For six seasons, the spectators unfolded the difficult life of the Italian mafia in America. For the first time on the screen, the ordinary life of cruel criminals is shown, who, in addition to their specific work, also turns out to have a completely human personal life. Almost all the reviews about the series "Clan Soprano" are positive, although there are spectators who categorically do not accept gangsters with a "human face" even in their personal lives.
General information
The cult American crime television series, which premiered in 1999 on the HBO cable channel. The Soprano Clan was shown for six seasons and ended in 2007. In Russia, the television movie showed the NTV channel in 2002, many viewers found the translation boring and too politically correct. In 2007, TV-3 broadcast the series Soprano Clan translated by Goblin (Dmitry Puchkov).
The target audience of the television series is an exclusively adult, maybe even more likely male audience. In the "Soprano Clan", as befits a film about the Italian mafia, there are many scenes of violence, drug use and female nudity. And of course, gangsters often use rude expressions. Therefore, many viewers felt that the option of duplicating the series "Clan Soprano" from "Lostfilm" much more accurately reflects the spirit of the original.
Series and awards
In total, 86 episodes were shot in the series, the first five consist of thirteen episodes, the last season of twenty-one episodes. The pilot episode was ready by October 1997, however, despite the positive feedback from friends and actors, David Chase, the creator of the project, doubted that the channel would take the series into production. He began negotiations with another channel, but before Christmas HBO confirmed that he liked the pilot and ordered the first season. Filming the first season of thirteen episodes began only a year later.
The picture invariably takes one of the first places in various ratings for the best series of all time. In total, the series “The Soprano Clan” and the actors who starred in the film received more than 110 nominations for cinematic awards and 45 awards, including the most prestigious ones - 21 television Emmys and a five-time Golden Globe Award winner. And he even received a medical award from the Union of Psychiatric Organizations for a reliable display of the relationship between the patient and the doctor.
Based on a true story
The scenario of the first season of the series "Clan Soprano" was based on the real story of a mafia Italian family from New Jersey. The Godfather, by which Jake Amari, died in 1997 after a serious illness from bowel cancer. After the death of the head of the clan between the three groups within the gangster family, a bloody struggle for power began. At the same time, each of the factions attracted allies from among large families from New York. In subsequent seasons, the scriptwriters had to adapt the borrowed stories of other gangster families to the Soprano clan from New Jersey or simply come up with conflicts.
The creator of the project, David Chase, grew up in about the same areas where the series takes place. He studied at school with his children, as he later wrote that he received all the information about the life of the mafia from second-hand sources. One of the actors, Tony Siriko, who played the role of Peter Paul "Paulie" Galtieri, was generally associated with the Colombo criminal family before the start of his acting career, was arrested more than 28 times and served a prison term. Maybe that’s why among the admirers who left positive reviews about the series “Soprano Clan”, there were real mafiosi.
New hero
The main innovation of the film was that the head of the small clan, Tony Soprano, except for the time when he was busy with “work,” was shown as an ordinary person, perhaps similar to one of your neighbors, loaded with many ordinary family problems. It was a completely new look at the American family, the problems of the Italian diaspora and organized crime.
As HBO Channel Director Chris Albrecht, who made the decision to allocate money for the shooting, recalled, this is a story about an ordinary guy over 40 who inherited the business from his father. He is trying to conduct business in accordance with modern conditions. He has a power-hungry mother who is trying to control him, and he wants to finally gain complete independence. Loves his wife, but constantly changes. He has two teenage children with his own problems. From all this, the hero becomes depressed and begins to attend psychotherapist sessions. And Chris concluded that the difference between Tony and many of his acquaintances is only that he is a don mafia.
Screen path
David Chase before the "Soprano Clan" for about twenty years he worked on television - produced television series and wrote scripts. Among the projects in which he took part, including the television movies North Side, Detective Rockford Dossier, and I Will Fly Away. Chase originally intended to make a full-length picture of a gangster undergoing psychotherapy sessions due to conflicts with his mother. However, his agent advised him to focus on the series. In 1995, he signed a contract with the Brillstein Gray production center and wrote the original script for them for the pilot episode, adapted his experience.
The head of the center and Chase offered the pilot several television channels. At first, experts from Fox Broadcasting Company became interested in the idea, but after reading the script for the pilot film, they still did not dare to continue further work. All major free channels refused it, their management was worried about a large number of details, complexity and unusual pace of events. It was this unusualness that attracted the attention of the director of the HBO channel, who appreciated the great potential and began financing the project.
