Italian
mama thing.
584
00:27:51,546 --> 00:27:53,840
You're not putting me in
a nursing home.
585
00:27:53,965 --> 00:27:56,593
I've seen these women
in these nursing homes
586
00:27:56,593 --> 00:27:58,595
babbling like idiots!
587
00:27:58,595 --> 00:28:00,221
And it wasn't even close.
588
00:28:00,221 --> 00:28:02,349
And because it was
based on my mother,
589
00:28:02,349 --> 00:28:03,850
I knew how far away it was.
590
00:28:04,809 --> 00:28:07,145
But then Nancy Marchand
came in.
591
00:28:07,270 --> 00:28:09,481
I knew her as Mrs. Pynchon,
592
00:28:09,481 --> 00:28:11,900
the newspaper publisher
in Lou Grant.
593
00:28:11,900 --> 00:28:13,360
May I remind you, Mr. Grant,
594
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:15,820
this news paper is not
The New York Times.
595
00:28:15,945 --> 00:28:17,864
I'm reminded of it
every time I pick it up.
596
00:28:17,989 --> 00:28:20,575
So am I, sir, and I wish
we had their resources.
597
00:28:20,575 --> 00:28:22,160
But the simple fact is,
we don't.
598
00:28:22,285 --> 00:28:23,787
If you want me
to back off, I will.
599
00:28:23,787 --> 00:28:26,414
Now, I didn't say that.
600
00:28:28,500 --> 00:28:30,919
But I need you gentlemen
to tell me
601
00:28:30,919 --> 00:28:33,505
that we can win
if we go to court.
602
00:28:34,464 --> 00:28:36,883
- Should I slate it and all that?
- No.
603
00:28:37,008 --> 00:28:38,259
Just thought,
"This is crazy.
604
00:28:38,259 --> 00:28:39,469
This isn't going to work."
605
00:28:39,469 --> 00:28:41,137
But she just opened her mouth
606
00:28:41,137 --> 00:28:42,681
and... boom.
607
00:28:42,806 --> 00:28:44,683
You're with active
seniors your own age.
608
00:28:44,808 --> 00:28:46,768
They do things, they go places,
they go dancing.
609
00:28:46,768 --> 00:28:50,563
I've seen these women
in these nursing homes
610
00:28:50,689 --> 00:28:52,190
babbling like idiots.
611
00:28:53,233 --> 00:28:54,693
Just eat your eggplant.
612
00:28:55,568 --> 00:28:57,987
It was like--
And she just had it.
613
00:28:57,987 --> 00:29:00,782
If your uncle has business
with Arthur,
614
00:29:02,033 --> 00:29:04,744
and I don't even
want to know what it is,
615
00:29:04,744 --> 00:29:06,705
then he knows what he's doing.
616
00:29:07,706 --> 00:29:08,748
And I don't?
617
00:29:10,750 --> 00:29:13,086
Well, all I know is
618
00:29:13,712 --> 00:29:16,923
daughters are better at taking
care of their mothers than sons.
619
00:29:17,048 --> 00:29:18,967
Yeah, and I bought CDs
for a broken record.
620
00:29:18,967 --> 00:29:20,301
Everybody always told me
621
00:29:20,301 --> 00:29:22,095
there was no one
like my mother.
622
00:29:22,220 --> 00:29:25,390
But when all of my relatives
started watching the show,
623
00:29:25,515 --> 00:29:27,350
they said, "My God,
that's Aunt Norma!
624
00:29:27,350 --> 00:29:30,186
That's your mother!"
I said, "No shit."
625
00:29:30,186 --> 00:29:31,813
It was like she was
channeling her.
626
00:29:31,813 --> 00:29:33,898
I expect to see you tonight
at Anthony Junior's
627
00:29:34,024 --> 00:29:35,734
birthday party
with your baked ziti.
628
00:29:35,859 --> 00:29:38,903
Only if I'm picked up
and I'm brought back home.
629
00:29:39,029 --> 00:29:42,407
I don't drive
when they're predicting rain.
630
00:29:42,532 --> 00:29:46,161
All of my career,
pretty much in my career,
631
00:29:46,161 --> 00:29:48,246
I have played the tasteful lady.
632
00:29:48,955 --> 00:29:51,791
And I really
633
00:29:51,791 --> 00:29:54,252
appreciate playing
634
00:29:54,919 --> 00:29:56,588
this kind of harridan
635
00:29:57,213 --> 00:29:59,883
because I never get a chance
to do that.
636
00:29:59,883 --> 00:30:01,217
It's good for you to drive.
637
00:30:01,217 --> 00:30:03,094
Use it or lose it.
I got to go to work.
638
00:30:03,762 --> 00:30:04,763
Sure.
639
00:30:05,722 --> 00:30:06,765
Run off!
640
00:30:11,019 --> 00:30:12,729
When I went
in initially,
641
00:30:12,729 --> 00:30:15,106
I was auditioning for about
five different roles.
642
00:30:15,106 --> 00:30:17,275
Who was
that woman tonight?
643
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:19,903
I read for
Tony Soprano's mistress.
644
00:30:19,903 --> 00:30:22,655
What, you are redoing
the garbage dump?
645
00:30:22,781 --> 00:30:24,240
So don't treat me like a child.
646
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,159
I know there's something
more intimate.
647
00:30:26,159 --> 00:30:29,162
Who was that woman
tonight at the restaurant?
648
00:30:29,287 --> 00:30:31,456
You better not be
messing with that hat!
649
00:30:31,581 --> 00:30:34,125
In the end,
they went with someone else.
650
00:30:35,460 --> 00:30:36,336
Very good.
651
00:30:36,461 --> 00:30:38,129
But David liked me.
652
00:30:38,254 --> 00:30:40,507
I think he just liked the fact
that I was Italian,
653
00:30:40,507 --> 00:30:42,717
and maybe I was cute,
but I didn't know
654
00:30:42,717 --> 00:30:44,636
that it had anything to do
with being Italian.
655
00:30:44,761 --> 00:30:46,096
I thought it was about
opera singers.
656
00:30:46,096 --> 00:30:47,681
This is unacceptable.
657
00:30:47,681 --> 00:30:50,308
I had an 8:00 reservation
I made two weeks ago.
658
00:30:50,433 --> 00:30:52,894
Sir, as I explained, people
are not leaving their tables.
659
00:30:52,894 --> 00:30:54,854
There are five parties
ahead of you.
660
00:30:54,854 --> 00:30:56,940
I don't think I ever read
for the hostess part.
661
00:30:56,940 --> 00:30:58,358
That was a phone call,
662
00:30:58,483 --> 00:30:59,859
"Would you want to
play this part?"
663
00:30:59,984 --> 00:31:01,569
And I said, "Sure."
664
00:31:01,569 --> 00:31:04,906
But I couldn't say
my one fucking line.
665
00:31:04,906 --> 00:31:07,283
Mr. Borglund, they're setting up
your table right now.
666
00:31:07,283 --> 00:31:10,120
Because I was so nervous
to be around Lorraine
667
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:11,413
after Goodfellas.
668
00:31:11,413 --> 00:31:13,456
"Karen!" So I was with Karen!
669
00:31:13,456 --> 00:31:14,916
I was dying!
670
00:31:14,916 --> 00:31:18,670
Look, he started to touch me.
He started to grab me.
671
00:31:18,795 --> 00:31:21,423
I told him to stop.
He didn't stop.
672
00:31:21,423 --> 00:31:25,677
I hit him back, and then
he got really angry.
673
00:31:28,972 --> 00:31:30,515
Lorraine was
the only thing we had
674
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:32,350
that resembled a star
675
00:31:32,350 --> 00:31:34,310
because of Goodfellas
and a couple other movies.
676
00:31:34,310 --> 00:31:36,771
But at first,
the casting people
677
00:31:36,771 --> 00:31:38,690
brought her in for Carmela.
678
00:31:39,649 --> 00:31:43,319
Carmela was
definitely something that HBO
679
00:31:43,319 --> 00:31:44,863
and him had discussed,
680
00:31:46,031 --> 00:31:49,367
but I went in
wanting Dr. Melfi.
681
00:31:49,492 --> 00:31:53,121
And, uh, David was
a little taken back.
682
00:31:53,663 --> 00:31:55,582
"Why do you want to play Melfi?"
683
00:31:55,582 --> 00:31:57,959
I said, "Well, because
I'm a different woman
684
00:31:57,959 --> 00:31:59,919
than I was years ago
685
00:31:59,919 --> 00:32:02,797
when I was Karen Hill
in Goodfellas.
686
00:32:02,797 --> 00:32:05,342
I don't really want to play
that part again.
687
00:32:05,342 --> 00:32:08,303
Dr. Melfi intrigues me.
I've been in therapy."
688
00:32:09,179 --> 00:32:11,473
- You had been in therapy?
- Absolutely.
689
00:32:11,473 --> 00:32:14,851
And so David and I talked
a lot about therapy,
690
00:32:14,851 --> 00:32:16,811
and I think that
we've never seen
691
00:32:16,811 --> 00:32:19,356
an Italian educated woman.
692
00:32:19,356 --> 00:32:21,149
That pleases me.
693
00:32:21,149 --> 00:32:24,736
Um, and I don't think Tony
would talk to anybody
694
00:32:24,861 --> 00:32:26,237
that's not Italian.
695
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:28,782
So with that,
696
00:32:29,741 --> 00:32:31,326
Dr. Melfi.
697
00:32:32,911 --> 00:32:35,872
I said, "Okay, but you're
going to have to sit still
698
00:32:35,872 --> 00:32:37,415
with your hands in your lap.
699
00:32:38,792 --> 00:32:40,126
Keep your voice down."
700
00:32:43,755 --> 00:32:45,131
- Okay, David?
- Yeah.
701
00:32:45,131 --> 00:32:46,883
Okay. I got it.
702
00:32:46,883 --> 00:32:48,009
Great. Good.
703
00:32:48,718 --> 00:32:51,596
You know, I would
always have to work on
704
00:32:51,721 --> 00:32:54,516
tamping down all my lightness.
705
00:32:55,058 --> 00:32:57,894
And I would try to bury Lorraine
706
00:32:57,894 --> 00:32:59,688
so that Melfi would come out
707
00:32:59,688 --> 00:33:03,149
in-in a very different way
than who I am.
708
00:33:03,149 --> 00:33:04,609
It was very far from me.
709
00:33:05,110 --> 00:33:08,905
I'm not Melfi at all anywhere.
710
00:33:08,905 --> 00:33:12,450
Anxiety attacks are legitimate
psychiatric emergencies.
711
00:33:12,575 --> 00:33:15,787
- Suppose you were driving a car.
- Let me tell you something.
712
00:33:16,579 --> 00:33:20,333
Today everybody goes
to shrinks and counselors.
713
00:33:20,333 --> 00:33:22,585
They're getting on
Sally Jessy Raphael,
714
00:33:22,585 --> 00:33:24,004
talking about their problems.
715
00:33:24,004 --> 00:33:26,840
What happened to Gary Cooper?
716
00:33:26,965 --> 00:33:28,717
The strong, silent type?
717
00:33:28,717 --> 00:33:29,968
He was an American.
718
00:33:30,093 --> 00:33:32,220
This guy wasn't in touch
with his feelings.
719
00:33:32,220 --> 00:33:33,805
He just did what he had to do.
720
00:33:33,930 --> 00:33:35,849
We were casting Tony.
721
00:33:35,849 --> 00:33:38,268
We started in Los Angeles,
and then moved to New York.
722
00:33:38,268 --> 00:33:41,187
We read a whole lot of people,
and it just wasn't happening.
