Never Mind Tony S.; what about David C.?
Thursday, June 21st, 2007Even those of us who watched the Sopranos faithfully over the years didn’t expect this kind of hoopla. Yes, we knew it was popular and groundbreaking and like nothing else on television. But hadn’t there been a general loss of interest over time, especially given those loooooong between-season hiatuses?
Guess not. If anything, the general hysteria over the series finale gives me faith in my fellow humans for actually recognizing and appreciating a tremendous thing when they see it. The big, lingering question for me, though, isn’t so much Does Tony Get Whacked? as it is: What’s Next For David Chase? How does the man who created these indelible characters and masterminded the entire series, who – many say – changed television forever, follow this act?
A recent Vanity Fair feature by Peter Biskind was the most revelatory piece I’ve ever read about the man:
A severely truncated version of Chase’s career goes like this: When the idea for "The Sopranos" finally floated to the surface, he had been laboring in the vineyards of network television for some 20 years. He had come of age in the late 1960s and 1970s, and had grown up with the great films of that era, particularly those of Federico Fellini. He desperately wanted to write features.
LIke a lot of aspiring filmmakers, he found television work and wrote for several undistinguished shows while writing screenplays on the side, none of which sold. He eventually had success with “The Rockford Files” and won an Emmy for a television movie, but:
…he had, as he puts it, a "reputation for being ‘too dark.’ "
…Says Lawrence Konner, an old friend who wrote three episodes of "The Sopranos" during the great third and fourth seasons, "David’s reputation inside the TV industry was ‘Good writer, good manager, but what’s going on in his brain we don’t want to be part of.’" Chase reciprocated. "I felt I was out of step with everything," he says.
On his vision for "The Sopranos":
"On network, everybody says exactly what they’re thinking at all times," he says. "By and large, my characters would be telling lies." Above all, he wanted the pilot to be cinematic: "I wanted to do the kind of stuff I’ve always loved to see. I didn’t want it to be a TV show. I wanted to make a little movie every week."
Why the show resonated for so many people:
"Network dramas have not been personal," he reflects. "I don’t know very many writers who have been cops, doctors, judges, presidents, or any of that—and, yet, that’s what everybody writes about: institutions. The courthouse, the schoolhouse, the precinct house, the White House. Even though it’s a Mob show, "The Sopranos" is based on members of my family. It’s about as personal as you can get."
Any Italian-American fan of the show can attest to the impressive (and often amusing) authenticity in the food, the manners, the lingo of these characters. Week after week, we were treated to colorful phrases that I hadn’t heard from anyone besides my grandmother. My mom and I would talk after an episode: “I can’t believe Carmela just said fanuck!” It’s like we got the show on a whole other level. As for the groups who protested the show’s negative portrayal of Italian-Americans, I never really bought it. Aren’t we over the era of thinking everyone with an Italian last name is a mobster? (Though if they live in New Jersey, live in a big house and work in garbage disposal, the possibility might come up.)
Says Lawrence Konner of Chase:
"He’s a troubled guy. He hasn’t changed that much, because he still feels that "The Sopranos" is not the movies, it’s not the top of the game. And like good artists, he tends to de-value what he does."
So what does the future hold for Chase?
Brad Grey, chairman and C.E.O. of Paramount Pictures:
"He knows that he has an open invitation to make pictures here with me, and I think that’s what will happen in time. I really believe that he’ll be in the movie business."
…So, finally, after some 35 years of trying, Chase will get his shot at directing a feature—thanks to "The Sopranos," the greatest calling-card film in the history of motion pictures. He has plenty of unproduced scripts in his drawer; if he knows whether his first film will be based on one of those or something new, he’s not saying.
According to an interview he gave the Star-Ledger, it probably won’t be a Sopranos movie:
" An idea could pop into my head where I would go, ‘Wow, that would make a great movie,’ but I doubt it.
"I’m not being coy," he added. "If something appeared that really made a good ‘Sopranos’ movie and you could invest in it and everybody else wanted to do it, I would do it. But I think we’ve kind of said it and done it."
Biskind ends the Vanity Fair feature:
If we’re lucky, he will be able to do for features what he did for television. But that’s a crushing burden to shoulder, too much by far to wish on anyone. Better to hope he makes a feature as good as any one of the 86 episodes of The Sopranos.
I wouldn’t bet on it…but I’d love to be proven wrong. Bring it on, David!
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