In a recently published retrospective interview with Empire, Chase discussed how “The Sopranos” impacted Italian-Americans. Yes, the show had a broad ethnographic appeal, but it was a special source of pride for people who, aside from the works of Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, often felt caricatured than accurately depicted. To illustrate what the show did for the Italian-American community, Chase recalled a chaotic moment after the pivotal second season. As he told Empire:
“We once had an open call for actors in Harrison, New Jersey, and 13,000 people showed up. The police had to shut it down. The exit on the turnpike was completely screwed up. And they were all Italian. All 13,000.”
He’s not exaggerating. The open call was entertainingly covered by Entertainment Weekly in July 2000, and the reporter on the scene spoke with some very colorful characters. Take 27-year-old Paulie Priesta, for instance, who arrived at the audition dressed to kill in a black suit. “I just want to be famous,” the Manhattanite told EW. “My dad told me to be a lawyer. I became a lawyer and now I’m bored. But I got pizzazz — that’s what I got going for me.”
Also eager to make TV history was Westchester, New York native Lisa Merelli. “I wanna be Carmella’s sister,” she said. Evidently, she was sporting the kind of flamboyant, tight-fitting dress and salon-tanned skin that would fit right into this mobbed-up universe.
“The Sopranos” would last another seven years, and never pulled a single punch. It was often operatic in its emotional pitch, but at a domestic level, rub-outs aside, we could relate to the tumultuous highs and lows of the Sopranos clan. This was a brilliant show about family. And family is never, ever easy.
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