For ten years, Edie Falco was Carmela Soprano in one of HBO’s most popular TV shows, The Sopranos. Falco brought to life the woman conflicted with an evolving world that felt like it was leaving her behind as she played the dutiful wife and mother without the promised rewards. Years after the series ended, a prequel film would be made that traced the events of some of the characters when they were younger. It was revealed that Falco reprised her iconic character in one version of The Many Saints of Newark, but the film went in another direction. Her scenes ended up being cut, something she reflected on in a conversation with IndieWire while promoting I’ll Be Right There, her upcoming indie comedy.
“I came in, and I did a monologue. I’m embarrassed that I don’t know what [exactly] it was about. It was Carmela as if she was musing on the old days, and then the movie began,” Falco talked about shooting the scene. Ultimately, the film’s director, Alan Taylor , chose something else to begin the movie with. “Then I found out that [Taylor] didn’t end up using it. What a flippy day that was [laughs]. All these years later they’re doing my hair, putting on jewelry, putting the nails back on, it was like a serious trip. There were so many ‘Sopranos’ people there. It was so lovely. I’m so deeply fond of those people, Alan Taylor, of course, amongst them.”
Edie Falco Appreciated These ‘The Sopranos’ Scenes the Most
Falco also took a trip down memory lane. She revealed that while The Sopranos was a great experience, some scenes stood out the most. These were the scenes where Tony and Carmela would be in the same room but not speak to each other. Not because they were in the thick of their numerous fights but because they enjoyed each other’s company without feeling the need to blabber. She talked about that, saying,
“There were a lot of scenes where David Chase was brave enough to keep the dialogue really minimal, where Jim Gandolfini and I got to just kind of be in a room together, do a thing, cook something, and put it in front of him; just the feeling of a long-term marriage to people who know each other.
“[Some of those] not momentous, plot-driven scenes were a bunch that I just adored. I loved the bravery of David letting us just be there and portray that idea of how well and how long these two people have known each other. I remember doing a few of those and thinking, ‘God, it’s so delightful to not have to feel like you have to push it along with dialogue.’”
In I’ll Be Right There, Falco plays Wanda, an older queer woman who just can’t seem to have time for herself. The cast includes Michael Rapaport, Bradley Whitford, Michael Beach, Jack Mulhern, Charlie Tahan, Kayli Carter, and Sepideh Moafi.
The Sopranos and The Many Saints of Newark are available to stream on Max. Wise Guy David Chase and The Sopranos documentary film premieres September 7 on Max.
