Michael Imperioli Says Acting Abusive on ‘The Sopranos’ Was ‘Brutal’: ‘You Have to Go to Nasty Places’ to Commit Violence Toward Women

Michael Imperioli was recently asked by The Guardian to name the most brutal scene he’s ever had to film in his acting career, and his answer was any time his character on “The Sopranos,” Christopher Moltisanti, abused his fiancée, Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo).

“The most brutal, difficult stuff for me is when Christopher had to be physically abusive with Adriana, for obvious reasons,” Imperioli said. “On a technical level, you’re trying to be really careful so you don’t hurt the person. But having to get to that point of violence toward a woman, you have to go to some nasty places to get there. Sometimes it’s very immediate. Sometimes it’s something present in your life that you can tap into. Sometimes you have to go someplace from the past. And sometimes you have to go to some place imaginary.”

“It’s much easier shooting a mobster or shooting heroin,” he continued. “That stuff to me is not difficult. But that stuff with her was. Sometimes you’ll use stunt doubles, sometimes not. And even then, it’s one thing to choreograph and rehearse it, then when you act it full-tilt with all the emotion, it’s easy to not have as much control as in the rehearsal. So you really have to be quite careful.”

Imperioli was a series regular on “The Sopranos” for all six seasons. He reprized Christopher in a voice role capacity as the narrator of “The Many Saints of Newark,” the prequel movie that was released in 2021. Imperioli told The Guardian that his “Sopranos” co-star James Gandolfini was one of the best screen partners he’s ever had.

“He’s probably the actor I’ve acted the most with,” Imperioli said. “He always puts in 110%. He managed to find the intensity and the reality in every moment. That pushed you further.”

“The Sopranos” is available to stream in its entirety on Max.