Movies - TV
How The Creator Of Oz Convinced David Chase That A Sopranos Movie Could Work
By ANYA STANLEY
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for
"The Sopranos."
Given today’s trend towards reboots and revivals, it might come as a surprise to know that “The Sopranos” creator and showrunner David Chase was reluctant to bring characters back for a movie. In fact, despite persistent interest from Warner Bros, Chase refused to bring the show back until he spoke with “Oz” creator Tom Fontana.
Chase recalled, “I didn’t want to do a ‘Sopranos’ movie at all, especially when it ended the way it did, and it ended really well,” but Fontana changed his mind. As Chase tells it, Fontana said, “’you know what would be good is if we saw Junior and Johnny when they were younger. Do Newark back in the fifties’” which immediately piqued Chase’s interest.
After hearing Fontana’s ideas, Chase thought, “‘Oh yes. That would be interesting’ because [...] I was there in Newark in the fifties and sixties.” Fontana’s idea allowed Chase to retain the integrity of the final scene of “The Sopranos” — which was intentionally ambiguous about Tony’s fate — while exploring the characters a little more.