The soprano Creator David Chase attracted a large crowd at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) in the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
A day after discussing One Thing with a select group of reporters at KVIFF about today’s hit drama and sharing thoughts on his new HBO limited series project, Project: MKUltrabased on the non-fiction book by John Lisle The Mind Control Project: Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA and the Tragedy of MKULTRAthe seven-time Emmy Award winner took the stage for the festival’s expanded KVIFF Industry Days program.
His main appearance title, moderated by Deadline HollywoodZach Ntim: “The soprano And Beyond: David Chase on storytelling, television, film, and the future of creative risk.
In response to a question about whether Americans’ falling in love with the anti-hero character that Tony Soprano and Walter White contributed to paved the way for the desensitization of Americans and had an impact on the political state of the country, hinting at whether the two electoral victories of US President Donald Trump may have been influenced by Americans’ view of what is wonderful and right. “Well, we have a convicted felon as president,” Chase said. But I don’t think that’s the point The soprano It was saying it’s okay, it’s okay if you’re corrupt. I don’t think that was the point. So, I don’t think that tracks exactly.”
Speaking about the state of Hollywood, Chase on Wednesday quoted Christopher McQuarrie, a writer The usual suspectQ. “He left Hollywood and said it was all run by only two things: greed and fear, and he’s absolutely right,” Chase said. “For whatever reason, we’re going to go back to greed and fear. I think that’s just the natural state of things.”
He also shared: “I never really understood the movie business. I think the profit margins are about 6 percent. Why would you want to be in this business, especially if you’re afraid of losing money? … Wouldn’t you be better off selling running shoes?”
“Their job was to sell ad time, so they had these shows that were second to the ads,” Chase said, recalling his early days at US network television. “Everything there was very strict. It was like working in the Politburo.”
When asked about the networks’ advertising focus, he said to audience laughter, “These guys’ business was to sell produce and cornflakes and tampons and cars.” His advice to anyone facing concerns about restrictions on creative ideas from networks or streamers: “All you can do is just do what you want and don’t listen to them.”
Chase even remembers pitching The soprano For longtime CBS president Leslie Moonves, who had some problems with Tony Soprano. Chase asked if he was “married to that Prozac?” He remembers. Chase said yes. “Should he go to a therapist?” Yes. The result: “We left” the meeting, recalls the creator. Why was this a comment for Moonves. “It made Tony weak, sick, and unheroic,” Chase explained. He made it “complicated.” His conclusion was that “ambiguity is the ‘worst’ thing that can be asked.”
Even big-name creators like Chase himself don’t always get their way. He said the project he wanted to do at HBO “collapsed because of money.” Then he did Many Saints in Newarkwhich HBO positioned as a prequel to The sopranoHe explained that he didn’t look at it that way, adding that he really wanted to make a B-grade crime film.
Why is he interested in the topic of how the United States thinks about weaponizing LSD, which Project: MKUltra explores. “Most likely because I took LSD when I was younger,” Chase said to much laughter. “I wasn’t a sourer, but I took it eight or nine times, 10 times, and I think it changed my life.” He described LSD as “a spiritual experience, a party.”
He’s also been working on a related film, which he describes as a “family story”, as well as a series, where he shared: “It could be two different stories”, and it’s not so much about LSD but “about consciousness”. As for the film, “we don’t have a distributor” yet, explaining that he expects to first have to produce it and then find a distributor.
