The prequel to The Sopranos has yielded a steady but very slow slow drip of information. It continues today with the announcement that of it's first actor: Alessandro Nivola, who will play Dickey Moltisanti, a character you may or may not have noticed. Dickey is Tony Soprano's uncle who, in The Sopranos universe, died before the action of the show. But, the movie is a prequel and so the writers, Lawrence Konner and David Chase, can resurrect as many people as they want. The movie is set back in 1967 and centred on the Newark riots which left 26 people dead and 727 injured.
Alan Taylor, who directed some episodes of the show (and even won an Emmy for one), will be the director of the new film. He's directed a Terminator and a Thor movie in the past which is in stark contrast to the first announced cast member, Alessandro Nivola, who is known more for what I'll call "indie" movies like his most recent, Weightless, where Nivola is forced to begin taking care of his ten-year-old son who he hasn't seen since he was a baby. Hopefully, the backgrounds and tendencies of Nivola and Taylor will balance each other out and make for an accessible, interesting movie in The Many Saints Of Newark. Take a look at Nivola below:
