The Sopranos writer David Chase is not happy about upcoming prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, going straight to HBO Max alongside theaters. Like many directors, writers, and cinematic creatives, Chase explains that he felt blindsided by the sudden change to the release plan, and may have not even taken the job had he known that would be the case.
“I don’t think, frankly, that I would’ve taken the job if I knew it was going to be a day-and-date release. I think it’s awful.”
Oh, dear. David Chase further explained his position, reasoning that he had wanted The Many Saints of Newark to move away from the small screen presentation of its predecessor and jump to the big screen. Of course, with a simultaneous streaming release, his intentions for the project have now been massively watered down.
“Extremely angry, and I still am. I mean, I don’t know how much you go into this, you know, like…okay. If I was…one of those guys, if one of those executives was sitting here and I was to start pissing and moaning about it, they’d say, you know, there’s 17 other movies that have the same problem. What could we do? Covid! Well, I know, but those 16 other movies didn’t start out as a television show. They don’t have to shed that television image before you get people to the theater. But we do. And that’s where we’re at. People should go see it in a theater. It was designed to be a movie. It was…it’s beautiful as a movie. I never thought that it would be back on HBO. Never.”
Chase is understandably irked by the change in release, and he is far from the only big name to have reacted so emphatically against the strategy. Ultimately, it was his co-writer Lawrence Konner that convinced him to return to the world of The Sopranos.
“I could’ve walked away, yes, but there was a part of that story where my partner Lawrence was saying come on, let’s get to work. Let’s do something, do something, do something. It’ll be good for you. Now, do you walk away from that? I don’t know.”
Directed by Alan Taylor and written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner, The Many Saints of Newark will precede David Chase’s hugely successful crime series, The Sopranos, providing some insight into the formative years of the beloved New Jersey gangster. The project has amassed a stellar cast that includes the likes of Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Corey Stoll, Michael Gandolfini, Billy Magnussen, Michela De Rossi, John Magaro, and Ray Liotta.
Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, The Punisher) will star as Giovanni Francis “Johnny Boy” Soprano, the father of crime boss Tony Soprano, originally portrayed by Joseph Siravo in six episodes of the HBO drama with Vera Farmiga (The Departed, The Conjuring) starring as Giovanni’s wife and Tony’s mother, Livia Soprano, in a role originally played by Nancy Marchand.
Much like many tentpole projects of late, The Many Saints of Newark has suffered a series of delays, and will now be released to theaters on October 1, 2021, as well as a month-long simultaneous release on the HBO Max streaming service. But, if you see him, don’t mention that second part to David Chase. This comes to us from Deadline.