The Tube File

HBO's The Sopranos— Who Will Be The Last Don?

by Bridget Petrella with additional writing by John Mundazio

When asked how he "envisions" characters being killed off, or as they say in Mob Speak, "whacked", Michael Imperioli is rather candid and direct, "We take them to dinner... When you're asked to dinner, it's not such a good thing. Remember that." This we found to not only be extremely interesting but also rather revealing and foreshadowing. Will Christopher Moltisanti finally succumb to the overwhelming "guilt" associated with the murder of his fiance Adriana La Cerva who was just about to "rat" out "the family" and ask Tony out to dinner? That, my fellow mob fans, is anyone's guess. It wouldn't be the first time that ol' Christopher went "bats" over anything Adriana. If we think about it for a moment, wasn't Christopher willing to take a bullet in the head from Tony after wrongly believing that Tony had slept with Adriana? Possibility? Yes, Christopher could easily head right back down that road at the flip of a well-laundered coin. Michael Imperioli, who plays the hotheaded Moltisanti to absolute Jersey perfection, noted that there was "a decent chance" he might be going down in the carnage as well as the obvious choices. But my money's on capo Tony Soprano going down before him. Imperioli just laughs, "I'm not going to give that statement any comments one way or the other." Now that was stated like a true cable diplomat. So the BIG question in this entire "Christopher" analogy seems to be relatively easy, why isn't Christopher showing any lingering signs of either missing her, or not missing her— something to let us finally know where he stands with the whole thing? Imperioli isn't giving up anything here either, "Christopher is a complex character... he's obviously in denial about a number of things." Okay, maybe he's just that shallow, but if that's the case, I'd like to be reminded of this in some way.

Those "possible potential future" scenarios began with the very first episode, as a newly rich Eugene (Robert Funaro) tried, unsuccessfully, to disengage from Tony's "family" and move to Florida— the ensuing frustration left him literally at the end of his rope— and have continued ever since, as nearly everyone around Tony, from the slimmed-down-but-no-longer-closeted Vito (Joseph Gannascoli) to the somewhat star struck (and star-striking) Christopher, appears to be chasing those big, and almost certainly impossible, dreams and not the kind that you or I would imagine.

What can one say about Christopher? Obviously he's out of his element with the "Hollywood elite", which parades its decadence around like Paris Hilton with her latest beau. The cornucopia of gift-giving at the Luxury Lounge completely overwhelms him. In the end his only recourse to obtain something of what these stars get is to steal the presenters gifts from Lauren Bacall. How far can you go? The truth is that Hollywood is so obviously overtly vain and so enamored of its stars that they get gifts thrown at them. Kingsley mentions how obscene it all must seem, but he does his best to spread the gifts among the less fortunate. Christopher shows the true nature of all good mafia soldiers— he steals the gifts and does his best to spread it among those that are above him in rank. In this episode at least, Hollywood does come off as being far too full of its collective self; and that's fine with the show's creator David Chase. "I'm not a big fan of the Hollywood gloss over. Christopher is a mob soldier. He's going to see all of this as a golden opportunity. That mob spine intensifies everything. If Christopher was selling medical replacement hips, it wouldn't be life and death. The things that are acceptable in Hollywood wouldn't have the same resonance with the mob. It all intensifies when you look at it from Christopher's perspective."

"In The Sopranos, we don't rehearse, by now we pretty much have our characters down," Imperioli explains. "We know each other so well that it's a bit scary {laughs}." When asked to reflect upon his fondest memory on the series, Imperioli reminices about the late actress Nancy Marchland, "When we were filming this hospital scene, in between takes, Nancy was reading this obituary in the newspaper about an acrobat family member. It was the most bizarre obituary I had ever heard. Then I looked at the obituary and realized that she was making the whole thing up {laughs}. She was brilliantly funny." Imperioli first came to the public's attention in the role of "Spider" (the kid Joe Pesci shoots in the foot) in Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas. In his more than 30 film roles, Imperioli has worked with acclaimed directors such as Spike Lee (Jungle Fever; Malcom X; Clockers; Girl 6 and Summer of Sam); the Hughes Brother's (Dead Presidents); Nancy Savoka (Household Saints) and Gary Winnick (Sweet Nothing, starring opposite Mira Sorvino). Other credits include Campbell Scott's Hamlet, Peter Mattei's Love In The Time of Money, and Miramax's comedy My Baby's Daddy.

As a writer, Michael has done work for Dimension on King Suckerman and penned the screen adaptation of Mario Puzo's Omerta for Miramax. He also wrote and executive produced Summer of Sam. On the New York stage for over a decade, Imperioli has produced, directed and acted. Some of his work includes critically acclaimed performances in Aven' U Boys directed by Frederick Zollo, Displaced Persons (opposite Martha Plimpton), Half Deserted Street, Seth Zvi Rosenfield's The Writing on The Wall, and Little Blood Brother. In an ongoing commitment to New York City stage, Imperioli and his wife Victoria have launched Studio Dante, a 60 seat theater for new works and to serve New York's cultural life. The theater was built to inspire the next generation of New York City's performance artists and audiences.

Rounding out la famiglia Soprano, both through blood and by oath, in the final run are Tony's consiglieri Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt), capo Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri (Tony Sirico), the dignified New York crime boss, Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni (Vincent Curatola), now sitting in an orange jumpsuit in the federal pen, and his volatile underling, Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent), filling in for him with a vengeance on the mean streets of the Eastern seaboard. And how will the Sopranos go out? Chase is somewhat evasive but he answers like the true maestro of this epic tale, "There are things that were laid down some time ago that have to play out," he says. "I'm talking about people's destiny— not so much crime plots, but how these people are going to evolve... or how they're going to finish out their final years."

It takes more than a scorecard to follow the action on the Sopranos. There have been 65 episodes over the past five seasons, going all the way back to 1999 (not counting the final season airings); and for the newly initiated or just casual observer (which is nearly impossible to be) who wants to get into the swing of things, HBO provides plenty of background information on both character relationships and plotline at HBO.com. And all five seasons are now available in DVD. UB

Bridget Petrella is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of UPBEAT Entertainment News Online. At this point in her life, she's seriously contemplating a complete and unbridled abandonment of typical network television... opting instead for Silver Surfer comic books, novels with wordy titles, Retro TV Land, HBO and Showtime's Original Programming schedule and of course... Nick at Night.