723
00:33:41,187 --> 00:33:42,897
Vaffanculo, huh?
724
00:33:42,897 --> 00:33:45,775
But then I had asked
Steven Van Zandt
725
00:33:45,775 --> 00:33:47,569
to read for Tony.
726
00:33:47,569 --> 00:33:50,655
There he was,
a rock and roll star.
727
00:33:51,322 --> 00:33:53,450
This carried
a lot of shit with me.
728
00:33:53,450 --> 00:33:55,493
♪ Keep pushin'
'til it's understood ♪
729
00:33:55,618 --> 00:33:58,329
♪ And these badlands
start treating us good ♪
730
00:33:59,372 --> 00:34:02,500
♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa ♪
731
00:34:02,625 --> 00:34:04,294
I used to play those
Springsteen albums
732
00:34:04,294 --> 00:34:07,088
and look at this
little Italian guy and say,
733
00:34:07,088 --> 00:34:10,050
"Who is that?
Kind of looks like Pacino."
734
00:34:13,303 --> 00:34:14,971
For the record, tonight,
735
00:34:14,971 --> 00:34:18,058
I want to say that there was
absolutely nothing
736
00:34:18,808 --> 00:34:21,561
unusual about the way
The Rascals dressed.
737
00:34:21,561 --> 00:34:24,522
But what happened was,
right before casting,
738
00:34:24,647 --> 00:34:27,650
my wife and I were watching
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
739
00:34:27,650 --> 00:34:31,404
and there's Steven Van Zandt
inducting The Rascals.
740
00:34:31,404 --> 00:34:33,156
Nothing strange about that.
741
00:34:33,156 --> 00:34:35,200
Dressed in
a Rascals costume.
742
00:34:36,076 --> 00:34:37,660
The first time I saw The Rascals
743
00:34:37,660 --> 00:34:41,414
was the Keyport Roller Drome
in Keyport, New Jersey.
744
00:34:41,414 --> 00:34:43,166
That's right.
745
00:34:43,166 --> 00:34:44,751
No, it was no Fillmores.
746
00:34:44,876 --> 00:34:47,295
There was no arenas
in those days.
747
00:34:47,295 --> 00:34:50,215
Rock and roll played skating
rinks where it belonged.
748
00:34:51,049 --> 00:34:53,468
I said to her, "This
guy's gotta be in the show."
749
00:34:53,468 --> 00:34:54,886
And the way rock is selling,
750
00:34:55,011 --> 00:34:57,055
we may be back in
skating rinks next year,
751
00:34:57,180 --> 00:34:58,556
I don't know, but...
752
00:34:59,224 --> 00:35:01,559
I get a lot of scripts
for music, not for acting.
753
00:35:01,685 --> 00:35:03,311
I wasn't an actor.
754
00:35:03,311 --> 00:35:05,814
And, um, David Chase calls,
you know.
755
00:35:05,814 --> 00:35:07,482
I get him-- I get on the phone.
756
00:35:08,108 --> 00:35:09,776
What was that first
conversation like?
757
00:35:09,901 --> 00:35:11,736
Well, it was a little weird
because he says,
758
00:35:11,861 --> 00:35:13,488
"You know, what do you think?"
759
00:35:13,488 --> 00:35:15,448
I said, "Well, I think
it's a great script.
760
00:35:15,448 --> 00:35:17,117
What kind of music
are you thinking of?"
761
00:35:17,117 --> 00:35:19,202
He says, "No, we want
you to be in it."
762
00:35:19,202 --> 00:35:21,955
I said, "Uh, I'm not an actor."
763
00:35:21,955 --> 00:35:24,541
I mean, I thought-- Isn't that
kind of a prerequisite
764
00:35:24,541 --> 00:35:27,085
for this whole TV thing?
You know?
765
00:35:28,962 --> 00:35:30,922
And he says,
"Yes, you are an actor.
766
00:35:31,047 --> 00:35:33,383
You just don't know it yet."
You know?
767
00:35:33,383 --> 00:35:35,301
So I said, "All right, well,
768
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,513
maybe destiny is speaking here."
769
00:35:38,513 --> 00:35:40,974
Ah, let me tell you somethin'.
770
00:35:40,974 --> 00:35:45,437
Everybody these days is going
to shrinks and, uh, counselors.
771
00:35:46,146 --> 00:35:47,647
They're all on
Sally Jessy Raphael
772
00:35:47,772 --> 00:35:49,315
telling everybody
their problems.
773
00:35:49,983 --> 00:35:51,693
Whatever happened
to Gary Cooper?
774
00:35:52,610 --> 00:35:54,612
You know, the strong,
silent type.
775
00:35:55,238 --> 00:35:56,781
That was an American.
776
00:35:56,906 --> 00:35:58,408
He wasn't in touch
with his feelings.
777
00:35:58,408 --> 00:36:00,118
He did what he had to do.
778
00:36:01,619 --> 00:36:03,246
And those people knew
779
00:36:03,246 --> 00:36:05,749
once they got Gary Cooper
in touch with his feelings,
780
00:36:05,749 --> 00:36:08,001
they'd never be able
to shut him up.
781
00:36:08,126 --> 00:36:10,170
Dysfunction this,
dysfunction that,
782
00:36:10,170 --> 00:36:12,505
dysfunction vaffanculo.
783
00:36:12,505 --> 00:36:14,549
His reading was good.
784
00:36:14,549 --> 00:36:16,926
I'd never seen anything
like that, really.
785
00:36:16,926 --> 00:36:19,763
And I thought, "Well, yeah,
that could be Tony Soprano."
786
00:36:20,430 --> 00:36:22,557
But in the end,
I guess HBO tells David,
787
00:36:22,557 --> 00:36:24,100
"Look, he's okay.
788
00:36:24,100 --> 00:36:25,435
But we're not gonna depend
789
00:36:25,435 --> 00:36:27,395
on some guy
who never acted before."
790
00:36:28,104 --> 00:36:31,107
He says, "All right, well,
in that case,
791
00:36:31,107 --> 00:36:34,110
I'll write you in a part
that doesn't exist."
792
00:36:36,196 --> 00:36:39,157
I'm like, wow, this guy's...
this guy's crazy.
793
00:36:39,282 --> 00:36:42,285
- This guy's really...
- And action.
794
00:36:42,285 --> 00:36:45,997
Sandrine, this table drinks
on the house all night.
795
00:36:45,997 --> 00:36:50,877
But he didn't write in
an underboss specifically,
796
00:36:51,002 --> 00:36:52,295
or a consigliere.
797
00:36:52,295 --> 00:36:53,963
I was just more or less
a club owner
798
00:36:53,963 --> 00:36:55,423
at that first moment.
799
00:36:55,965 --> 00:36:57,676
Let's do that
one more time.
800
00:36:58,385 --> 00:37:01,179
It was very difficult
to find a guy for Tony.
801
00:37:01,304 --> 00:37:03,598
You know, let me tell you
something.
802
00:37:03,598 --> 00:37:06,559
Today everybody
goes to shrinks and counselors.
803
00:37:06,559 --> 00:37:10,188
They go on Sally Jessy Raphael
and talk about their problems.
804
00:37:11,022 --> 00:37:13,525
Whatever happened
to Gary Cooper? Huh?
805
00:37:13,650 --> 00:37:16,361
The strong, silent type.
That was an American.
806
00:37:16,486 --> 00:37:17,654
He wasn't in touch
with his feelings.
807
00:37:17,654 --> 00:37:19,531
He did what he had to do.
808
00:37:20,031 --> 00:37:21,324
What they didn't know
was once they got
809
00:37:21,324 --> 00:37:22,867
Gary Cooper
in touch with his feelings,
810
00:37:22,992 --> 00:37:24,077
they wouldn't be able
to shut him up.
811
00:37:24,202 --> 00:37:25,704
Dysfunction this,
dysfunction that,
812
00:37:25,829 --> 00:37:27,372
dysfunction vaffanculo.
813
00:37:27,497 --> 00:37:29,374
Another guy who came
close was Michael Rispoli.
814
00:37:29,499 --> 00:37:30,500
That was excellent.
815
00:37:30,500 --> 00:37:33,670
But then, finally,
we found Jim.
816
00:37:34,337 --> 00:37:36,506
I got a call.
David Chase wanted to meet
817
00:37:36,506 --> 00:37:39,342
at 8:30 in the morning.
I was like, oh.
818
00:37:39,342 --> 00:37:41,678
Just his choice of having
a breakfast instead of...
819
00:37:41,678 --> 00:37:43,513
put me off right away.
I don't know why.
820
00:37:43,513 --> 00:37:44,889
But we had a good time.
821
00:37:45,015 --> 00:37:46,850
We laughed about our families
and our mothers.
822
00:37:46,850 --> 00:37:48,435
So, then I auditioned.
823
00:37:49,227 --> 00:37:51,146
And the first audition,
I stopped halfway through
824
00:37:51,146 --> 00:37:52,856
and I said, um,
825
00:37:52,856 --> 00:37:55,650
"This sucks.
I'm not doing it right.
826
00:37:55,650 --> 00:37:57,527
If you want me to come back,
I'll come back
827
00:37:57,527 --> 00:37:59,029
and do it differently."
828
00:37:59,029 --> 00:38:01,614
He left in the middle
of the first audition.
829
00:38:02,615 --> 00:38:03,700
Walked out.
830
00:38:03,700 --> 00:38:05,660
Doing his Van Morrison thing.
831
00:38:05,660 --> 00:38:08,496
"This is shit. I'm not doing
this right," and left.
832
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,332
But we thought he was great.
833
00:38:11,332 --> 00:38:15,003
So our casting directors
got him to come to my house,
834
00:38:15,003 --> 00:38:17,839
and he read the scene
and it was like, you know...
835
00:38:18,590 --> 00:38:19,382
Bang.
836
00:38:19,382 --> 00:38:21,051
Let me tell you something.
837
00:38:21,051 --> 00:38:24,429
Nowadays, everybody's gotta
go to shrinks and counselors,
838
00:38:24,554 --> 00:38:27,432
and go on Sally Jessy Raphael
and talk about their problems.
839
00:38:28,141 --> 00:38:30,602
Whatever happened
to Gary Cooper?
840
00:38:31,102 --> 00:38:32,937
The strong, silent type.
841
00:38:33,563 --> 00:38:34,981
That was an American.
842
00:38:35,106 --> 00:38:36,983
He didn't worry about
his feelings,
843
00:38:37,108 --> 00:38:38,651
he just did what he had to do.
844
00:38:39,903 --> 00:38:41,196
What they didn't know
if they got Gary Cooper
845
00:38:41,196 --> 00:38:42,489
to talk about his feelings,
846
00:38:42,489 --> 00:38:43,823
they wouldn't be able
to shut him up.
847
00:38:43,823 --> 00:38:45,867
‘Cause dysfunction this,
dysfunction that,
848
00:38:45,867 --> 00:38:47,535
and dysfunction vaffanculo.
849
00:38:50,163 --> 00:38:52,791
It was just pretty
obvious when Jim did it,
850
00:38:53,458 --> 00:38:54,876
he was Tony.
851
00:38:58,129 --> 00:38:59,464
You know, sometimes...
852
00:39:01,257 --> 00:39:02,384
life is good.
853
00:39:02,384 --> 00:39:03,968
Life is often good.
854
00:39:05,970 --> 00:39:08,139
Regaleali, for example.
855
00:39:09,432 --> 00:39:11,434
We had cast everybody,
856
00:39:11,434 --> 00:39:13,311
but we didn't have
a Carmela yet.
857
00:39:13,311 --> 00:39:14,479
Carmela...
858
00:39:16,022 --> 00:39:17,357
Something I gotta confess.
