The late James Gandolfini’s son Michael Gandolfini gets his button playing the teen-aged Antonio Soprano, as we hear his name called in the echo of his high school hallways. Tony seems to be a problem kid. He spends his time defending his rep on the street, or making trouble at school. Like a lot of kids his age, he doesn’t apply himself. He’s got a high IQ but would rather slack at home, listening to Humble Pie records through the earliest version of headphones: two huge speakers, one by each ear. Judging from the trailer, Dr. Melfi’s more Freudian analyses might have been on the mark during the series. Tony did want to marry his mom, after all. Vera Farmiga who plays Livia Soprano, sounds just like Edie Falco when she played Carmela. Livia appears to be as dismissive of her son, snorting at the very idea Tony could lead anything, as she turns out to be as his mother on the series. “Growing up with the family takes a toll,” we hear in the trailer, as the family scene blurs with the mob family. Jon Bernthal plays Giovanni “Johnny Boy” Soprano. Tony’s father looks comfortable handling the hardware of the trade. Corey Stoll plays Junior Soprano, who offers to school young Tony on the ways of life, but his brother’s son doesn’t listen to anyone but Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola). The film looks at Tony’s coming-of-age years through this relationship, and how it helped shape the teenage under-achiever into a mob boss. “Let’s be honest about the great Dickie Moltisanti, my father, your hero,” Christopher Moltisanti once told Tony on the series. “He wasn’t much more than a fucking junkie.” The trailer doesn’t show any evidence of it getting in the way of his job. “We gotta do something about Dickie Moltisanti,” Leslie Odom Jr.’s character, Harold McBrayer, vows, letting on how much of a loose cannon Tony’s hero must be. Directed by Alan Taylor, The Sopranos prequel will follow young Anthony as he grows up “in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history,” according to the official synopsis. In the trailer, we see the ground forces of the national guard overtake the city during the mid-sixties’ riots. Veiled threats of takedowns signal rival gangsters are challenging the mob rule in “an increasingly race-torn city.” The trailer promises scores galore. Folding cash gets passed, street action moves fast, quickies can be caught in club bathrooms, and Dickie apparently knows more ways to bring the heat than mere arson. The production and set crew evidently paid close attention to period details. Satriale’s Pork Store looks exactly the same. That’s neighborhood pride. Most of the trailer is accompanied by a dirty blues version of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody.” But the trailer ends on a familiar note: “Woke Up This Morning,” by Alabama 3, which most people know as the classic HBO series’ theme song, closes out the tease. The Many Saints of Newark will be released in theaters on October 1, and will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from the theatrical release.
