A Different Kind Of Mob Scene
Article from the New York Post: by Donna Petrozzello
Pasadena - Life is a little harder when you're a Soprano. Especially when our second-season premiere last Sunday was the most-watched original nonsports program in the 27-year history of HBO. As the stars testified this week, it's not always easy convincing fans that they're not, as they say, "connected" to the gangster family characters they play on TV. "I get a lot of 'Hey, Tony' yelled at me from cars," the "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini told reporters at the semiannual TV press tour. "Everhything I do now requires more energy, whether it's going to the deli or something, it just takes a little more energy," Gandolfini said. Though the star says he's recognized often around New York as mob man Tony Soprano, most fans have been "extremely cool."
Lorraine Bracco, who las Tony's psychiatrist, Jennifer Melfi, said she's beginning to think the words " 'talk to me' " are written on my forehead. "I get stopped by a lot of people who sy, 'Omigod, Dr. Melfi, if I could only find a shrink like you,' " said Bracco. "I tell them, I'm only an actor, go to the Actors Studio. I've got no degree inpsychology." Series co-star Michael Imperioli, who plays the brash mobster understudy Chris Moltisanti, said being recognized as a Soprano has its up and downs. Once, he was whisked into a top-name restaurant without a reservation after the staff recognized him. Another time, Imperioli said a man approached him in a restaurant and offered to "show me the real way" to strangle someone. "And he was, I found out through someone I knew apparently really connected" to organized crime, Imperioli said. "He had a badge on with the family name. We got really nervous."
Edie Falco, who plays Tony's wife, Carmela, said she's still tyring to adjust to being recognized, although sometimes fans on the street mistake her for Bracco. "In the 15 years I've been acting previous to this show, I was not stopped on the street," said Falco. "Now I get a lot of 'Hey, Miss Bracco.' And I don't know if I should stop and tell them I'm actually Miss Falco, or wave to them anyway.
Said series creator David Chase: "...just the time spent talking on the phone to journalists and taking pictures and that kind of thing has completely changed the shape of my day." Chase said he also hears from friends that men who had never consdiered going to talk with therapist are walking into psychiatrists' offices, claiming that if "Tony Soprano can do it, so can I."
Email: carmsoprano@aol.com