859
00:39:17,357 --> 00:39:19,359
Edie,
we did the audition
860
00:39:19,359 --> 00:39:20,652
right before shooting.
861
00:39:21,611 --> 00:39:22,404
What are you doing?
862
00:39:22,404 --> 00:39:23,947
Getting my wine in position
863
00:39:23,947 --> 00:39:25,365
to throw in your damn face.
864
00:39:25,365 --> 00:39:26,866
You're always
with the drama, you.
865
00:39:26,991 --> 00:39:29,494
Go ahead and confess already.
Get it over with.
866
00:39:29,619 --> 00:39:31,663
She did the scene
from the pilot
867
00:39:31,788 --> 00:39:33,998
where he tells her
that he's taking Prozac.
868
00:39:34,666 --> 00:39:36,042
I'm on Prozac.
869
00:39:37,627 --> 00:39:38,837
Oh, my-- Oh, my God.
870
00:39:39,713 --> 00:39:41,131
I've been seeing a therapist.
871
00:39:41,131 --> 00:39:42,549
Oh, my God.
872
00:39:42,674 --> 00:39:44,676
I think that's great!
873
00:39:44,801 --> 00:39:47,679
I think that's so wonderful!
I think that's so gutsy.
874
00:39:47,804 --> 00:39:50,724
- It was like, wow, this is it.
- I think that's very wonderful.
875
00:39:50,724 --> 00:39:53,518
What, did you think I was
Hannibal Lecture before?
876
00:39:53,643 --> 00:39:55,687
I think it's great. Psychology
doesn't address the soul.
877
00:39:55,812 --> 00:39:57,355
That's something else.
But this is a start.
878
00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,524
This is something.
I'm gonna shut up now.
879
00:40:00,316 --> 00:40:01,609
I'll shut up now.
880
00:40:01,609 --> 00:40:03,445
I definitely knew
who this woman was.
881
00:40:03,445 --> 00:40:06,448
And I was sure I would never
get cast because, uh,
882
00:40:07,157 --> 00:40:09,784
my experience up to that point
had been that,
883
00:40:09,784 --> 00:40:13,163
you know, if you're being cast
as an Italian American,
884
00:40:13,163 --> 00:40:14,748
you've got to look
a certain way.
885
00:40:14,748 --> 00:40:17,125
And I felt like there were
other women
886
00:40:17,125 --> 00:40:18,668
that looked more that way
887
00:40:18,668 --> 00:40:21,504
and were cast
more often that way.
888
00:40:21,504 --> 00:40:24,049
But I went and auditioned,
and the next day
889
00:40:24,174 --> 00:40:26,301
they called and said,
"You got the part."
890
00:40:26,301 --> 00:40:29,304
And I thought, "It's just one of
these fly-by-night productions."
891
00:40:29,304 --> 00:40:31,639
You know?
Cast it, shoot it.
892
00:40:35,685 --> 00:40:36,770
1 Mark.
893
00:40:37,729 --> 00:40:38,897
Mark.
894
00:40:40,523 --> 00:40:42,359
Somebody gonna say action
or what?
895
00:40:42,359 --> 00:40:43,568
And action.
896
00:40:45,070 --> 00:40:47,614
You know, Grandma,
this place is pretty neat.
897
00:40:47,739 --> 00:40:49,449
What goes on behind there?
898
00:40:50,241 --> 00:40:51,159
Very good!
899
00:40:53,078 --> 00:40:54,996
Did you call that guy
at Tribeca Towers?
900
00:40:58,208 --> 00:40:59,084
Action.
901
00:40:59,209 --> 00:41:00,335
Girls, you gotta have more
902
00:41:00,335 --> 00:41:02,420
than cranberry juice
for breakfast.
903
00:41:02,545 --> 00:41:03,505
Cut. Good.
904
00:41:06,424 --> 00:41:08,009
What the hell's the name
of the place?
905
00:41:09,135 --> 00:41:10,178
Jesus.
906
00:41:10,929 --> 00:41:11,971
Action!
907
00:41:13,264 --> 00:41:14,057
Look...
908
00:41:15,892 --> 00:41:17,602
Anybody for ice cream?
909
00:41:20,897 --> 00:41:22,524
D'you call that guy
down at Triboro Towers
910
00:41:22,524 --> 00:41:23,817
about the hauling contract?
911
00:41:23,817 --> 00:41:25,443
Cut. Let's go
again right away.
912
00:41:25,443 --> 00:41:26,611
Right out of the gate,
913
00:41:26,736 --> 00:41:28,530
did he say he wanted
to direct it?
914
00:41:28,530 --> 00:41:30,240
Yes. That was
the next big decision.
915
00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:33,702
We didn't know a lot about
what we were doing,
916
00:41:33,702 --> 00:41:37,122
so we didn't want to give
anybody that much control.
917
00:41:37,247 --> 00:41:40,166
He was going to be the
showrunner-writer-producer,
918
00:41:40,166 --> 00:41:41,626
but if he was gonna direct it,
919
00:41:41,751 --> 00:41:44,546
then it was really
going to be his vision.
920
00:41:44,546 --> 00:41:48,508
But it was clear when David
was talking about it
921
00:41:48,508 --> 00:41:51,928
that it lived so much
in his heart and soul
922
00:41:51,928 --> 00:41:53,346
and in his head
923
00:41:53,471 --> 00:41:56,016
that we were like, "We gotta."
924
00:41:57,142 --> 00:41:58,143
Let's let him direct it.
925
00:41:58,268 --> 00:41:59,394
Action.
926
00:41:59,394 --> 00:42:02,105
Every year on this date
927
00:42:02,105 --> 00:42:03,940
since you were itty-bitty,
928
00:42:03,940 --> 00:42:05,942
Mom and Meadow get
all dolled up,
929
00:42:05,942 --> 00:42:08,987
drive into New York Plaza Hotel
for tea...
930
00:42:08,987 --> 00:42:12,240
The scene where Carmela
goes to get her daughter
931
00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:13,408
to bring her to the Plaza...
932
00:42:13,408 --> 00:42:15,035
I have too much homework.
933
00:42:15,035 --> 00:42:17,412
Meadow,
it's our little tradition.
934
00:42:17,412 --> 00:42:19,039
We always have so much fun.
935
00:42:19,164 --> 00:42:20,290
To tell you the truth,
936
00:42:20,290 --> 00:42:22,751
I've felt it was dumb
since I was eight.
937
00:42:22,751 --> 00:42:25,128
I just go because you like it.
938
00:42:25,128 --> 00:42:26,629
I remember something about
939
00:42:26,629 --> 00:42:28,673
David's directing
of that scene...
940
00:42:28,798 --> 00:42:30,925
- Cut. Good.
- ...that made me realize
941
00:42:30,925 --> 00:42:32,385
this is personal to him.
942
00:42:32,385 --> 00:42:33,678
He's speaking about something
943
00:42:33,803 --> 00:42:34,971
that may have
really happened...
944
00:42:34,971 --> 00:42:35,930
Action.
945
00:42:35,930 --> 00:42:37,307
...or something he was really
946
00:42:37,307 --> 00:42:38,683
going through with his wife
947
00:42:38,808 --> 00:42:40,018
and daughter at that time.
948
00:42:41,144 --> 00:42:43,980
But I remember thinking,
"Oh, this isn't just a director.
949
00:42:43,980 --> 00:42:45,607
This is, like--
This is personal."
950
00:42:45,607 --> 00:42:47,859
You have something
you want to say to me?
951
00:42:49,027 --> 00:42:51,279
Mom, do you have any idea
how much it means
952
00:42:51,279 --> 00:42:53,323
to actually go skiing in Aspen?
953
00:42:53,323 --> 00:42:55,950
I mean, do you think that's
gonna happen every year?
954
00:42:55,950 --> 00:42:59,746
Like lame tea and scones
at the Plaza Hotel?
955
00:43:01,039 --> 00:43:02,916
Goodbye.
956
00:43:03,041 --> 00:43:04,751
Close my door, please.
957
00:43:05,418 --> 00:43:07,003
And cut.
958
00:43:07,003 --> 00:43:08,963
- Cut.
- Good.
959
00:43:08,963 --> 00:43:11,424
Were you nervous about
shooting the pilot?
960
00:43:11,424 --> 00:43:12,884
Thinking, like,
this is my opportunity
961
00:43:13,009 --> 00:43:14,678
now to be a director?
962
00:43:14,678 --> 00:43:17,722
Uh... yeah.
Sure, I was nervous, yeah.
963
00:43:18,932 --> 00:43:21,393
I mean, I had directed
some before that,
964
00:43:21,518 --> 00:43:23,353
but, yeah, I was very nervous.
965
00:43:23,353 --> 00:43:26,981
I depended on
Alik Sakharov a lot, DP.
966
00:43:27,816 --> 00:43:29,609
I remember it was
the first or second week
967
00:43:29,734 --> 00:43:31,569
of prep on the pilot.
968
00:43:31,695 --> 00:43:34,155
David would walk into
the office, put his feet up,
969
00:43:34,155 --> 00:43:35,573
look out the window,
970
00:43:35,699 --> 00:43:37,075
and just like gray mood.
971
00:43:37,742 --> 00:43:39,411
You were like,
"Dave, what's up?"
972
00:43:40,203 --> 00:43:42,664
"I don't know who's gonna
fucking watch this shit."
973
00:43:45,542 --> 00:43:48,628
It's a good script, bro.
You know? It's a good script.
974
00:43:50,797 --> 00:43:52,257
I distinctly remember, he said
975
00:43:52,382 --> 00:43:54,467
we don't want to do
another television project.
976
00:43:54,467 --> 00:43:56,302
You know, let's just break
all the rules.
977
00:43:57,220 --> 00:43:59,014
I didn't want
TV coverage.
978
00:43:59,014 --> 00:44:02,267
Coverage is the most boring
fucking thing in the world.
979
00:44:02,392 --> 00:44:04,769
Typically, it would be a master,
980
00:44:04,894 --> 00:44:06,813
two overs, and two close-ups.
981
00:44:06,813 --> 00:44:09,983
So basically you fracture
the scene into smithereens.
982
00:44:10,108 --> 00:44:11,818
It wasn't cinematic at all.
983
00:44:12,402 --> 00:44:13,862
We talked about
Bertolucci.
984
00:44:13,862 --> 00:44:15,780
We talked about Coppola
up the wazoo.
985
00:44:15,905 --> 00:44:18,408
You know, Godfather. We talked
about Martin Scorsese.
986
00:44:18,408 --> 00:44:19,868
We talked about Polanski.
987
00:44:24,622 --> 00:44:26,583
With Chinatown,
the language of it
988
00:44:26,583 --> 00:44:30,628
was very close to how we wanted
to present Sopranos.
989
00:44:31,171 --> 00:44:33,214
The scene where
Jake Gittes
990
00:44:33,214 --> 00:44:35,592
drives his car through
the orange orchard...
991
00:44:39,429 --> 00:44:40,764
Hold it right there!
992
00:44:40,764 --> 00:44:42,849
That was the model
for a scene
993
00:44:42,974 --> 00:44:44,351
where Tony and Chris
994
00:44:44,351 --> 00:44:46,603
chase this guy in front of
this office building.
995
00:44:49,773 --> 00:44:52,400
♪ I wonder why
I love you like I do ♪
996
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,069
Asshole!
997
00:44:58,490 --> 00:45:00,075
Tony!
998
00:45:00,075 --> 00:45:01,242
Wait up!
999
00:45:06,331 --> 00:45:07,874
Then I said, "Okay,
1000
00:45:07,999 --> 00:45:09,668
I want to take
the camera inside."
