Actor, writer, and musicianMichael Imperiolihas opened up about his time as Christopher Moltisanti in the hit crime dramaThe Sopranos. In an interview withThe Guardian, Imperioli credited the series for his success in the television, writing, and music industries. The actor also spoke about the possibility of turning his novel into a movie, whilst revealing which parts of the series were the hardest parts to film.
Imperioli has revealed that filming the domestic violence scenes inThe Sopranoswas much harder than his on-screen murder. “The most brutal, difficult stuff for me is when Christopher had to be physically abusive with Adriana [La Cerva], for obvious reasons,” Imperioli said, recalling the difficult time he had getting into character for those scenes with fellow actorDrea de Matteo. “On a technical level, you’re trying to be really careful so you don’t hurt the person. But having to get to that point of violence towards a woman, you have to go to some nasty places to get there.” Explaining that whilst some scenes required him to tap into his past experiences or came naturally to him, shooting scenes in which he hurt Adriana’s character required him to “go to someplace imaginary.”
He further explained, “Sometimes you’ll use stunt doubles, sometimes not. And even then, it’s one thing to choreograph and rehearse it, then when you act it full-tilt with all the emotion, it’s easy to not have as much control as in the rehearsal. So you really have to be quite careful.” According to Imperioli, shooting his andother characters’ deathsat the hands of guns and mob brutality were far easier. “It’s much easier shooting a mobster or shooting heroin. That stuff to me is not difficult.” Even his own character’s death was fairly easy to do for him. “That wasn’t really brutal at all, I’ll be honest with you. When we shot it, it wasn’t my last day either because we shot out of sequence.”
The actor recalled that filming the series did have its perks, including working with legends such asJames Gandolfini. Imperioli recalled working with Gandolfini (who played lead Tony Soprano) “pushed [him] further” as an actor. “Gandolfini was probably the actor I’ve acted the most with. He always put in 110%. He managed to find the intensity and the reality in every moment,” Imperioli said. Similarly, he enjoyed working withEdie Falco(who played Carmela Soprano) on the show. However, being one of three actors invited to rehearse withAl Pacino(who was in turn rehearsing forThe Merchant of Venice) was one of the most “incredibly special” moments for him. “Reading through those scenes with him [in his apartment one afternoon] was unforgettable. He had done the play already, so he was very familiar with the characters. I was not familiar with them and I don’t have a lot of experience withShakespeare,so it was a bit like playing basketball withMichael Jordan.” In fact, Imperioli went so far as to credit Pacino for his acting career. “Al Pacino was one of the reasons I became an actor.”
Michael Imperioli Is Grateful toThe Sopranosfor His Success
Despite a few hiccups, Imperioli revealed he was always confident he would be successful as an actor. “I really wanted to be successful as an actor. It may sound horrible to say, but I didn’t want to just be a working actor, I really wanted to work with the people that I thought were the best in the industry,” he said, admitting he is grateful thatThe Sopranosallowed this to happen for him. “Not every job is a great job but I always had faith that that would happen in some weird way. As an actor starting out, you really have to have a very deluded faith in your ability and talent because it’s very hard to have a career.” Not only did Imperioli win aPrimetime Emmyfor Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 for his role asChristopher Moltisanti, he went on to star as a lead in Season 2 of HBO’sThe White Lotus. “I really enjoyed acting withF Murray Abraham[inThe White Lotus] – I thought the stuff we did together was really special,” he said.
What’s Next for Michael Imperioli?
After leaving the series and turning to a career in music, Imperioli also found success in writing his novel,The Perfume Burned His Eyes(2018), which now has the potential of being adapted into a film. “I’ve been going back and forth on whether I wanted to do a movie of that book,” he confessed in the interview. “I think I’mscared of messing it upbecause I’m happy with the book and it’s something I’m very proud of. But lately I’ve been thinking I should just do it.”The Perfume Burned His Eyestells the story of New York teenager Matthew, who becomes the protégé of his music legend neighbour after moving from Queens to Manhattan.
Whilst there are noplans for an adaptationyet, Imperioli hopes it will be more successful than the projects which led him to try his hand at writing. “I’d been trying to get a few TV projects off the ground that I thought were quite good, and they never came to fruition, which was hard. A script is not a complete work of art. It’s a blueprint.” Regardless, with a second novel underway, there will be more of his work for fans to enjoy.
The Sopranosis currently streaming on Hulu, HBO Max, and YouTube. Take a walk down memory lane by watching the trailer for Season 1 below:
