Corey Stoll would repeatedly say Junior Soprano's favorite vulgar phrase to get into character for 'The Many Saints of Newark'
- Corey Stoll repeated a vulgar phrase to get into character in "The Many Saints of Newark."
- Stoll plays Tony Soprano's uncle Junior in the film, which is a prequel to "The Sopranos."
- The actor said that repeating the obscene phrase "just brought me right into character."
Corey Stoll repeated a vulgar phrase to himself before filming scenes as Uncle Junior in the "Sopranos" prequel movie "The Many Saints of Newark."
Stoll plays Corrado "Junior" Soprano, the uncle of Tony Soprano, in the film and told The New York Times that saying Junior's favorite obscene phrase (which starts with "your sister's" and ends in an offensive word for a woman's genitals) helped him get into character.
"Sometimes shouting it, sometimes whispering it," the actor said. "But there's something about those three words that just brought me right into character."
Stoll added that studying the work of Dominic Chianese, who played Junior on the HBO series, was helpful during Stoll's preparation for the film.
"It was super helpful to see that Dominic Chianese, kind of like me, was always a little bit older than his years," Stoll said. "It was good to see that I didn't have to do back flips to make him a young man. Just being in my body and in my voice, that is different enough."
And the "House of Cards" actor paid special attention to Chianese's distinct way of speaking to really nail his performance.
"He has this staccato - he can speak very quickly and ratatat - and then he also has this wistful, lyrical mode that he goes into," Stoll said.
"The Many Saints of Newark" is set in the 1960s and '70s and follows a young Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) as he comes of age in New Jersey.
Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), Tony's other mobster uncle, is also featured prominently in the film, and younger versions of familiar "Sopranos" characters like Silvio and Paulie make appearances.
"Many Saints" is playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max. You can watch the trailer below.