1001
00:45:09,793 --> 00:45:12,629
Two guys are working in there
when this goes by them,
1002
00:45:12,629 --> 00:45:13,797
and they jump.
1003
00:45:15,090 --> 00:45:16,925
People were like, "Ugh.
1004
00:45:16,925 --> 00:45:19,511
What's that got to do with it?"
But it really worked well.
1005
00:45:19,636 --> 00:45:22,806
And then it basically
breaks into handheld mode
1006
00:45:22,806 --> 00:45:25,684
when Tony is out of the car
and he just pummels this guy.
1007
00:45:25,809 --> 00:45:28,019
- You all right?
- My leg is broken!
1008
00:45:28,019 --> 00:45:30,563
So in it, there's
a lot of Chinatown.
1009
00:45:30,563 --> 00:45:32,399
I'll give you a fucking bone,
you prick!
1010
00:45:32,399 --> 00:45:34,067
Where's my fucking money?
1011
00:45:34,818 --> 00:45:36,361
- Cut.
- That was my fault.
1012
00:45:36,486 --> 00:45:38,655
- I didn't wait long enough.
- Let's do one more.
1013
00:45:38,655 --> 00:45:39,948
When you're doing TV,
1014
00:45:39,948 --> 00:45:42,033
it's one scene
right after another one.
1015
00:45:42,158 --> 00:45:44,911
So you have to learn
to prepare very quickly.
1016
00:45:44,911 --> 00:45:47,580
- In one scene, you'll be...
- Hey, old man. Happy birthday.
1017
00:45:47,706 --> 00:45:48,998
...talking to your son,
1018
00:45:48,998 --> 00:45:51,418
the next scene you'll be
beating somebody up,
1019
00:45:51,418 --> 00:45:54,087
and the next scene you'll be
making love to your wife.
1020
00:45:54,212 --> 00:45:56,131
And so it's this constant
change of emotions
1021
00:45:56,131 --> 00:45:57,507
all through the day,
1022
00:45:57,507 --> 00:45:59,259
and you have to be able
to shift very quickly.
1023
00:45:59,259 --> 00:46:01,678
What are you talking about?
We discussed this.
1024
00:46:01,678 --> 00:46:03,096
Mr. Soprano?
1025
00:46:05,223 --> 00:46:06,641
Lorraine and Jim.
1026
00:46:06,641 --> 00:46:10,979
We rehearsed for three days
right before we shot.
1027
00:46:11,688 --> 00:46:13,898
But look,
this shit I'm telling you?
1028
00:46:14,524 --> 00:46:15,734
It will all blow over.
1029
00:46:16,401 --> 00:46:18,236
Just stop for a second.
1030
00:46:18,361 --> 00:46:20,321
For him, it was like,
what's your attitude
1031
00:46:20,321 --> 00:46:22,157
in a psychiatrist's office?
1032
00:46:22,157 --> 00:46:24,034
There was a lot of things
he wasn't used to.
1033
00:46:24,034 --> 00:46:26,244
It's okay. It's not a big deal.
It's just me.
1034
00:46:26,369 --> 00:46:27,579
Should we cut?
1035
00:46:27,704 --> 00:46:29,330
And I'm not-- It's my fault.
1036
00:46:29,330 --> 00:46:30,749
My concentration.
1037
00:46:31,291 --> 00:46:33,335
I shouldn't say that. Hi.
1038
00:46:33,335 --> 00:46:35,337
Have you ever had
any personal experience
1039
00:46:35,337 --> 00:46:36,713
with psychoanalysis?
1040
00:46:36,713 --> 00:46:37,881
Yeah.
1041
00:46:39,174 --> 00:46:41,092
In other words,
you're not just making it up.
1042
00:46:41,217 --> 00:46:42,761
You know what it feels like.
1043
00:46:42,886 --> 00:46:44,012
I've been in some of
those rooms,
1044
00:46:44,012 --> 00:46:45,472
not for long periods, but...
1045
00:46:45,472 --> 00:46:47,432
But you know what it feels like
to be in one.
1046
00:46:47,557 --> 00:46:49,476
Yes, but, you know, um...
1047
00:46:50,935 --> 00:46:52,896
I don't think when I started
the series I did.
1048
00:46:52,896 --> 00:46:55,148
I think that led me
right into it.
1049
00:46:56,649 --> 00:46:58,860
- Pushed you into it?
- Oh, definitely, yeah.
1050
00:46:58,860 --> 00:47:00,904
Was it research or was it real?
1051
00:47:01,571 --> 00:47:03,907
- No, it was-- It was real.
- It was real.
1052
00:47:03,907 --> 00:47:05,450
It was a cry for help!
1053
00:47:05,575 --> 00:47:06,826
No, it was...
1054
00:47:09,621 --> 00:47:11,623
Ah, yeah. Uh-huh, sure.
1055
00:47:15,460 --> 00:47:16,711
Yeah, hose him down.
1056
00:47:19,589 --> 00:47:20,757
Would you like
a Kleenex?
1057
00:47:20,757 --> 00:47:22,634
Nah, fuck that.
1058
00:47:23,593 --> 00:47:25,303
You're getting me
hot and sweaty, doc.
1059
00:47:25,428 --> 00:47:26,971
Jim had never
been in therapy.
1060
00:47:27,097 --> 00:47:28,056
Action.
1061
00:47:28,056 --> 00:47:31,017
So that was fun
to kind of lead him,
1062
00:47:31,142 --> 00:47:32,519
push him,
1063
00:47:32,644 --> 00:47:35,146
uh, manipulate him, in a way.
1064
00:47:35,855 --> 00:47:37,315
There are very
intimate moments.
1065
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:39,401
Yes, which is why I loved it.
1066
00:47:39,401 --> 00:47:41,611
Which is why I wanted Melfi.
1067
00:47:41,611 --> 00:47:46,199
I thought he was more intimate
with me than with anybody.
1068
00:47:47,158 --> 00:47:48,410
And I loved that.
1069
00:47:49,661 --> 00:47:50,662
Mark.
1070
00:47:52,038 --> 00:47:54,040
You have strong feelings
about this.
1071
00:47:54,165 --> 00:47:55,458
Let me tell you something.
1072
00:47:55,458 --> 00:47:57,377
I have a semester and a half
of college,
1073
00:47:57,502 --> 00:47:59,212
so I understand Freud.
1074
00:47:59,212 --> 00:48:01,589
I understand therapy
as a concept,
1075
00:48:01,589 --> 00:48:03,341
but in my world,
it does not go down.
1076
00:48:04,551 --> 00:48:06,261
Could I be happier? Yeah.
1077
00:48:06,261 --> 00:48:07,679
Yeah. Who couldn't?
1078
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:09,556
Cut.
1079
00:48:10,557 --> 00:48:11,558
Action!
1080
00:48:14,144 --> 00:48:16,980
Jim had his own way
of becoming Tony Soprano.
1081
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:19,399
He understood the character.
1082
00:48:20,650 --> 00:48:23,069
There was a scene where Chris
was off sulking,
1083
00:48:23,069 --> 00:48:24,779
so Tony goes up to him
and says...
1084
00:48:24,779 --> 00:48:26,614
Enough of this shit,
what's wrong with you?
1085
00:48:26,614 --> 00:48:28,575
In the script,
what I had written in
1086
00:48:28,575 --> 00:48:30,452
or had imagined was,
is Tony going, "Hey!"
1087
00:48:30,452 --> 00:48:32,912
That was what I was picturing.
1088
00:48:34,039 --> 00:48:36,166
- I'll fucking kill you.
- But Gandolfini
1089
00:48:36,166 --> 00:48:38,043
yanked him out of his chair.
1090
00:48:38,168 --> 00:48:39,502
That came out of nowhere.
1091
00:48:39,502 --> 00:48:41,796
- That wasn't in the script.
- Cut. Fucking great.
1092
00:48:42,505 --> 00:48:45,300
But it was mostly,
I would give direction,
1093
00:48:45,300 --> 00:48:46,676
and he'd say, "Well, you do it."
1094
00:48:46,676 --> 00:48:48,011
Action.
1095
00:48:48,011 --> 00:48:49,804
I would do some
stupid fucking thing.
1096
00:48:49,804 --> 00:48:52,682
And he later told my wife,
1097
00:48:52,682 --> 00:48:54,142
"You know that pilot?
1098
00:48:54,142 --> 00:48:56,061
I just copied the way
David behaves."
1099
00:48:56,186 --> 00:48:57,437
Cut.
1100
00:48:57,562 --> 00:48:59,898
In the beginning, I do
remember Jimmy would say,
1101
00:49:00,023 --> 00:49:02,317
"How does David know
so much about me?"
1102
00:49:02,317 --> 00:49:04,527
Maybe there were similarities
in the cultural upbringing.
1103
00:49:04,527 --> 00:49:06,321
You know, David grew up
in New Jersey,
1104
00:49:06,321 --> 00:49:07,864
Jimmy grew up in New Jersey.
1105
00:49:07,864 --> 00:49:10,867
Italian households, it's just
a lot of similarities.
1106
00:49:11,868 --> 00:49:14,412
It just fit. Everything
seemed to fit, you know?
1107
00:49:15,038 --> 00:49:16,706
David grew up in New Jersey,
1108
00:49:16,706 --> 00:49:18,875
so he can take a lot of things
from real life,
1109
00:49:19,459 --> 00:49:21,336
which you would never think
would work,
1110
00:49:21,336 --> 00:49:22,837
but he makes them work.
1111
00:49:24,547 --> 00:49:27,300
It was not, like, slam dunk.
1112
00:49:27,425 --> 00:49:30,762
I mean, it was a very, um,
strange pilot.
1113
00:49:31,304 --> 00:49:33,682
Blatantly uncommercial,
frankly.
1114
00:49:33,682 --> 00:49:35,266
Hey, hey, kids!
Come here!
1115
00:49:35,392 --> 00:49:37,352
They're trying to fly!
1116
00:49:37,352 --> 00:49:39,187
The babies,
they're trying to fly!
1117
00:49:39,187 --> 00:49:41,690
- The basic premise...
- Look, they're trying to fly.
1118
00:49:41,690 --> 00:49:44,442
A bunch of ducks come
into a boss's pool.
1119
00:49:44,567 --> 00:49:46,361
The ducks leave.
He has a nervous breakdown.
1120
00:49:46,361 --> 00:49:48,113
Do you feel depressed?
1121
00:49:49,989 --> 00:49:51,366
Since the ducks left,
1122
00:49:53,284 --> 00:49:54,452
I guess.
1123
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:58,373
The ducks that preceded
your losing consciousness.
1124
00:49:58,373 --> 00:50:00,125
Let's talk about them.
1125
00:50:08,717 --> 00:50:11,553
This is the premise
of a hit show?
1126
00:50:12,929 --> 00:50:16,641
Nobody really expected it
to even be picked up.
1127
00:50:16,641 --> 00:50:18,518
Dr. Cusamano
put me in the hospital,
1128
00:50:19,269 --> 00:50:20,729
gave me every kind of test.
1129
00:50:21,271 --> 00:50:23,523
They tested the pilot
in four places:
1130
00:50:23,523 --> 00:50:26,776
Connecticut, Dallas,
and two other I forget.
1131
00:50:26,776 --> 00:50:29,112
- Three.
- And surprisingly enough,
1132
00:50:29,112 --> 00:50:30,739
it tested best in Connecticut.
1133
00:50:30,739 --> 00:50:31,906
This is fucked up.
1134
00:50:31,906 --> 00:50:34,075
Of course, it's loaded
with Italians...
1135
00:50:34,075 --> 00:50:35,994
Right.
It's near New Jersey.
1136
00:50:36,119 --> 00:50:37,370
New Jersey, yeah.
1137
00:50:37,495 --> 00:50:39,497
You cannot accept
a gift like that
1138
00:50:39,622 --> 00:50:40,874
from Tony Soprano.
1139
00:50:40,999 --> 00:50:42,709
- No way.
- Listen to me, Charmaine.
1140
00:50:42,709 --> 00:50:45,045
They said that
testing had shown
1141
00:50:45,045 --> 00:50:47,881
that Charmaine Bucco,
Artie's wife,
1142
00:50:48,006 --> 00:50:49,674
was the moral
center of the show.
1143
00:50:49,799 --> 00:50:51,343
And we should focus
more on her.
1144
00:50:51,468 --> 00:50:53,511
But the tickets were comps!
1145
00:50:53,636 --> 00:50:55,347
Tony is a labor leader.
1146
00:50:55,472 --> 00:50:57,432
Arthur, please, grow up.
1147
00:50:57,432 --> 00:51:00,352
Does the mind not rebel
in any possible scenario
1148
00:51:00,477 --> 00:51:03,688
under which dentists are sending
the Don of New Jersey,
1149
00:51:03,813 --> 00:51:06,274
first class on a Norwegian
steamship?
1150
00:51:06,274 --> 00:51:08,526
Come on, Arthur, somebody
donated their kneecaps
1151
00:51:08,651 --> 00:51:09,736
for those tickets.
1152
00:51:10,820 --> 00:51:12,405
And she was great.
Kathy was great.
1153
00:51:12,405 --> 00:51:15,033
But that's not what
the show was about.
1154
00:51:16,159 --> 00:51:19,746
And, um, it just took forever.
1155
00:51:19,746 --> 00:51:22,207
It was ten months
before you guys greenlit it.
1156
00:51:22,332 --> 00:51:25,669
It was a long time.
'Cause this was a big jump.
1157
00:51:25,669 --> 00:51:28,254
Because that's the deal
you're making with a showrunner.
1158
00:51:28,254 --> 00:51:30,965
You're saying, "Okay, I'm gonna
give you millions of dollars,
1159
00:51:30,965 --> 00:51:32,676
and we're gonna take
a number of years,
1160
00:51:32,676 --> 00:51:34,803
and we're gonna create
something,
1161
00:51:34,803 --> 00:51:35,887
and do I trust you?"
1162
00:51:42,018 --> 00:51:44,312
They finally said yes.
And I gotta tell you,
1163
00:51:44,312 --> 00:51:45,855
I just feel so grateful
for that.
1164
00:51:45,855 --> 00:51:48,983
You're not getting me
into a nursing home.
1165
00:51:49,693 --> 00:51:52,195
I mean, I was at
the end of my career, really.
1166
00:51:52,195 --> 00:51:54,489
I mean, I was actually finally
1167
00:51:54,489 --> 00:51:56,741
gonna quit working
in television
1168
00:51:56,866 --> 00:51:59,577
and go to work
writing features on spec.
1169
00:52:00,412 --> 00:52:02,622
Then Sopranos came up.
1170
00:52:03,289 --> 00:52:06,251
It was like I had been in
the middle of a terrible ocean.
1171
00:52:06,251 --> 00:52:07,335
- Ma.
- No.
1172
00:52:07,335 --> 00:52:09,504
Anthony, people
come here to die!
1173
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:13,633
And I had landed
on a desert island,
1174
00:52:13,758 --> 00:52:15,677
a beautiful,
palm-covered island.
1175
00:52:20,473 --> 00:52:22,600
I thought, "Phew!
My life is saved."
1176
00:52:22,726 --> 00:52:24,519
Oh my God!
1177
00:52:24,519 --> 00:52:26,938
Somebody get-- get a doctor!
1178
00:52:28,732 --> 00:52:30,483
So what happened
with you and The Sopranos,
1179
00:52:30,483 --> 00:52:33,153
it was like HBO said,
"Go for it, man."
1180
00:52:33,153 --> 00:52:35,405
They trust the instincts
of the creator.
1181
00:52:35,405 --> 00:52:37,782
That was the amazing
thing that happened.
1182
00:52:37,907 --> 00:52:40,035
I guess I had the right concept,
1183
00:52:40,660 --> 00:52:42,454
and they decided to trust me.
1184
00:52:44,247 --> 00:52:46,583
The morning of the day
I got sick, I'd been thinking.
1185
00:52:49,627 --> 00:52:52,297
It's good to be in something
from the ground floor.
1186
00:52:52,922 --> 00:52:55,050
I came too late for that.
I know.
1187
00:52:56,009 --> 00:52:58,053
But lately I'm getting
the feeling
1188
00:52:58,053 --> 00:52:59,637
that I came in at the end.
1189
00:53:00,263 --> 00:53:01,848
The best is over.
1190
00:53:01,848 --> 00:53:04,351
Many Americans,
I think, feel that way.
1191
00:53:06,186 --> 00:53:07,604
I think about my father.
1192
00:53:08,146 --> 00:53:09,814
He never reached
the heights like me.
1193
00:53:10,648 --> 00:53:12,067
But in a lot of ways,
he had it better.
1194
00:53:12,067 --> 00:53:13,610
He had his people.
1195
00:53:14,361 --> 00:53:17,155
They had their standards.
They had pride.
1196
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:18,490
Today, what do we got?
1197
00:53:19,783 --> 00:53:22,118
When I wrote
the beginning of the pilot,
1198
00:53:22,118 --> 00:53:24,537
what I was talking about
was America.
1199
00:53:24,537 --> 00:53:28,917
I just had a sense that things
were really going downhill.
1200
00:53:30,460 --> 00:53:32,128
Everything's for sale here.
1201
00:53:32,128 --> 00:53:34,005
Everything is for sale.
1202
00:53:34,130 --> 00:53:36,091
And also...
1203
00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:39,427
...the comic part of it
for me was that
1204
00:53:40,303 --> 00:53:44,057
Americans had gotten
so materialistic and so selfish
1205
00:53:45,350 --> 00:53:46,851
that it made a mob boss sick.
1206
00:53:49,020 --> 00:53:50,397
I wanna know why
there's zero growth
1207
00:53:50,397 --> 00:53:51,898
in this family's receipts.
1208
00:53:55,026 --> 00:53:56,111
Where's the fucking money?
1209
00:53:58,530 --> 00:53:59,906
You're supposed to be earners.
1210
00:54:00,532 --> 00:54:02,409
Each one of you,
go to your people on the street,
1211
00:54:02,409 --> 00:54:03,952
crack some fucking heads,
1212
00:54:03,952 --> 00:54:06,079
create some fucking
earners out there!
1213
00:54:06,204 --> 00:54:08,665
Sil, break it down for 'em.
1214
00:54:08,665 --> 00:54:10,000
What two businesses have
1215
00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:11,751
traditionally been
recession-proof
1216
00:54:11,876 --> 00:54:13,211
since time immemorial?
1217
00:54:14,254 --> 00:54:17,298
Certain aspects of show business
and our thing.
1218
00:54:17,298 --> 00:54:18,675
You do a mob story,
1219
00:54:18,675 --> 00:54:20,343
of course, you're doing
a mob story.
1220
00:54:20,343 --> 00:54:24,097
But there's also the element
of corruption and business,
1221
00:54:24,097 --> 00:54:25,974
like anything to make a buck.
1222
00:54:25,974 --> 00:54:27,934
- Where's the rest of the money?
- It's everywhere.
1223
00:54:28,059 --> 00:54:30,854
The whole idea of both
that it's the American dream
1224
00:54:30,854 --> 00:54:33,189
and the American nightmare,
all at once.
1225
00:54:33,189 --> 00:54:35,483
It was about
money and death.
1226
00:54:35,483 --> 00:54:37,485
- And they're related somehow.
- Right.
1227
00:54:37,485 --> 00:54:39,195
You better give me your jewelry.
1228
00:54:39,195 --> 00:54:41,990
It was capitalism
in the rawest sense.
1229
00:54:41,990 --> 00:54:43,366
They know we can't
produce receipts.
1230
00:54:43,366 --> 00:54:44,743
You want 'em stealing
this shit from us?
1231
00:54:44,868 --> 00:54:46,745
And it was on television,
1232
00:54:46,870 --> 00:54:51,124
which was the instrument
that capitalism used to sell.
1233
00:54:51,124 --> 00:54:52,751
A new Dodge... Camel...
1234
00:54:52,876 --> 00:54:54,252
Jell-O... Kodak...
1235
00:54:54,377 --> 00:54:56,838
What I thought
from the very beginning was,
1236
00:54:56,838 --> 00:54:58,256
okay, here we are,
1237
00:54:58,381 --> 00:55:00,383
this is now 50 years
we're doing TV...
1238
00:55:02,010 --> 00:55:04,679
...and people are being
sold something
1239
00:55:05,388 --> 00:55:06,473
every 15 minutes,
1240
00:55:06,598 --> 00:55:08,350
would mean... a hard sell.
1241
00:55:10,894 --> 00:55:14,272
Bullshit, bullshit,
bullshit, bullshit.
1242
00:55:16,316 --> 00:55:18,068
And we're so used to,
on that screen,
1243
00:55:18,068 --> 00:55:19,944
a face comes on
and says something.
1244
00:55:20,070 --> 00:55:21,571
It has an effect on us.
1245
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:24,991
And it was all about
money, money, money.
1246
00:55:25,450 --> 00:55:26,993
Just so you understand
1247
00:55:27,118 --> 00:55:29,079
that I have to charge you
for the missed session.
1248
00:55:29,079 --> 00:55:30,121
All right. Fine.
1249
00:55:31,164 --> 00:55:32,874
Fine, here. Here you go.
1250
00:55:32,874 --> 00:55:35,335
- As it was said in the show...
- This is what it's all about.
1251
00:55:35,335 --> 00:55:37,462
Motherfuckin',
cock-suckin' money.
1252
00:55:37,587 --> 00:55:38,546
Here.
1253
00:55:40,632 --> 00:55:42,133
And now we had
no more commercials.
1254
00:55:42,258 --> 00:55:43,510
We were on HBO.
1255
00:55:53,937 --> 00:55:55,563
Everywhere I'd gone
prior to that,
1256
00:55:55,563 --> 00:55:57,107
of all the networks,
1257
00:55:57,107 --> 00:55:58,525
"Where do
you want to shoot it?"
1258
00:55:58,650 --> 00:55:59,693
I said, "New Jersey."
1259
00:55:59,818 --> 00:56:01,528
"What do you
wanna do that for?"
1260
00:56:01,528 --> 00:56:03,822
I said, "I believe it
belongs there."
1261
00:56:04,656 --> 00:56:06,282
They said, "It's going to be
a lot of money.
1262
00:56:06,282 --> 00:56:08,410
I don't know what for."
1263
00:56:08,410 --> 00:56:11,329
Then when I went to HBO,
they said,
1264
00:56:11,454 --> 00:56:14,165
"Now, it says here
it takes place in New Jersey.
1265
00:56:14,290 --> 00:56:16,668
You're gonna shoot it
in New Jersey, right?"
1266
00:56:16,793 --> 00:56:18,503
I was like,
"Oh my God, I'm in heaven!"
1267
00:56:19,212 --> 00:56:22,298
Really, I felt like,
fuck the whole past 30 years.
1268
00:56:22,298 --> 00:56:23,550
This is it!
1269
00:56:23,675 --> 00:56:25,176
A broadcast network
1270
00:56:25,301 --> 00:56:28,596
would shoot it in LA
and do second unit in Jersey
1271
00:56:28,596 --> 00:56:31,433
and find, you know, locations
that they could double
1272
00:56:31,433 --> 00:56:34,561
to create that wonderful...
