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Michael Imperioli was terrified of being fired from “The Sopranos” from the start. The 54-year-old actor, who played Christopher Moltisanti on the HBO hit, neglected to mention that he couldn’t drive — vital information for a role where he served as Tony Soprano’s (played by the late James Gandolfini) sometime driver. “I didn’t tell them …
Michael Imperioli was terrified of being fired from “The Sopranos” from the start.
The 54-year-old actor, who played Christopher Moltisanti on the HBO hit, neglected to mention that he couldn’t drive — vital information for a role where he served as Tony Soprano’s (played by the late James Gandolfini) sometime driver.
“I didn’t tell them that because I wanted the job and in one of the takes I actually back up into a tree and smashed up the back of the Lexus,” he recently told Page Six.
He continued: “We all jumped forward, the air bags came out, smoke, it was a big disaster and I was thinking [Gandolfini] must be thinking I’m an idiot, this is going to be a disaster, they’re going to fire me.
“And he just looks at me and starts cracking up laughing and we both just broke down hysterically and I thought, ‘Ok this is going to be a good ride. That was a bonding moment.”
Imperioli has teamed up with fellow “Sopranos” castmate Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby Baccalieri, for “Talking Sopranos”, a podcast where the duo breakdown every episode of the long running drama.
The podcast almost didn’t happen because of coronavirus.
“About six months ago we were approached by a few producer to do it,” explained Schirripa. But then the pandemic hit and the actors wanted to bow out.
“We said, ‘Man, who cares about a TV show when the world is falling apart?’ And then we started hearing from fans on social media that they need a diversion, they’re all re-watching ‘The Sopranos.’ HBO is showing it for free so we said, ‘Why not?’ And It’s been going great,” said Schirripa.
And as for that famous final scene, both actors believe that Tony wasn’t killed.
“At first I did,” Imperioli admitted. “I thought we were seeing his point of view, the last moments before he gets shot and killed but then I heard David [Chase, the show’s creator] talk about it.
“In one discussion he talked about the song ‘Don’t Stop Believin” and the lyric is ‘The movie never ends, it goes on and on and on.’ I think the lyric is tied to the ending.
Schirripa never had any doubts.
“I think Tony Soprano is alive and well, living in New Jersey. What you saw is what you saw,” he said.
