All In The Family: ‘Sopranos’ Cast Brings Down The House At 25th Anniversary Reunion & Alex Gibney ‘Wise Guy’ Docu Tribeca Premiere

Robert Iler aka Tony Soprano’s son A.J. said it best tonight at Tribeca’s 25th anniversary of The Sopranos get-together: “Now my friends are going to shitty high school reunions and I’m going to cool stuff like this.”

Tribeca premiered the Alex Gibney directed HBO documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos to a packed Beacon Theatre on the upper west side of Manhattan. What Star Wars means to a Star Wars fan, this documentary is love letter and an ultimate prized watch for Sopranos fans. Filled not just with old audition tapes, and the backstory of David Chase’s inspiration (it’s all about Momma), but the warts and all: How HBO CEO Chris Albrecht held a intervention for James Gandolfini with the cast in the exec’s NYC apartment (who would skip work and battle his own demons); the actor telling the suit “Fire me!”. Also why wasn’t there a complete season 7? It’s revealed by Chase that by doing Seasons 6A and 6B, HBO ducked from giving the cast pay raises (Gandolifni once paying each castmember $30K a piece.

Twelve of the castmembers appeared onstage after the screening of the documentary to a huge standing ovation at the Beacon Theatre on the upper west side of Manhattan alongside creator David Chase, EPs Terrence Winter and Matt Weiner and Gibney.

Here’s some of the memories and tears that were shared tonight from the family reunion”

Annabella Sciorra (Gloria Trillo, one of Tony’s mistresses): The actress mentioned how she learned after the fact that Chase wanted her for Dr. Melfi. Her agent at the time told the TV creator that the Jungle Fever actress wasn’t interested in TV. Turns out Sciorra was never given the note from Chase.

Steve Buscemi (Lewis Pantowski and episodic director): Chase wanted him to direct some episodes for the first season, but he didn’t become available until season 3. “I watched the pilot episode and didn’t get it. Who are these people? I don’t know if I liked these people.”

Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior): The writers favorite character to write for you “because you can say anything to that character,” said Gibney. Chianese flew in from London tonight for the event. “It gave me a chance to relax — it was like acting in the Bronx, in my own neighborhood. I like the fact that he was a grumpy, mean old bastard. It gave me a chance to do some comedy.”

Steve Schirripa (Bacala) — he believes “the people who got the roles are the people who should have.” The actor shared “Jerry Stiller we were told had the role of Hesh originally, but he took another job and the great Jerry Adler got it. I can’t see anyone playing the roles except for the people who played them.”

MIchael Imperioli: “The show was way better than I remembered. With some distance — how thorough a production it was on every level of the filmmaking.

Edie Falco: “Jim Gandolfini and I felt like we fell into this relationship that felt like what Tony and Carmella put into it….I believe on some level that we know about ourselves, or families, you’re going to have to make some gigantic change or accept it” she said about Carmella’s ‘deal with the devil’ in sticking by Tony’s side.

Gibney made a sharp observation atop the convo on how Sopranos broke the mold in its day for TV. Similar to now when “you have to perform to an algorithm,” ditto for the same times when the HBO drama series broke ground during a time of “least objectionable programming.”

Exclaimed Gibney, “This is the goat of TV series.”

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