PHILADELPHIA — Get out the gabagool: After 25 years of topping lists of the best television shows of all time, “The Sopranos” is getting another spotlight. Premiering on HBO Sept. 7, “Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos” is a new two-part documentary directed by renowned filmmaker Alex Gibney.
The film puts showrunner and writer Chase in the hot seat while Gibney acts as his therapist on a replica set of Tony Soprano’s psychiatrist’s office. An Italian American born in New York and raised in New Jersey, Chase infused the series with the personalities of people from his family and community. He’s even admitted that Livia Soprano, the sharp, abusive mother to Tony played by Nancy Marchand, was based on his own mom — and that was how the mob show first began.
“For years everybody told me you should write a show about your mother and yourself,” Chase says in the “Wise Guy” trailer. “She was so out there. I thought, who’s gonna watch that? Then I realized, maybe if he was like a really badass guy.”
Turns out that was exactly what audiences wanted. Decades later, “The Sopranos” remains iconic, from its addictive soundtrack to its widely debated ending. “Wise Guy” includes interviews with Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi), Edie Falco (Carmela Soprano), and Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) as well as behind-the-scenes footage of the creative process.
