"The Sopranos" Creator David Chase Finally Reveals How Tony Soprano Dies When The Camera Goes To Black! Here's The Alternative Ending
In a new "Awards Chatter" podcast episode by The Hollywood Reporter, writer, director, and producer multi-hyphenate David Chase gave an in-depth interview about his path to TV and how that eventually led him to make "The Sopranos," a groundbreaking TV series that put HBO's television programming on the map.
Chase, who created the widely acclaimed series and its followup prequel film "The Many Saints of Newark," spoke about how he had an early fascination with a show called "The Untouchable," whose main character often faced off with the Chicago mob. It is this fascination, coupled with a troubled relationship his mother, that later inspired him to create "The Sopranos" during a time when the television landscape preferred "safe" programming that Chase characterized as "pallid soup." Chase grew up with little personal affiliation with the Mafia he would later go on to depict.
Despite creating one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and winning Emmy's for his writing on the third season of "The Rockford Files" and for co-executive producing "I'll Fly Away" and "Northern Exposure," Chase professes to having a lifelong urge to make movies. Back in the day, television was considered a vastly inferior medium to film, and which led to Chase, who had been working in the television division of Universal, to be trapped there until he signed a development deal with Brillstein-Grey to create a show about the Mafia, which resulted in "The Sopranos" pilot.
With "The Sopranos," Chase's fortunes improved significantly. Not only did the show bring him the prestige he had been seeking, but he also elevated the medium with his work. The newfound success didn't seem to faze Chase, though.
When pressed about the ending for "The Sopranos," the writer describes how the original ending he had envisioned for "The Sopranos" wasn't the infamous fade to black scene. He eventually came up with that scene casually while on a drive on Ocean Park Boulevard and spied a little restaurant, and the thought popped in his head that it would be interesting if Tony Soprano met his end in a dingy spot like that. Chase admits that he never thought the ending would result in the uproar it ultimately did.
" I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. At the beginning of every show, he came from New York into New Jersey, and the last scene could be him coming from New Jersey back into New York for a meeting at which he was going to be killed."
The interview concludes with Chase ruminating on how his work on "The Sopranos" eventually brought him to the filmmaking he'd so craved with his latest effort, "The Many Saints of Newark." He recollects about how his strained friendship with James Gandolfini, who played Tony in "The Sopranos," and how he came to cast James' son, Michael Gandolfini to play the younger version of Tony. Despite never watching "The Sopranos" himself, Michael managed to impress Chase enough to win the role made famous by his deceased father.
To learn more about "The Sopranos" and Chase's inspiring television career, check out the original transcript by The Hollywood Reporter. For more entertainment news and commentary, check out Enstarz! We bring you the latest on your favorite celebrities, TV shows, and films.
