Steven Van Zandt Watches His ‘Sopranos’ Audition Tape for Tony Soprano (VIDEO)
What To Know
- Steven Van Zandt watched his original audition tape for Tony Soprano on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.’
- HBO ultimately chose James Gandolfini, and Van Zandt was given the role of Silvio Dante.
- Chase created the character of Silvio specifically for Van Zandt.
Steven Van Zandt recently watched his Sopranos audition tape for Tony Soprano, the character he originally hoped to snag on the crime drama series.
On the May 4 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Zandt, 75, revealed that he initially vied for the role of the main mobster. Ultimately, James Gandolfini played the iconic Tony, while Zandt played Tony’s right-hand man, Silvio Dante — his first professional acting role.
“David Chase was in a mood to break all the rules, you know?” Zandt told late-night host Jimmy Fallon, of the Sopranos showrunner. “So he’s going to decide to cast the lead with a guy who never acted before. And so it came close, and HBO was like, ‘Are you out of your mind? This is a big investment for us.'”
In the audition tape, Zandt wore his hair slicked back as he read lines in character as Tony.
“Let me tell you something,” he said. “Everybody today is going to shrinks and counselors. They’re all Sally Jessy Raphael, telling everybody their problems… Dysfunction this, dysfunction that, dysfunction of our [bleeped]!”
Although Zandt lost out on the role of Tony, Chase still wanted him to be part of the series.
“He said, ‘You can have any role you want,'” Zandt recalled. “But, I said, ‘You know, I’m starting to feel guilty about taking an actor’s job, ’cause my wife’s a real actor. I see what she goes through.’ So he said, ‘OK, you’re not gonna take an actor’s job. I’m gonna write you a new part that doesn’t exist.'”
Interestingly, Maureen Van Zandt — his real-life wife — ended up playing his wife, Gabriella Dante, in The Sopranos.
The Sopranos aired for six seasons from 1999 to 2007. In addition to Zandt and Gandolfini, it starred Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Dominic Chianese, Tony Sirico, Robert Iler, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Aida Turturro, Drea de Matteo, Steve Schirripa, and more.
The Sopranos, streaming on HBO Max.
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