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The Dickie described on the show a hero from an epic or a tall tale doesnt really exist here.
[Warning: Spoilers ahead for bothThe SopranosandThe Many Saints of Newark.]
Who is Dickie to you?
Hes a person whose character and fate were determined by his early childhood, which was an abusive one.
But hes too unsophisticated and he doesnt have the language of modern psychology to understand what those voices represent.
All he knows is that this is the world where his dad beat him up.
Dickie has two defining qualities that I could seize on.
One is that he loves Tony.
The other is that he cant control his violent impulses in these blackout moments when hes provoked emotionally.
And all of these crimes are totally self-defeating.
He puts that advice in the voice of Uncle Sally, who may or may not be real.
But he gets killed before he gets the chance to get that message across to Tony.
Its like a sad little parody of a scene in an old sitcom where a dad counsels his son.
The fact that Dickie was never seen onThe Sopranosgave me total freedom to invent the character.
Thats part of the delight of the series.
But David said he just didnt know anybody!
On the one hand, Im from an Italian family: My grandfather was an immigrant from Sardinia.
My father and my grandfather spoke Italian in the house when I was growing up.
In fact, my grandfather was friends with Robert De Niros dad.
And I ended up going to Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale.
My whole experience veered far off course from the Italian American immigrant experience of somebody like Dickie Moltisanti.
Theres always been an element of tragedy to gangster stories, especially onThe Sopranos.
I think of Shakespeare as well.
Think of all those scenes with Uncle Sally.
Its like Hamlet seeing his fathers ghost.
Just like Dr. Melfi had.
Hes there to be my confessor.
But like Tony in Melfis presence, all I do is lie to him.
And like Dr. Melfi with Tony, Sally never grants absolution.No!
In fact, he makes me feel worse about myself.
There are so many tragic Greek characters you dont love you just understand and feel for them.
Like Jason or Medea.
I keep coming back toRaging Bull.
Thats obviously an important film for you,Raging Bull.
Its a desperate realization.
The balance is tipped against a character in that two-hour format.
I wonder if I will.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
