Tony Soprano is coming back to our screens. <\/p>
James Gandolfini\u2019s performance as Tony Soprano was dream casting, and the character remains one of the most iconic to have ever graced the small screen. So anyone signing up to replace the late actor in the role would be understandably nervous \u2013 even if that person is James\u2019 own son.<\/p>\n
The Many Saints of Newark<\/a>, a prequel to The Sopranos, is about to be released in cinemas and Michael Gandolfini will be playing a much younger version of Tony than we saw in the six series run of the show. The movie will show how he became the man he did, while also tackling issues that were rife in the area at the time, including the riots that were commonplace.<\/p>\n Michael has been talking to RadioTimes.com<\/strong> about embodying the beloved character and what it was like to play someone so closely linked to his father, who passed away in 2013.<\/p> \u201cThere was a kind of pressure, obviously\u201d Michael admits. \u201cI want to make my dad proud, I want to make the fans proud, I want to keep the legacy of this character intact. But I have to say when filming started and even since, it\u2019s sort of been these biteable chunks of getting the accent right, getting the body, learning the character, really understanding how different he is.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, playing Tony means researching the character and his original portrayal \u2013 which meant Michael had to watch the show through for the first time. As you might expect, this proved to be an emotional experience for him.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time I was asked to audition was when I really felt emotions regarding fear, pressure and \u2018Maybe I shouldn\u2019t do this\u2019. But there was no reason I shouldn\u2019t audition. It\u2019s good for a young actor to audition as much as possible, so I auditioned and then I began watching the series for the first time. That was absolutely emotional, but I created a system where I could have sort of an emotional dump with friends and fellows, then go home and study it like a character.\u201d<\/p>\n And the whole process has been an eye-opening one for Michael who had no idea how huge the show was or how strange his upbringing was as a result of it. \u201cI\u2019d honestly say I had no idea until I started this process. Growing up, I didn\u2019t know any different. I was always on set with everyone, so I didn\u2019t know it wasn\u2019t unique. I was born during the first season so I had always been used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ll see how Michael encapsulates his father\u2019s character when The Many Saints of Newark is released tomorrow.<\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight, or visit our Movies<\/a> hub for the latest news and features.<\/strong><\/p>\n Tony Soprano is coming back to our screens. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":4730,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud.png",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud.png",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud.png",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud.png",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/michael-gandolfini-on-playing-tony-soprano-i-want-to-make-my-dad-proud.png",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Tony Soprano is coming back to our screens.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/4729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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