Michael Gandolfini Feels He Won't Be Able To Make Late Father Proud In 'Sopranos' Prequel

If you're having a case of the blues today this story may just be the one to let all of the tears flow out to reset your day! Michael Gandolfini is going to be playing the role of the young Tony Soprano in the new spin-off movie The Many Saints of Newark a prequel to the famed HBO hit The Sopranos. The role of course of Tony Soprano in the original series was played by Michael's late father James Gandolfini. James passed away when Michael was only 14 years old while on a family trip to Rome. The new series, in Michael's words, has been a way to reconnect with his father.

There's a lot of hype around The Many Saints of Newark movie. Certainly, a lot of that hype has come from the expectations surrounding Michael Gandolfini's take on his father's iconic character. While making the rounds to promote the new movie Michael Gandolfini talked about the expectations that he has set for his performance in the film saying,

"I wanted to make David proud, and I wanted to make my fellow actors proud and learn as much as I can — that was a goal I could set."

Just before Michael talked about the goals that he had set for himself in the film he mentioned that he wasn't going to be able to make his father proud. This wasn't because he couldn't live up to his father's expectations. It's just that his dad is not around to be able to see his performance. Michael opened up about this realization saying,

"I had known there isn't a world where I'm going to make my dad proud — because I can't."

Michael also revealed that he had a strange relationship with the character of Tony Soprano. He recalled that he had spent time with his dad on set. However, he didn't get around to watching the show when his father was still around. He only started watching the show when he went through the audition process for the movie. The whole experience was just a trip down memory lane for him.

"Just watching for the first time. Seeing my dad and seeing how good my dad was — which pissed me off in some regard and made me feel so proud."

The son of the late James Gandolfini also mentioned that watching the show allowed him to bring back memories of the great times that he had with his father on set.

Certainly, there are going to be many comparisons made between Michael's take on the Tony Soprano character and what his father did in the original series. Micheal though is already giving some insights into what the public can expect to see from his own take on the iconic character saying,

"My dad has this beautiful vulnerability on the inside of Tony and this aggression on the outside. David's writing here kind of flipped that. I was like, All right. What if I make the vulnerability the surface and the rage slowly grows in him, right? Because of his parents. Then it was just about that."

We're going to see a soft version of Tony Soprano? That sure seems like a hard thing to pull off, but could make for an interesting watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHa95iy2lF0