1273
00:56:34,561 --> 00:56:36,271
...suspension
of disbelief illusion.
1274
00:56:36,271 --> 00:56:37,772
"Oh, I'm really in Jersey."
1275
00:56:39,816 --> 00:56:42,152
We'll keep going,
shooting in the rain.
1276
00:56:42,152 --> 00:56:44,112
I like it when it's cloudy
because the colors
1277
00:56:44,112 --> 00:56:45,905
get nice and saturated and rich.
1278
00:56:47,157 --> 00:56:49,868
We got into this idea
of looking for locations
1279
00:56:49,993 --> 00:56:51,703
not because
they were locations.
1280
00:56:51,828 --> 00:56:53,913
We got to find places
that have character,
1281
00:56:53,913 --> 00:56:56,624
that could basically
parallel our characters. Right?
1282
00:56:56,624 --> 00:56:59,127
All we need to do now is bring
the camera and shoot it.
1283
00:57:04,591 --> 00:57:07,302
Well, we actually shot
all the interiors in Queens.
1284
00:57:07,302 --> 00:57:08,887
And all the exteriors,
1285
00:57:09,012 --> 00:57:10,889
I forbade any exterior shots
1286
00:57:11,014 --> 00:57:12,807
to be shot anyplace
but New Jersey
1287
00:57:12,807 --> 00:57:14,726
because I wanted it
to be realistic.
1288
00:57:14,851 --> 00:57:16,311
I knew New Jersey really well.
1289
00:57:16,853 --> 00:57:18,897
For example, the Meadowlands,
1290
00:57:19,022 --> 00:57:21,649
the combination of really
heavy industry
1291
00:57:21,649 --> 00:57:24,444
and the largest urban
wilderness in the world.
1292
00:57:26,321 --> 00:57:28,406
♪ New Jersey Turnpike ♪
1293
00:57:30,158 --> 00:57:33,119
♪ Ridin' on a wet night ♪
1294
00:57:34,079 --> 00:57:36,873
♪ 'Neath the refinery's glow ♪
1295
00:57:37,540 --> 00:57:40,585
♪ Out where the great
black rivers flow ♪
1296
00:57:43,713 --> 00:57:45,840
Marty Scorsese
doesn't like the show.
1297
00:57:46,758 --> 00:57:50,387
Says, "I don't get it.
It's all these trees and shit."
1298
00:57:50,387 --> 00:57:54,391
All mob things before that
had been Manhattan or Brooklyn.
1299
00:57:58,812 --> 00:58:02,691
And I knew there was
a mob presence in New Jersey.
1300
00:58:02,691 --> 00:58:05,944
Kids whose fathers were
heavy bookmakers, loan sharks.
1301
00:58:07,070 --> 00:58:08,279
Where the Soprano house was,
1302
00:58:08,405 --> 00:58:09,823
that was the town
that we moved to
1303
00:58:09,948 --> 00:58:11,366
when I was in eighth grade.
1304
00:58:11,366 --> 00:58:14,035
There was a lot of woods
and ponds.
1305
00:58:14,035 --> 00:58:16,955
At the same time, some guy got
blown up in his garage.
1306
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:19,290
Start his car...
1307
00:58:20,166 --> 00:58:22,085
So I knew about all that,
and I thought,
1308
00:58:22,085 --> 00:58:24,295
"I think it'll actually work."
1309
00:58:25,380 --> 00:58:26,631
Three.
1310
00:58:29,342 --> 00:58:31,678
It gave it an entirely
different look.
1311
00:58:31,678 --> 00:58:34,431
And I think it was
kind of a different culture.
1312
00:58:34,431 --> 00:58:37,142
Tony was a suburbanite,
Tony and Carmela.
1313
00:58:37,851 --> 00:58:38,852
This says "with pulp."
1314
00:58:39,978 --> 00:58:41,146
You like it with pulp.
1315
00:58:41,271 --> 00:58:42,647
Not this much.
1316
00:58:43,106 --> 00:58:45,025
I like the one that says
"some pulp."
1317
00:58:47,944 --> 00:58:50,572
- The fuck was that for?
- I'll write you up a list.
1318
00:58:51,906 --> 00:58:53,742
- New game.
- A regular family,
1319
00:58:53,742 --> 00:58:54,784
he's got kids.
1320
00:58:55,535 --> 00:58:58,538
- Attagirl, Mead!
- His daughter plays soccer.
1321
00:58:58,663 --> 00:58:59,539
Brick wall!
1322
00:59:02,125 --> 00:59:03,585
He loves his wife very much.
1323
00:59:04,169 --> 00:59:05,295
I think she...
1324
00:59:05,879 --> 00:59:08,006
she's the strength
of the family, pretty much.
1325
00:59:09,049 --> 00:59:10,884
He's just got a regular life.
1326
00:59:11,009 --> 00:59:12,844
His job is the Mafia.
1327
00:59:13,386 --> 00:59:14,512
That's his job.
1328
00:59:14,637 --> 00:59:16,014
It's not fair!
1329
00:59:16,139 --> 00:59:17,599
He's got a regular
family on top of it,
1330
00:59:17,599 --> 00:59:20,226
which creates as many problems,
if not more,
1331
00:59:20,226 --> 00:59:21,728
as the other job.
1332
00:59:23,521 --> 00:59:24,773
When you're choosing projects,
1333
00:59:24,773 --> 00:59:26,608
what are the most
important factors for you?
1334
00:59:27,233 --> 00:59:28,943
- What comes first?
- The writing, the writing,
1335
00:59:28,943 --> 00:59:31,029
the writing, the writing,
the writing, the writing.
1336
00:59:31,154 --> 00:59:35,200
So when you got picked up
for series,
1337
00:59:35,325 --> 00:59:37,243
then you had to put together
a writers' room.
1338
00:59:37,243 --> 00:59:39,496
Was that a difficult process
in terms of
1339
00:59:39,496 --> 00:59:40,997
now figuring out how
you're going to work
1340
00:59:40,997 --> 00:59:42,374
with a bunch of other writers?
1341
00:59:42,499 --> 00:59:43,375
Yes and no.
1342
00:59:43,500 --> 00:59:45,168
I had worked rooms before,
1343
00:59:45,168 --> 00:59:47,420
so I knew what to expect.
1344
00:59:47,420 --> 00:59:49,422
But this one was
gonna be different.
1345
00:59:50,173 --> 00:59:52,092
I was in a mood
where I just wasn't
1346
00:59:52,092 --> 00:59:53,802
going to accept TV writing.
1347
00:59:53,802 --> 00:59:55,929
I kept thinking,
"God, we're free here.
1348
00:59:56,054 --> 00:59:57,806
Let's really dig down
into this."
1349
00:59:57,806 --> 00:59:59,224
Let's think about it.
1350
00:59:59,349 --> 01:00:01,476
I came on for episode,
I guess, two,
1351
01:00:01,476 --> 01:00:03,269
you know, after the pilot.
1352
01:00:03,269 --> 01:00:05,188
He talked about what he had,
1353
01:00:05,188 --> 01:00:08,358
which was an arc for the season,
which he always came in with.
1354
01:00:08,358 --> 01:00:09,859
But nothing beyond that.
1355
01:00:09,859 --> 01:00:12,362
Now, because of movie people
coming into the business,
1356
01:00:12,362 --> 01:00:14,072
you have to have
five years' worth.
1357
01:00:14,197 --> 01:00:16,574
You have to tell them everything
and know everything.
1358
01:00:16,700 --> 01:00:18,868
And we didn't know anything.
1359
01:00:18,868 --> 01:00:20,662
As a matter of fact,
in the very beginning,
1360
01:00:20,662 --> 01:00:22,414
David said,
"If this doesn't work,
1361
01:00:22,539 --> 01:00:23,873
that's it for me."
1362
01:00:23,873 --> 01:00:25,125
And forgive me, HBO,
1363
01:00:25,125 --> 01:00:26,835
but they were nowhere
at that point.
1364
01:00:26,835 --> 01:00:28,837
It was an elephant graveyard,
1365
01:00:28,837 --> 01:00:31,589
and they didn't know
if it would work either.
1366
01:00:31,715 --> 01:00:34,259
But they just gave us
complete freedom.
1367
01:00:34,384 --> 01:00:36,720
It was our little artistic
experience.
1368
01:00:36,720 --> 01:00:38,096
That's what it felt like.
1369
01:00:38,221 --> 01:00:39,431
Quiet, please.
1370
01:00:39,556 --> 01:00:41,266
It was a lot of
hard work.
1371
01:00:41,391 --> 01:00:43,351
A lot of hours.
The hours were brutal.
1372
01:00:43,351 --> 01:00:44,978
And writers were on the set.
1373
01:00:45,103 --> 01:00:47,939
So it was, you know,
from dawn...
1374
01:00:48,064 --> 01:00:49,774
Good morning. You're late.
1375
01:00:49,899 --> 01:00:52,027
Where you been? Sleeping?
1376
01:00:52,027 --> 01:00:55,488
...until you'd see the towers
coming back from New Jersey
1377
01:00:55,488 --> 01:00:57,490
at around three in the morning.
1378
01:00:58,491 --> 01:01:01,411
Maybe you'd sleep for seven
hours and it'd all start again.
1379
01:01:01,411 --> 01:01:04,247
But when you're that age
or you're working like that,
1380
01:01:04,247 --> 01:01:05,623
what else is there to do?
1381
01:01:05,749 --> 01:01:08,376
So we all worked like that,
you know.
1382
01:01:08,376 --> 01:01:10,920
It was the most fun
you can imagine.
1383
01:01:10,920 --> 01:01:12,130
For everyone.
1384
01:01:12,255 --> 01:01:13,340
I'm proud of it.
1385
01:01:14,424 --> 01:01:16,676
Still my favorite line
of the whole series.
1386
01:01:16,801 --> 01:01:17,969
"Hasidim
but I don't believe 'em"?
1387
01:01:18,094 --> 01:01:19,054
No. My favorite line was...
1388
01:01:19,054 --> 01:01:21,931
Nine hundred Jews held their own
1389
01:01:21,931 --> 01:01:24,726
against 15,000 Roman soldiers.
1390
01:01:24,726 --> 01:01:26,644
"The Romans,
where are they today?"
1391
01:01:26,770 --> 01:01:29,397
- And Robin wrote this line...
- You're looking at 'em, asshole.
1392
01:01:29,397 --> 01:01:31,775
That's great. That's great.
1393
01:01:31,775 --> 01:01:34,402
That's great. It was great.
1394
01:01:40,450 --> 01:01:42,035
In episode four,
1395
01:01:42,035 --> 01:01:44,662
when we were trying to find
Chris's girlfriend,
1396
01:01:44,788 --> 01:01:47,374
we brought Drea de Matteo
back in to read.
1397
01:01:47,999 --> 01:01:49,209
Where'd you park?
1398
01:01:49,209 --> 01:01:50,377
In back, there.
1399
01:01:50,877 --> 01:01:52,003
I ain't crossing that.
1400
01:01:52,837 --> 01:01:54,297
No one followed me.
1401
01:01:54,297 --> 01:01:56,257
Adriana, you wouldn't know
if they did.
1402
01:01:57,008 --> 01:01:59,552
Oh, yeah, like Tony Soprano's
hiding in my back seat.
1403
01:01:59,552 --> 01:02:01,221
You are so paranoid!
1404
01:02:01,221 --> 01:02:02,764
Bring the car right here.
1405
01:02:03,473 --> 01:02:04,599
I know.
