It was the wrong kind of soprano.
In HBO's new documentary “Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos,” “The Sopranos” star Drea de Matteo said that when she first auditioned, she misunderstood what the hit mafia series was about.
“I had no idea (the show) had anything to do with being Italian. I thought it was about opera singers,” de Matteo, 52, says on-screen in the documentary, now airing on HBO (and Max).
The Emmy Award-winning HBO series aired for six seasons from 1999 to 2007, following mafia kingpin Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), his family and his various associates such as Christopher (Michael Imperioli) and his girlfriend Adriana.
Fellow “The Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler echoed the sentiment.
In a 2024 episode of the podcast “Life is Short with Justin LongSigler, 43, said she thought her audition for the role of Tony Soprano's teenage daughter, Meadow, was for a show about singers.
“I never had any success in film or television,” Sigler said at the time.
“I was totally into musical theater. All I thought about was Broadway. I've been doing theater all my life, and because of the title, I thought that's what it was about.”
She said she attended the audition hoping to sing.
He recalled, “I asked David Chase if he wanted to sing acapella, since there was no accompanist, and he said 'It's not necessary.'”
“But I think that's why they asked Meadow to sing (in the show),” he added. “Like, Meadow, as you know, used to sing her solos in the choir.”
De Matteo, who plays Adriana La Cerva in the documentary “Wise Guy: David Chase and the Sopranos,” initially auditioned for “about five different roles.”
“I read for Tony Soprano's mistress. In the end, they cast someone else, but[series creator David Chase]liked me,” she said. “I think he just liked that I was Italian, and maybe I was cute.”
De Matteo began her time on the show with a small role as a restaurant hostess, before joining the cast as a series regular.
“I don't think I ever read for a hostess role. It was a phone call, 'Would you like to play this role?'” she recalled.
But she had trouble performing because she was starstruck.
“I couldn't say any of my lines because after 'Goodfellas' I was so nervous to be around Lorraine (Bracco). I was dying.”
Bracco was the closest thing to a star on the show, Chase said. HBO wanted her to play Tony's wife, Carmela (played by Edie Falco), but Bracco fought to play her psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi.
“I wanted Dr. Melfi,” said Bracco, 69. “David was a little surprised.”
Bracco said she was “a different woman” during “The Sopranos” than she was years before that, playing Karen on “Goodfellas.”
She also said she was reluctant to play a role that sounded too similar to herself.
“Dr. Melfi fascinates me, I've been in therapy,” she said. “And, I think we've never seen an Italian educated woman. That pleases me. And, I don't think Tony would talk to someone who isn't Italian.”
