Edie Falco 's cameo in "The Many Saint's of Newark" was cut from the final film.- Falco reprised her role as Carmela Soprano in the prequel movie.
- Its director Alan Taylor also teased other cameos from former cast members.
Alan Taylor, the director of the upcoming "Sopranos" prequel film "
"We had Edie come in and she dressed up as Carmela and we shot something with her, and it wound up not being in the final movie, but it was a great excuse to see her again," Taylor, who directed several episodes of the "Sopranos" TV series, told NME.
"She's so ridiculously talented and she's also one of these people who - and it seems to frequently be women - that manage to be perfect actors and also the sanest people you've ever met in your life. I think Frances McDormand is like that and Edie Falco has that same quality of being like a solid, good, sane person. It was good to see her again."
Taylor later added that there had been "some confusion" about how best to open the film, and Falco's scene had been one of the suggestions, but they ultimately decided to "begin it in a very different way."
Later during the interview, Taylor also appeared to tease appearances from other former cast members. He said: "Not to give away too much but, when you make a movie you're not exactly sure the final shape it's going to be and we, believe it or not, shot a few things that included other cast members."
"The Many Saints of Newark" is set for a simultaneous release in theaters and on HBO Max from October 1. The film follows Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini's son, Michael) as a young teen growing up in Newark, New Jersey, as he navigates the bloody war among mafia families in the city. The movie also stars Ray Liotta, Vera Farmiga, Leslie Odom Jr., and Alessandro Nivola.
Last week, David Chase, who wrote and created the original TV series and prequel film, told Deadline that he was "extremely angry" that Warner Bros. is releasing "The Many Saints of Newark" on HBO Max at the same time it premieres in theaters.
"If one of those executives was sitting here and I was to start pissing and moaning about it, they'd say, 'You know, there's 17 other movies that have the same problem. What could we do? Covid!' Well, I know, but those 16 other movies didn't start out as a television show," Chase said.
"They don't have to shed that television image before you get people to the theater. But we do," he continued. "And that's where we're at. People should go see it in a theater. It was designed to be a movie."