We've known for a few months that David Chase, creator of TV impactful mob drama series The Sopranos is planning a prequel film based on the show. Now the film has reached the casting stage, with Alessandro Nivola in negotiations to play Dickey Moltisanti.
Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor is on board to call the shots, having worked on several episodes of the series. While plot information is limited at this stage, we do know it's set in the 1960s as riots sweep through Newark and tensions between African-American and Italian residents boiled over into violence. And Nivola's character brings a little more into focus: Moltisanti in the show is the deceased uncle of Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, and father of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli). The character never appears, as he was murdered prior to the drama’s timeline, but is talked about as someone who, along with Soprano’s father and Uncle Junior, helped turn their small gang into the New Jersey crime family that Soprano eventually heads.
We can expect more familiar (and familial) connections to the Soprano clan as casting continues under the aegis of Chase (who produces and co-wrote the script with Lawrence Konner), but there's no release date on the books yet.
Nivola will next be seen on UK screens in Disobedience, due out on 30 November.
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