1406
01:02:04,599 --> 01:02:06,184
He's in disguise.
1407
01:02:06,309 --> 01:02:07,686
That could be him.
1408
01:02:07,811 --> 01:02:09,562
Hey, Tony! Or maybe...
1409
01:02:09,562 --> 01:02:12,607
She got it because
it said in the script, "ow."
1410
01:02:12,607 --> 01:02:13,525
But she said...
1411
01:02:13,650 --> 01:02:15,026
Ow-ah!
1412
01:02:15,151 --> 01:02:17,070
- Get over here.
- Let go of me!
1413
01:02:17,195 --> 01:02:19,072
"Ow-ah!" Like that. That was it.
1414
01:02:19,197 --> 01:02:20,198
You're hired.
1415
01:02:20,323 --> 01:02:22,075
That was great.
1416
01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:23,952
- That was great.
- Thank you.
1417
01:02:23,952 --> 01:02:27,455
I heard the nurse say you made
number two in your pants.
1418
01:02:27,455 --> 01:02:29,791
- Is that what happened?
- Get the car!
1419
01:02:31,626 --> 01:02:33,461
That stuff is sort of
my specialty
1420
01:02:33,461 --> 01:02:35,046
'cause I was from Queens,
1421
01:02:35,171 --> 01:02:37,757
even though I tried to
leave that behind.
1422
01:02:37,757 --> 01:02:40,635
But, I mean, all the girls
in my neighborhood,
1423
01:02:40,635 --> 01:02:42,303
we were--
it's all the Italian girls.
1424
01:02:42,303 --> 01:02:44,055
You gotta talk like this.
1425
01:02:44,180 --> 01:02:45,348
Don't fuck around.
1426
01:02:45,348 --> 01:02:47,142
Everything has gotta be
ten syllables.
1427
01:02:47,142 --> 01:02:49,102
I'm really fucking doing it.
1428
01:02:49,894 --> 01:02:51,396
And it's all thanks to you.
1429
01:02:52,272 --> 01:02:54,190
I couldn't do the accent
without the nails.
1430
01:02:54,190 --> 01:02:57,944
I couldn't do half of it
without the hair and makeup.
1431
01:02:58,069 --> 01:03:00,405
Why don't you forget about
working and be with me?
1432
01:03:01,031 --> 01:03:05,452
Oh, yeah, and be one of those
wives like Carmela Soprano?
1433
01:03:05,452 --> 01:03:06,828
Breastfeed a bunch of rug rats
1434
01:03:06,828 --> 01:03:08,913
then spend the rest of your life
at the gym,
1435
01:03:09,039 --> 01:03:10,582
just you and your stretch marks.
1436
01:03:11,249 --> 01:03:13,752
You're right.
My cousin's always had a brain,
1437
01:03:13,877 --> 01:03:15,295
but what does she use it for?
1438
01:03:15,295 --> 01:03:16,963
A husband who
can't even tell you
1439
01:03:17,088 --> 01:03:18,631
where the money comes from.
1440
01:03:18,631 --> 01:03:22,093
You know, just the whole way
David set that story up,
1441
01:03:23,386 --> 01:03:26,514
and then seeing the next
episodes that would come after,
1442
01:03:26,514 --> 01:03:27,640
I was mind-blown.
1443
01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:29,142
I would call my mom
from payphone
1444
01:03:29,267 --> 01:03:32,103
and read her the entire script.
1445
01:03:32,228 --> 01:03:34,397
You'd publish a script.
It would only come out
1446
01:03:34,397 --> 01:03:37,442
right when it was being filmed,
pretty much.
1447
01:03:37,567 --> 01:03:40,236
The crew would be reading it.
You know what I mean?
1448
01:03:40,236 --> 01:03:41,905
They were reading it.
They wanted to know.
1449
01:03:41,905 --> 01:03:44,240
They took pleasure
and joy in it.
1450
01:03:45,408 --> 01:03:48,620
When we went back and
started shooting season one,
1451
01:03:49,162 --> 01:03:51,790
it was really then
when you started seeing
1452
01:03:51,915 --> 01:03:55,001
the next few scripts
that I realized, whoa!
1453
01:03:56,419 --> 01:03:57,962
This is really
1454
01:03:58,963 --> 01:04:00,757
genius and complex.
1455
01:04:00,757 --> 01:04:02,801
You know? And really risky.
1456
01:04:03,760 --> 01:04:06,680
David, he always says,
"Television in the past
1457
01:04:06,680 --> 01:04:08,682
was always about
making you feel good."
1458
01:04:09,432 --> 01:04:11,393
Cop shows.
Why are cop shows so great?
1459
01:04:11,393 --> 01:04:14,646
'Cause at the end of the day,
the bad guy gets put in jail.
1460
01:04:15,313 --> 01:04:17,816
You know, there's some
kind of order to the universe.
1461
01:04:17,941 --> 01:04:19,818
There's some kind of justice.
1462
01:04:19,943 --> 01:04:22,070
David was all about
the opposite.
1463
01:04:28,159 --> 01:04:29,327
Are you in the Mafia?
1464
01:04:32,122 --> 01:04:34,082
- Am I in the what?
- Whatever you wanna call it.
1465
01:04:34,082 --> 01:04:35,166
Organized crime.
1466
01:04:38,169 --> 01:04:40,130
That's total crap.
Who told you that?
1467
01:04:40,130 --> 01:04:42,298
Dad, I've lived in the house
all my life.
1468
01:04:42,298 --> 01:04:43,842
I've seen police come
with warrants.
1469
01:04:43,967 --> 01:04:45,468
I've seen you going out
at three in the morning.
1470
01:04:45,468 --> 01:04:47,178
So you've never seen
Doc Cusamano
1471
01:04:47,303 --> 01:04:49,139
go out at three in the morning
on a call?
1472
01:04:49,139 --> 01:04:51,933
Did the Cusamano kids ever find
$50,000 in Krugerrands
1473
01:04:51,933 --> 01:04:54,728
and a .45 automatic while they
were hunting for Easter eggs?
1474
01:04:54,728 --> 01:04:56,271
I'm in the waste
management business.
1475
01:04:56,271 --> 01:04:58,857
Everybody immediately assumes
you're mobbed up.
1476
01:04:58,982 --> 01:05:01,192
It's a stereotype
and it's offensive.
1477
01:05:02,027 --> 01:05:04,070
And you're the last person
I would want to perpetuate it.
1478
01:05:04,070 --> 01:05:05,280
Fine.
1479
01:05:08,992 --> 01:05:10,201
There is no Mafia.
1480
01:05:11,369 --> 01:05:13,455
When they saw
the fifth episode,
1481
01:05:13,455 --> 01:05:15,957
HBO said, "You've created
one of the most dynamic
1482
01:05:15,957 --> 01:05:18,126
characters in television history,
1483
01:05:18,126 --> 01:05:19,961
and you're gonna blow it all."
1484
01:05:20,587 --> 01:05:21,546
What the fuck?
1485
01:05:23,506 --> 01:05:25,550
I'm not sure, but I think
I just saw Fabian Petrulio.
1486
01:05:25,675 --> 01:05:28,011
- Refresh my memory.
- What's he, before your time?
1487
01:05:28,011 --> 01:05:29,888
Made guy,
flipped about ten years ago
1488
01:05:30,013 --> 01:05:32,057
when he got busted
for peddling H.
1489
01:05:32,182 --> 01:05:33,892
Rat fuck took out
a lot of people.
1490
01:05:34,017 --> 01:05:35,602
A lot of people
from our outfit.
1491
01:05:35,602 --> 01:05:37,520
He went into the witness
protection program.
1492
01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:39,022
Then they kicked him out.
1493
01:05:39,022 --> 01:05:40,523
I am your soldier, Antonio.
1494
01:05:40,523 --> 01:05:42,817
This is my duty. Like we're
always talking about.
1495
01:05:42,817 --> 01:05:44,402
The way this went down,
1496
01:05:44,944 --> 01:05:46,488
this is my call.
1497
01:05:46,488 --> 01:05:47,947
I got to vouch for this myself.
1498
01:05:49,741 --> 01:05:52,077
Jimmy says hello from hell,
you fuck!
1499
01:05:53,536 --> 01:05:55,246
I brought it up
in the script.
1500
01:05:57,374 --> 01:05:59,084
And the answer was,
1501
01:05:59,209 --> 01:06:00,960
"You're gonna feel differently
when you see it."
1502
01:06:15,475 --> 01:06:16,434
Good morning, rat.
1503
01:06:16,559 --> 01:06:18,728
Who are you? What is this?
1504
01:06:18,728 --> 01:06:21,231
Don't make me laugh, you pimp!
You fuck!
1505
01:06:21,231 --> 01:06:22,565
Teddy, there must be
something we can do.
1506
01:06:22,565 --> 01:06:24,651
Tony. It's Tony, you fuck.
1507
01:06:24,651 --> 01:06:26,069
Know how much trouble
you're in now?
1508
01:06:26,069 --> 01:06:28,822
You took an oath
and you broke it.
1509
01:06:28,947 --> 01:06:30,281
And then when we saw it,
1510
01:06:31,074 --> 01:06:31,991
it was even
1511
01:06:32,992 --> 01:06:35,912
more troublesome
than I thought in the script.
1512
01:06:35,912 --> 01:06:37,831
Please, Tony. I'm begging you.
1513
01:06:40,417 --> 01:06:42,127
Jimmy says hello from hell,
you fuck!
1514
01:06:45,755 --> 01:06:47,173
Chris says,
"I'm seeing it now
1515
01:06:47,173 --> 01:06:48,717
and how gruesome it is.
1516
01:06:48,717 --> 01:06:50,635
And we're gonna lose
everything.
1517
01:06:50,760 --> 01:06:52,554
People, aren't--
they're gonna hate him."
1518
01:06:52,554 --> 01:06:56,683
Could you have a criminal,
a killer, as your lead?
1519
01:06:56,808 --> 01:06:58,351
Can you have an antihero
in the lead?
1520
01:06:58,476 --> 01:06:59,519
That was the big debate.
1521
01:06:59,644 --> 01:07:01,187
My big objection
was that the audience
1522
01:07:01,187 --> 01:07:03,440
was really going to
not like Tony,
1523
01:07:03,440 --> 01:07:05,316
and that we hadn't
earned that yet.
1524
01:07:06,026 --> 01:07:08,278
I mean, this was just
the fifth episode.
1525
01:07:08,778 --> 01:07:10,447
I said,
"Chris, think about it."
1526
01:07:10,447 --> 01:07:11,948
How'd it go?
1527
01:07:11,948 --> 01:07:14,826
They got a 48 to 52 male-female
ratio, which is great.
1528
01:07:14,951 --> 01:07:16,411
He's up there in Maine,
1529
01:07:17,495 --> 01:07:19,164
and he sees this rat.
1530
01:07:22,792 --> 01:07:25,503
He's a captain
in a mob crew.
1531
01:07:26,379 --> 01:07:28,214
If he doesn't kill that guy,
1532
01:07:28,214 --> 01:07:29,716
people are going to
lose faith in him
1533
01:07:29,841 --> 01:07:31,593
or interest in him completely.
1534
01:07:35,138 --> 01:07:38,683
So if Tony
doesn't kill this guy,
1535
01:07:39,517 --> 01:07:40,685
he's full of shit.
1536
01:07:41,353 --> 01:07:43,188
And then the whole show
is full of shit.
1537
01:07:44,397 --> 01:07:46,566
And I thought,
"Well, that makes sense."
1538
01:07:46,566 --> 01:07:48,360
I said to Dave,
"Here's the problem.
1539
01:07:48,485 --> 01:07:50,403
Like, this was a bad guy.
