Ray Liotta Approached For A Role
At first during a Today Show interview, actor Ray Liotta revealed that he was offered a part for The Sopranos, but turned them down. Then a few years after while being interviewed for the GW Hatchet, he revealed more. Liotta said, “Having done Goodfellas, I mean, that’s pretty much the ultimate in Mafia everyday life. And that show is pretty much structured around Tony Soprano. There was no way I was gonna shine. It just didn’t seem like the right thing to do. I love him [James Gandolfini] as an actor. I think he’s great. But my ego’s as big as anybody’s.”
Ray Liotta Approached For A Role
First Choice For Tony
Before Gandolfini came along, David Chase had his eye on Steven Van Zandt. Van Zandt was the guitar player for E Street, Bruce Springsteen’s band. In a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair, Chase said, “…Steven Van Zandt’s face always grabbed me. He had this similarity to Al Pacino in The Godfather. Then we were casting the pilot, and my wife, Denise, and I were watching TV. Steven came on VH1, when they were inducting the Rascals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Steven gave the speech. He was very, very funny and magnetic. I said to my wife, ‘That guy has got to be in the show!'” However, producers did not want to chance the lead on a first-time actor, so David Chase specifically wrote in the part of Silvio Dante for Van Zandt.
First Choice For Tony
