Big Screen Little Screen

Entertainment Weekly posted an excerpt from an interview (from The Sopranos: The Complete Book, releasing on Oct. 30th), with Sopranos creator David Chase. Just as there is a large contingent of fans that are still pissed over the blackout finale sequence, Chase is increasingly agitated by some people lusting for Tony Soprano’s “brains splattered on the wall.” And he seems closer and closer to throwing up his hands and saying, “Alright, here’s exactly what happened. Will you just let this thing die already?”

Rest assured - with so many moving parts, so many participants in the ending scene - whether it’s an exasperated exec, crew or cast member - someday, someone is going to talk. But after reading this, it’s probably not necessary:

Are they wasting their time? Is there a puzzle to be solved?
There are no esoteric clues in there. No Da Vinci Code. Everything that pertains to that episode was in that episode. And it was in the episode before that and the one before that and seasons before this one and so on. There had been indications of what the end is like. Remember when Jerry Toricano was killed? Silvio was not aware that the gun had been fired until after Jerry was on his way down to the floor. That’s the way things happen: It’s already going on by the time you even notice it.

Are you saying…?
I’m not saying anything. And I’m not trying to be coy. It’s just that I think that to explain it would diminish it.

Not to beat you over the head, but to all that I’d remind you of Bobby Baccala’s line, “In the end, you probably don’t hear anything, everything just goes black.”

Other pertinent bullet points, direct from Chase’s mouth:

– He envisioned the final scene years in advance: “As I recall, it was just that Tony and his family would be in a diner having dinner and a guy would come in. Pretty much what you saw.”

– “Originally, I didn’t want any credits at all. I just wanted the black screen to go the length of the credits — all the way to the HBO whoosh sound. But the Director’s Guild wouldn’t give us a waiver.”

– Chase, effectively unloading his clip: “Meadow may not become a pediatrician or even a lawyer, but she’s not going to be a housewife-whore like her mother .”

From EW, read the full (excerpted) interview with David Chase. Via Time’s Tuned In.

Previously, in an interview released just after the finale: Chase, a little less generous with the hints.

Tags: david chase, sopranos