"For TV I don't think I could have gotten a better part than Uncle Junior because of the intimacy of the character based on David Chase's brilliant writing"
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Dominic Chianese is doing two things at once here: praising a role and quietly staking a claim about what great TV acting actually demands. When he says he "couldn't have gotten a better part", he isn't just talking about prestige or screen time. He's pointing to a rare gift for an actor: a character written with enough interior life that performance can live in the cracks, not just in big monologues or plot pivots.
The key word is "intimacy", which is a sly choice for Uncle Junior - a man wrapped in paranoia, pride, and old-world codes. Junior isn't "likable" in any conventional way, but Chase's writing makes him legible. Chianese is crediting the scripts for giving him access to contradictions: the boss who wants respect but fears irrelevance; the comic figure who can turn cruel; the aging man whose vulnerability leaks out as insult, nostalgia, or fury. That intimacy is what lets the show make a gangster feel domestic, even pathetic, without sanding off his menace.
There's also a craft argument embedded in the compliment to David Chase. Chianese is implying that television - often treated as a lesser stage in earlier eras - became actor-proof when it started giving actors novelistic material. The Sopranos didn't just elevate TV; it rewarded performers who could play subtext, carry silence, and let a character's private injuries flicker behind public posture. His gratitude reads like an acknowledgment of a historical pivot: the moment TV began writing roles actors could age into, not just act through.
The key word is "intimacy", which is a sly choice for Uncle Junior - a man wrapped in paranoia, pride, and old-world codes. Junior isn't "likable" in any conventional way, but Chase's writing makes him legible. Chianese is crediting the scripts for giving him access to contradictions: the boss who wants respect but fears irrelevance; the comic figure who can turn cruel; the aging man whose vulnerability leaks out as insult, nostalgia, or fury. That intimacy is what lets the show make a gangster feel domestic, even pathetic, without sanding off his menace.
There's also a craft argument embedded in the compliment to David Chase. Chianese is implying that television - often treated as a lesser stage in earlier eras - became actor-proof when it started giving actors novelistic material. The Sopranos didn't just elevate TV; it rewarded performers who could play subtext, carry silence, and let a character's private injuries flicker behind public posture. His gratitude reads like an acknowledgment of a historical pivot: the moment TV began writing roles actors could age into, not just act through.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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