1540
01:07:51,404 --> 01:07:55,241
So let's find ways to give Tony
1541
01:07:55,241 --> 01:07:57,035
a little bit more
justification."
1542
01:08:00,080 --> 01:08:02,374
David made some
adjustments to the victim.
1543
01:08:03,333 --> 01:08:05,752
He became a more
menacing figure
1544
01:08:05,877 --> 01:08:07,504
than he had initially started.
1545
01:08:13,510 --> 01:08:15,804
Where we all got
down to is, like, look,
1546
01:08:15,804 --> 01:08:18,098
Chris and I are not going
to write it, direct it.
1547
01:08:18,098 --> 01:08:20,934
So at the end of the day,
I think,
1548
01:08:20,934 --> 01:08:24,688
when you hit that kind of
impasse with a show creator,
1549
01:08:24,688 --> 01:08:26,648
you kind of have to
go with them.
1550
01:08:34,864 --> 01:08:35,740
Better.
1551
01:08:37,367 --> 01:08:38,910
They left us alone
completely,
1552
01:08:39,035 --> 01:08:40,829
and there was
some weird stuff we did.
1553
01:08:41,871 --> 01:08:43,081
Whoa, Junior!
1554
01:08:43,206 --> 01:08:44,749
"Whoa, Junior," what?
1555
01:08:44,874 --> 01:08:46,376
One of the episodes
about Dominic.
1556
01:08:46,376 --> 01:08:47,752
Uncle Jun's in the muff.
1557
01:08:47,877 --> 01:08:49,337
- He loves to, uh...
- What?
1558
01:08:49,337 --> 01:08:50,880
...you know, go down on women.
1559
01:08:50,880 --> 01:08:53,675
Oh, did I say muff?
I meant rough.
1560
01:08:54,217 --> 01:08:57,012
65-year-old man, this is what
the whole episode's about.
1561
01:08:57,012 --> 01:08:59,014
I'm reading this thing going,
"We can't do this."
1562
01:08:59,014 --> 01:09:01,307
- What's that smell?
- And we did it.
1563
01:09:01,307 --> 01:09:04,185
- D'you guys go to a sushi bar?
- The fuck's he talking about?
1564
01:09:04,185 --> 01:09:05,687
I dunno.
1565
01:09:05,687 --> 01:09:07,480
I thought you were
a baccalà man, Uncle Jun.
1566
01:09:07,480 --> 01:09:08,898
What are you doing eating sushi?
1567
01:09:08,898 --> 01:09:10,775
You fucking run off
at the mouth, you know that?
1568
01:09:13,945 --> 01:09:16,197
♪ South of the border ♪
1569
01:09:17,365 --> 01:09:19,451
♪ Down Mexico way ♪
1570
01:09:23,204 --> 01:09:25,540
Season one was shot
in the summer of '98
1571
01:09:25,540 --> 01:09:28,293
and went on the air
in January of '99.
1572
01:09:28,418 --> 01:09:29,919
We thought we did a great job.
1573
01:09:29,919 --> 01:09:31,546
We thought it was
something really special.
1574
01:09:31,546 --> 01:09:33,298
But are people gonna watch?
1575
01:09:33,423 --> 01:09:35,717
- Mike, what's your last name?
- Imperioli.
1576
01:09:35,717 --> 01:09:37,135
And that was a big question.
1577
01:09:37,260 --> 01:09:39,220
Are people gonna watch this
on TV?
1578
01:09:39,763 --> 01:09:41,723
- You know, violence...
- Ow! Snaky motherfucker!
1579
01:09:41,723 --> 01:09:44,059
...profanity, nudity.
1580
01:09:44,059 --> 01:09:45,060
Oh, Marone.
1581
01:09:45,060 --> 01:09:47,562
It's time for your sponge bath.
1582
01:09:47,562 --> 01:09:49,647
Is there a place for that
on television?
1583
01:09:50,690 --> 01:09:52,776
Honestly, I thought it would
take a good eight or ten shows
1584
01:09:52,776 --> 01:09:54,527
before people just
got used to it
1585
01:09:54,652 --> 01:09:55,987
because it was so different.
1586
01:09:56,112 --> 01:09:57,697
It was so different,
you know? No.
1587
01:09:58,782 --> 01:10:00,658
Within two, three weeks,
it was a hit.
1588
01:10:01,534 --> 01:10:02,660
From the beginning,
1589
01:10:02,786 --> 01:10:04,704
the reviews were
psychotically great.
1590
01:10:06,706 --> 01:10:08,750
The Times said it was
the greatest work
1591
01:10:08,750 --> 01:10:11,127
of pop culture in the
20th century. It was like that.
1592
01:10:14,172 --> 01:10:15,757
Like, really over the top,
1593
01:10:15,757 --> 01:10:19,386
to the point where
Saturday Night Live did a spoof.
1594
01:10:19,386 --> 01:10:21,721
The San Francisco
Examiner says,
1595
01:10:21,721 --> 01:10:24,182
"The Sopranos is so good
that I'm afraid
1596
01:10:24,307 --> 01:10:26,685
to look away from the screen
while it's on
1597
01:10:26,810 --> 01:10:28,520
for fear that it will disappear
1598
01:10:28,645 --> 01:10:30,647
and I'll be forced
to kill myself."
1599
01:10:31,314 --> 01:10:33,108
The Chicago Tribune predicts,
1600
01:10:33,108 --> 01:10:36,319
"The Sopranos will one day
replace oxygen
1601
01:10:36,319 --> 01:10:37,737
as the thing we breathe
1602
01:10:37,737 --> 01:10:39,781
in order to stay alive."
1603
01:10:39,781 --> 01:10:41,491
The Houston Chronicle says,
1604
01:10:41,491 --> 01:10:44,202
"Compared to the guy
who created The Sopranos,
1605
01:10:44,327 --> 01:10:46,371
Michelangelo is a douchebag."
1606
01:10:46,496 --> 01:10:50,667
The reviews came out
and they were all, like, raves.
1607
01:10:50,667 --> 01:10:52,711
Except for one guy from Miami.
1608
01:10:53,670 --> 01:10:54,879
And some other critic said,
1609
01:10:55,714 --> 01:10:57,966
"We don't know where
his body is.
1610
01:10:57,966 --> 01:11:00,218
He's in a barrel somewhere
in Miami Bay."
1611
01:11:00,343 --> 01:11:01,261
Or something like that.
1612
01:11:01,386 --> 01:11:02,721
Salute.
1613
01:11:02,846 --> 01:11:04,055
It got so successful
1614
01:11:04,180 --> 01:11:05,306
and so popular,
1615
01:11:05,890 --> 01:11:07,726
the best thing about it
was that people
1616
01:11:07,851 --> 01:11:11,146
were having pizza parties
and watching the show.
1617
01:11:11,688 --> 01:11:14,733
To think that people are
out there eating Italian food
1618
01:11:14,858 --> 01:11:16,359
and drinking Italian wine
1619
01:11:16,359 --> 01:11:18,862
and watching this,
family groups.
1620
01:11:18,862 --> 01:11:22,198
I just, I mean, it's getting me
choked up thinking about it now.
1621
01:11:22,198 --> 01:11:24,034
Every Sunday night, man.
1622
01:11:24,034 --> 01:11:28,163
It was Soprano night.
Everybody shut the fuck up.
1623
01:11:28,163 --> 01:11:30,165
We're eating mozzarell'
and prosciutt'
1624
01:11:30,165 --> 01:11:32,584
and we're gonna
watch this thing.
1625
01:11:37,130 --> 01:11:38,798
We caught lightning
in a bottle.
1626
01:11:38,798 --> 01:11:41,426
You know, the chemistry
between the cast,
1627
01:11:41,551 --> 01:11:43,178
the writing, the filmmaking.
1628
01:11:43,178 --> 01:11:44,846
Come on, come on!
Get inside.
1629
01:11:44,846 --> 01:11:46,598
- It better be open.
- Forget the umbrella.
1630
01:11:49,100 --> 01:11:50,435
Artie, thank Christ!
1631
01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:52,645
The Sopranos
really changed television.
1632
01:11:52,771 --> 01:11:53,813
What are you doing, Ton?
1633
01:11:54,481 --> 01:11:57,150
Where people realized, oh,
you can be challenging.
1634
01:11:57,275 --> 01:11:59,652
Look at that fucking
lovesick pygmy over there.
1635
01:11:59,778 --> 01:12:01,029
Push the envelope.
1636
01:12:01,029 --> 01:12:03,323
God, Artie, you saved
our friggin' lives here.
1637
01:12:04,074 --> 01:12:05,784
It's beautiful, Artie.
Thank you.
1638
01:12:05,909 --> 01:12:07,744
It really redefined
what people are willing,
1639
01:12:07,744 --> 01:12:09,996
and what people want
to watch at home.
1640
01:12:10,789 --> 01:12:12,123
Ah, fuck!
1641
01:12:12,248 --> 01:12:13,166
Hey!
1642
01:12:13,166 --> 01:12:14,250
You said "frig."
1643
01:12:17,921 --> 01:12:19,047
Now wait a minute.
1644
01:12:21,466 --> 01:12:23,134
I'd like to propose a toast.
1645
01:12:24,928 --> 01:12:26,054
To my family.
1646
01:12:29,683 --> 01:12:33,186
Someday soon, you're gonna have
families of your own.
1647
01:12:34,312 --> 01:12:35,814
And if you're lucky,
1648
01:12:37,023 --> 01:12:38,817
you'll remember
the little moments.
1649
01:12:39,984 --> 01:12:41,152
Like this.
1650
01:12:45,990 --> 01:12:47,325
That were good.
1651
01:12:50,662 --> 01:12:51,538
Cheers.
1652
01:13:07,470 --> 01:13:09,681
The first season
set everything in motion.
1653
01:13:11,474 --> 01:13:14,477
But there was an enormous
amount of pressure on David.
1654
01:13:14,477 --> 01:13:16,563
♪ Mister state trooper ♪
1655
01:13:16,563 --> 01:13:18,523
He set the bar
really high.
1656
01:13:18,648 --> 01:13:20,608
♪ Please don't stop me ♪
1657
01:13:20,608 --> 01:13:22,861
And you gotta
surpass it every year.
1658
01:13:22,861 --> 01:13:25,030
♪ Please don't stop me ♪
1659
01:13:26,698 --> 01:13:29,034
♪ Please don't stop me ♪
1660
01:13:30,910 --> 01:13:32,871
This was only the beginning.
1661
01:13:40,628 --> 01:13:43,214
♪ Maybe you got a kid ♪
1662
01:13:44,049 --> 01:13:46,968
♪ Maybe you got a pretty wife ♪
1663
01:13:48,553 --> 01:13:51,056
♪ The only thing that I got's ♪
1664
01:13:52,682 --> 01:13:55,226
♪ Been bothering me
my whole life ♪
1665
01:13:56,686 --> 01:13:59,314
♪ Mister state trooper ♪
1666
01:14:00,690 --> 01:14:02,942
♪ Please don't stop me ♪
1667
01:14:04,652 --> 01:14:07,238
♪ Please don't you stop me ♪
1668
01:14:08,740 --> 01:14:11,242
♪ Please don't stop me ♪
1669
01:14:12,744 --> 01:14:13,953
♪ Whoo! ♪
1670
01:14:15,997 --> 01:14:20,543
♪ Ooh ♪
1671
01:14:20,543 --> 01:14:21,503
♪ Whoo! ♪
1672
01:14:28,385 --> 01:14:31,262
♪ Hey, somebody out there ♪
1673
01:14:32,430 --> 01:14:34,224
♪ Listen to my last prayer ♪