If you’re familiar at all with David Chase (who has the visage and cadence of Bill Murray combined with Snoopy) then you know that the absolutely brilliant writer/producer who is responsible for The Sopranos has wanted to escape from TV to the movies for two decades. Even The Sopranos itself –which is very much a product of Chase, who had complete creative control and supervised each and every script/cut– was a show that Chase conceived as a film, and even shot the pilot assuming it wouldn’t get picked up and that he might convince HBO to let him finish it out as a movie. Even at the peak of his immensely successful, cinematic, and game-changing opus, his views on TV remained measured and he couldn’t helped but express his desire to make movies instead. With all that angst and itching desire (and relatively blank checks I assume have floated his way), it’s surprising that it’s taken three years to hear any specific word of Chase’s move to film but finally we have it, and it ain’t a Rockford Files movie.
There’s no title yet, but David Chase will be exploring 60s suburbia through the eyes of a rock band from Jersey (The Twilight Zones!), and he’s bringing Silvio with him. Steven Van Zandt, who played a serious role on the Sopranos not to mention many of Bruce Springsteen’s most famous albums, will be an executive producer on the show as well as supervise the music. Jersey-born/raised Van Zandt is still a member of the E Street band and has run his own internet radio station for nearly a decade (an excellent station that has been ported to Satellite radio), along with heading the Rock Band video game music selection committee. All of that to say, motherfucker remains qualified or as Chase would put it:
“I am thrilled to be working with Steven again, especially on this particular subject… It’s not just that we both worship the same songs and bands from the era, it’s that he obviously knows so much. About every aspect. He embodies a particular spirit of a particular kind of rock ‘n’ roll. He actually is that spirit.”
This film will star John Magaro, Will Brill, and Jack Huston who are still actors without a ton of heat (or none at all), though Magaro was recently in My Soul To Take, and Huston will be starting a recurring role on Boardwalk Episode in episode seven.
Chase is also producing a mini-series for HBO called Ribbon of Dreams that I’ve been drooling over since before Boardwalk Empire was even announced, but no date has ever been mentioned and it’s been months since any news emerged from that project. As much as I want Chase to do the feature he’s always dreamed of, you can’t promise me an HBO-style journey through the early history and formation of Hollywood and then just leave it smoldering. There’s almost no setting I’d rather see a literary-detailed and dramatic story told than that place in that era. If this film has already casted and is in full motion at Paramount Vantage, then I assume Ribbon of Dreams will be on the sidelines until it’s completed. Hop to it Chase, there are too many asteroids out there that could obliterate this stupid rock before you devote your entire life and every waking moment to making a cool thing for me to blankly stare at on Sunday night.