The idea of the film
The idea of the film was born during a course of psychotherapy, when Chase introduced an Italian gangster, depressed and signed up for a psychotherapist. When writing the script, he relied on his childhood memories and personal experience living in New Jersey, represented his family life in a criminal environment.
The main conflict of the film, according to reviews of the series "The Sopranos", is not between competing mafiosi, but between Tony Soprano and his elderly mother Livia (Nancy Marchan). It is actually written off from the relationship of the screenwriter himself with his mother. Then he had to use the services of a psychotherapist, so Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) appeared in the film.
Being an Italian by birth, his real name is Dechasare, Chase from a young age admired the mafia and more than once in real life dealt with criminals. Chase himself was very fond of classic gangster paintings and series. And he believed that by showing the mafia environment, he would be able to touch upon the problems of the American family, ethnic self-identity and show the nature of violence.
Good guys
According to the script, the series takes place among American Italians, which is why most of the actors in the Soprano Clan series were selected from this ethnic environment. Many of them have already starred in various TV shows and films about Italian organized crime. For example, Vincent Pastore, who received the role of Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, who also played in many other gangster films.
Tony Siriko agreed to play the brutal mafia Pauli Galtieri only on condition that his character would not be a "snitch." Because besides acting, he also had a lot of criminal experience.
Chase himself looked through most of the candidates, listening to the actors for a long time at the casting. As Michael Imperioli recalled, he was approved for the role of Christopher Moltisanti, the screenwriter sat with a stone face and constantly corrected what is usually done when an actor plays poorly. And he already thought that he had failed in the tests.
Other heroes
James Gandolfini was found by the assistant in charge of the casting, seeing him in a small episode in the 1993 film True Love. James got the role of Tony Soprano. Lorraine Bracco was invited to the role of his wife - Carmela Soprano, since she already played the wife of the main mafia in the movie "Goodfellas." But in the end, the actress played Dr. Jennifer Melfi, she wanted to try herself in a new role. And the role of his wife went to Edie Falco. The role of the main antagonist of Tony - Corrado "Junior" Soprano, the younger brother of his late father, was Dominic Chianese.
Chase invited Stephen van Zandt to the role of Silvio Dante, Consigliere (adviser to the head of the clan), and Mouri, his real wife, took on the role of his wife Gabriela. For Steven, this was the first role in the movie, he was better known as the bass player of the E Street Band.
The plot of the series
At a family outing, Tony Soprano, the head of the mafia from northern New Jersey, suddenly faints. An examination in the clinic reveals that loss of consciousness is the result of psychological overstrain. On the recommendation of a doctor's neighbor, Tony makes an appointment with therapist Jennifer Melfi. When the doctor finds out who the protagonist of the Soprano Clan series is, she warns that she is obliged to inform the police if she finds out about her intention to harm the person.
The entire plot of the series is based on how the protagonist overcomes various difficulties associated with criminal activities and personal life. According to reviews of the series "The Soprano Clan", this is a real encyclopedia of gangster life, which reliably shows the animal cruelty of the mafia environment. On the other hand, this is a difficult family drama, the hero has a difficult relationship with his wife and children. And especially with the mother, who is unhappy with almost everything that he does.
Tony in the last episode remained the same as at the beginning of the episode, he is a liar, manipulator, villain and criminal. Many viewers were very unhappy with the final scene, when for a few seconds the screen turned black. There was a lot of discussion about how the series "Soprano Clan" ended - the hero remained alive or was killed. Opinions were divided almost equally.
Reason for success
One of the important components of success was the display of the everyday life of middle-level gangsters, which turned out to be very similar to the life of an average American. And the creators of the series were able to insert into separate episodes a discussion of all the issues that interested the authors and ordinary citizens of the country. There are episodes in the film that discuss black and white American music, talk about finding a good college for children, installing a home theater, and about Hollywood itself.
At the same time, everything looks organic, there are lively reactions of Italian gangsters and family members to technological innovations and mass culture events, the heroes do not speak stereotypes or are too witty, but in quite normal language.
What's new brought the series
The series actually laid the foundation for a new concept of "prestigious television", which in terms of quality is not inferior to high-budget full-length cinema. At the same time, it significantly exceeds the breadth of the plot and the detailing of the characters. Among the best series, the Soprano Clan was the first on a paid cable channel that was watched by more American viewers than with free public service broadcasts.
It turned out to be completely new that the action takes place in small suburbs, and not in the largest megacities of the world, which gives an unusual touch for cinema and television. Before the "Soprano Clan" it was believed that such films can be made only about the most famous mafiosi from the main clans of the most criminal big cities. At the same time, it’s better according to a script written on real events based on the memoirs of some authority or on the book of a journalist specializing in criminal investigations.