By LILY TINOCO | Reporter
Former Palisadian Ray Liotta can be seen in the highly anticipated crime-drama “The Many Saints of Newark,” a prequel to the HBO series “The Sopranos,” later this year.
The upcoming film, directed by Alan Taylor and written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner, is set in the 1960s in Newark, New Jersey, against the backdrop of the racially charged Newark riots.
“‘The Sopranos’ are back, but this time with a whole new Gandolfini,” according to IMDb. “Creator David Chase is taking us back to the world of the bada-bing with the origin story of Tony [Soprano] and company.”
The film is expected to explore Tony’s childhood in Jersey in the ’60s, “a formative time period … in the series.”
“I was interested in Newark and life in Newark at that time,” Chase said in an interview with Deadline. “I used to go down there every Saturday night for dinner with my grandparents. But the thing that interested me most was Tony’s boyhood. I was interested in exploring that.”
In the interview, Chase shared that the movie will cover racial tension, with Tony Soprano part of it, but as a child.
The film stars Liotta, accompanied by Alessandro Nivola, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Michael Gandolfini, Billy Magnussen, John Magaro, Michela De Rossi and Vera Farmiga.
“I am thrilled to be working with David Chase and Alan Taylor on ‘The Many Saints of Newark,’” Liotta said in a statement. “David’s talent is unmatched and the directing of Alan Taylor makes this even more exciting. I respect them both immensely.”
New Line Cinema and HBO Films obtained the rights to produce “The Many Saints of Newark.” Warner Bros. Pictures was slated to release the film on September 25, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its release date was postponed to September 24.
The film is planned to have a month-long release on HBO Max.
“David is a masterful storyteller and we, along with our colleagues at HBO, are thrilled that he has decided to revisit, and enlarge, the Soprano universe in a feature film,” New Line Chairman Toby Emmerich said in a statement.
The film is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content and nudity.
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