David Chase talks about sitting on 'The Sopranos' prequel movie for a year due to COVID-19

David Chase, one of the most popular American filmmakers, recently talked about gearing up for the prequel to his amazing HBO series, The Sopranos, and revealed how he had to wait for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the reports by The Hollywood Reporter, David Chase also spoke about how he tackled the situation and made the most of his time. 

David Chase on his upcoming prequel to The Sopranos 

When asked about how he managed when the pandemic hampered the making of the prequel, he stated, “It felt okay. I didn’t want to tackle the problems and I wasn’t anxious to tackle them as well. I had written 15 additional pages to be shot to augment the movie that existed. It was good to get those shots once COVID had settled out.”

He was also asked about how many people turned to the show during the pandemic as it focused on mental health and therapy to which he stated that though he never thought about it, it was still a ‘good point.’ Adding to it, he stated, “I do know that therapists had a huge upsurge in male clientele. They told us that. We were given an award by the American Psychoanalytic Association, and they told us that business was up.”

The Sopranos

As the show was set during the Newark Riots of 1967, David Chase revealed how his return to the show with The Many Saints of Newark was influenced by his own experiences as a 22-year-old. He then recalled, “I remember some friends of mine saying - I was 22-years-old at that time - ‘I hope they burnt the place down. It was bad. Newark - it was bad. To see Black people living that way, it was bad.”

While commenting on the protests of last summer, which were referred to as one of the biggest social justice protests in history, he stated, “What was going through my head was, ‘God, it is still the same. I can’t believe it. And I was surprised at how few young Black people that we worked with didn’t know anything about the Newark riots. This one young woman said, ‘Well, you know, I went to a private school in Manhattan,’ and I said, ‘Well, that’s the school’s fault and your parents' fault that you don’t know about it."

IMAGE: AP