In “Inside the Episode,” the writers and directors reflect on the making of their Emmy-winning episodes.
The death of Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo) in “The Sopranos” was quick. The preparation for it? Not so much.
When the fifth season of HBO's mafia drama ended in the spring of 2004, gossip magazines breathlessly devoted commentary from “insider sources” to whether the show would kill off such a beloved character. (Not to mention the when, where, why and how of it all).
But in the penultimate episode of the season, written by Terence Winter and directed by Tim Van Patten, Silvio (Steven Van Zandt) took Adriana on a one-way trip to the forest. He lures her to the car with the false story that her fiancé, Christopher (Michael Imperioli), had attempted suicide.
In reality, Christopher had chosen his other family and abandoned them for being an FBI rat.
“For decades of television, people expected something to happen at the last minute and they'd let it go,” Winter says of the episode's buildup to the zeitgeist.
“At the end of the day, everyone felt like they needed to take a shower,” Terence Winter says of filming Adriana's murder on “The Sopranos.”
(Kris Connor/Getty Images)
Remember that, since Season 1 episode “University” When a father-daughter road trip ends in a gruesome death, The Sopranos never followed that playbook.
With Adriana, Winter says, “People still wanted to convince themselves, 'Oh, she ran away.' “They still wanted the happy ending.”
“There is no happy ending here. “They are horrible people,” Winter says.
But “Long Term Parking” (which was implemented 20 years ago today) also resulted in another type of “impact.” Winter, De Matteo and Imperioli received Emmy Awards for their work, the show earned its first win for a drama series, and Van Patten earned a directing nomination.
So how long was Adriana's hit in the works? And how was it decided who would pull the trigger? Winter reflects on writing the Emmy-winning episode.
How soon after the season started did the writers' room know that Adriana was going to die?
Once we started the story where Adriana was talking to the FBI, we knew that inevitably that wasn't going to end well. We didn't know when and I think we avoided it for a long time until it became inevitable. As you build the season, obviously, you build toward a big dramatic conclusion. And little by little we began to realize that the most dramatic thing is the end of that story.
[“Sopranos” creator] David [Chase] He usually arrived at the beginning of the year with a rough roadmap of where the season was going. I guess that was on the map towards the end of the year.
How was it decided that Sil would be the one to do it?
Silvio is the least threatening on the surface; the most reasonable and the friendliest. I mean, if Paulie Walnuts [Tony Sirico’s hot-headed henchman] If you called and said, “Hey, I want to go for a walk with you,” you would automatically be suspicious.
Silvio is more of a consigliere. We had already prepared the program that no one lies better than him.
They drive for a while and Silvio says reassuring things. When do you think he knew what was going to happen to him?
Little by little it's starting to occur to him. I'm sure she hopes against hope that she's wrong. But I'd be crazy if I knew these people all this time and didn't think, “Is this going where I think it's going?” Also, the more he keeps talking and being positive, it's almost worse because he protests so much.
He had said to Christopher: “Come on; Let's run away.” And she thought there was a possibility of that happening. And then she saw [a poor] family at the gas station and that was it.
Just a curious comment. I specifically wrote that he saw a [poor] The family and the husband had a mullet and [Christopher began to imagine], “Oh my God, that's us.” And, you know, we cast an actor with long hair and I said, “Are you willing to get a mullet?” He said, “Yes, I will shave my head. I will do what you want.”
On the day of filming, one of our [production assistants] He called me and said, “Come to the salon trailer.” Our barber was cutting the guy's hair and it wasn't a mullet. … And he said, “I've been a hairdresser for years. “This is a mullet.” I said, “Okay, then I'm not going to argue with you.” I pulled out a picture of Billy Ray Cyrus and said, “I want the full mullet.”
He called me later and said, “As a hair specialist, I felt like I couldn't do that to another human being. “It was such an ugly hairstyle.”
Terence Winter won an Emmy in 2004 for writing the “Sopranos” episode “Long Term Parking.”
(Michael Caulfield/WireImage via Getty Images)
If that guy had a better haircut, would Adriana still be alive?
I think if it wasn't that guy, it would have been something else. I don't think he wanted to change anything in his life. I think the choice between running away with Adriana and starting over and doing something else, getting a serious job, ultimately that's not what this guy is.
Silvio never raises his voice at Adriana when they stop the car. But he calls her the C-word when he pulls her out of the car and she tries to escape from it. Did you and the other writers think about when and how to inflict that word or other derogatory words?
He has a very bad character and you have seen it. [in another episode] lose control in a card game with incredibly vile language. You can certainly get there. It was supposed to be as ugly as possible.
I'm sure he didn't feel any pleasure [killing her]. But I think to psychologically get to the point where he could do it, he had to convince himself that this woman betrayed the family and was going to put them all in jail and that she was absolutely the worst human being that ever lived. existed. And her language and physicality speak of all that.
I've read that this was a difficult scene for Van Zandt to play. That's right?
Absolutely. It was difficult for all of us. It was hard standing there watching him. He really had to work for it.
The only positive point is that that day was not [Drea’s] last day. I had a couple more scenes to film, so it wasn't like it was goodbye.
When it was happening, Drea was the one who said, “You really have to try this; You have to drag me out of the car. Grab me by the hair. Let's make this look real.” So they just tried it. But at the end of the day, everyone felt like they needed to take a shower.
When I wrote that scene, I specifically wrote it where she walks out of the frame and you don't see him shooting. You just hear the gunshot and then the camera rises into the sky. And it wasn't until later that I thought, “Wow, I've written some of the most horrific and violent scenes on that show and I've never been shy about showing them.” But I just didn't want to see that.
Adriana almost dies at the beginning of the episode. Christopher nearly strangles her to death when he learns that she is an informant. Was there ever a chance to allow that to happen?
I couldn't have done it. I mean, she thought she was going to do it and then she couldn't. It was cowardice or love or whatever you want to call it, she just couldn't bring herself to do that. He certainly thought about it and he looked into her eyes and just let her go. She just can't continue.
You give the audience false hope because a later shot of the episode emerges from a similar fall foliage shot. People may briefly think she is alive before it is revealed that the new scene is between the mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and his wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). They are looking for land for her to build a special house.
It's a really creepy juxtaposition of the two aspects of Tony's life. For one thing, this girl is being murdered in the woods. And here she is; The fruits of his criminal labor are being used to buy his wife this special house project.
This is an emotional episode for Tony. Not only does he lose Adriana, but it becomes clear that he will have to eliminate his beloved cousin. Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi)to settle another account.
With a lot of these kids, when they go to bed at night, there's that moment where you're alone with yourself, and I think there's that moment where remorse starts to set in. But, it is also a common psychological phenomenon in people like that, they are always on the move: they are always doing something, they are always gambling, drinking or using drugs. It's a way to avoid the reality of what you're doing.
A few seasons ago, Silvio, Tony and Paulie killed their friend. Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) when they knew it was a rat. Do you think this murder seems different to Sil?
That was probably difficult for all of them because they were all very good friends with him. I think the level of betrayal there was deeper because it was one of his own guys.
This was collateral damage. You know, she's Christopher's girlfriend. She certainly isn't a member of the mafia and she never promised anything; she never took an oath. And she was squeezed to the point that she really had no choice.
