Artie Lange's Podcast Channel - 32 - MICHAEL IMPERIOLI

Episode Date: November 22, 2021

Artie interviews award winning Actor, Musician and Author Michael Imperioli. They discuss all the classics including The Sopranos, Goodfellas...and Beer League. Support Artie by joining at Patreon.com/ArtieLange or by clicking the JOIN button on his YouTube page. You'll get access to the exclusive Thursday episodes and nearly 400 Artie Quitter podcast episodes. Patreon supporters at the "Artie Insider" level will get access to Artie's voicemail line to leave a message to be addressed on a future show.

Welcome to the Artie Lang's Halfway House, and my guest today on the podcast is a great actor, Emmy Award winning actor, which is weird for my podcast, and is just a good guy. About a little over a year ago, I was doing stand-up at an Upper West Side club, and I got off stage, and my manager told me, Michael Imperioli's here, and I got excited because I'm a big fan of his. It's always nice when a fan stops by like that, who is someone you revere. And Michael Imperioli is here.

What's up, Mike? How you doing, man? That was a really fun set, actually. I laughed my ass off. I really not blowing smoke. It was a good one, man. People were loving it that night. It was fun. Thanks a lot. And I could see you have your hands in a lot of different things. Besides, you know, I wanted to ask you, what do people give you more stuff about? The Spider and Goodfellas or Christopher Maltesanti? Oh, Christopher by far. Yeah. That show has just taken on a whole.

Yeah, right. Especially now and like with young people and stuff, it's kind of bizarre. It's taken on a whole new life and, you know, weight. Right. The Sopranos is, I mean, you know, it's defining television. And how did you come to that show? Was it just an audition? Yeah, it was an audition. You know, the casting people is Sheila Jaffe, Georgianne Walken. Georgianne is the wife of Christopher Walken.

Right. And they had done several independent movies that I was in. They put me in. So they'd always bring me in for anything I was remotely right for. They had cast a movie called Tree's Lounge that Steve Buscemi starred and directed in. Yeah, I know. Some of the Sopranos were in.

So David Chase saw that right around when he was doing this, putting together the Sopranos, and he loved the casting, so he hired them, and they brought me in. That's how I got it. Yeah, Tree's Lounge is another great film, man.

But before The Sopranos, you got quite a resume with Jungle Fever. And I didn't realize you co-wrote Summer of Sam. Yeah, I had already worked with Spike on a bunch of stuff, going back to Jungle Fever, Malcolm X and Girl 6. And an actor that I knew, Victor Colicchio, he had the initial draft of Summer of Sam. And when I read it, I really connected to it

because something very similar happened to someone in my family. You know, a cousin of my family got beat up almost to death by people he grew up with that thought he was the son of Sam. Really? Up in Mount Vernon, you know, where I live. Yeah, no kidding. That happened in the Bronx in my friend's neighborhood. The same thing.

Because people, you know, everyone was getting very paranoid. And the cops were on TV saying shit like, you know, he probably lives among us. If there's someone in your neighborhood who's weird, who lives in, maybe he lives in a basement. Oh, God. He keeps weird hours. So people started looking at their neighbors thinking, this guy's like a divorced.

He's kind of weird. He keeps to himself. He was a vet. He's on drugs. You know, all that kind of shit. People started getting suspicious. Wow. Of others.

And that shit started happening. so when i read that draft i really connected to we started writing together and uh did a few drafts and brought it to spike and um initially i wanted to direct it and spike uh said he'd executive produce it but we couldn't get a deal because i had no experience as a director, no resume as a director. And, and it kind of died. And then Spike said, you know what? I want to do this. So we were like, go ahead. Yeah.

And then the money comes. Sure. Yeah. So, uh, that's unbelievable. He got, he got beat up. Yeah. Almost to death. Yeah.

Wow. People he knew. Yeah. There's a lot of funny theories in that, in that movie about who the Son of Sam could be. Like someone thought it was Reggie Jackson because his number was 44. Yeah. It got very bizarre, you know. There was shit on the news where they were trying to, what Son of Sam meant backwards.

Like people were trying to find clues because he was sending these very cryptic letters to Jimmy Breslin and to the newspapers, you know, satanic references. And, you know, it got very crazy, you know, for a while. Yeah. And you're also a member of the Jazz Foundation of America. And you did a benefit concert for A Great Night in Harlem at the Apollo Theater. People don't know that, but you're into jazz. That's amazing. You know, I'm into music, you know, a lot of different genres of music, but jazz is something I've always loved.

And the Jazz Foundation just is very, very much hands-on. So the money just goes directly to musicians, a lot of whom are very, you know, old or elderly. You know, they have health issues. They can't pay their rent. I mean, these are people who dedicated to the lives of lives to music and got fucked over, you know, get no royalties, you know, we're on these great records and just got fucked over by the system back then. And, you know, it, sometimes it finds them gigs.

Sometimes it buys them new instruments so they can play gigs. Sometimes it just, you know, buys them food. And it buys them new instruments so they can play gigs. Sometimes it just, you know, buys them food. And, you know, I think it's just one of the best charities around, you know, if you're into music, of course. Right. A Great Night in Harlem refers to that famous photograph with all the jazz musicians on a brownstone, right? Yes. Yeah. And the Jazz Foundation uses that name for their yearly benefit in the springtime. They didn't have it last year, you know, because of COVID, but they usually do this great benefit at the Apollo every year. Tons of, you know, incredible musicians that go and play

and try to raise money for that very good cause. All right. So the scene in Goodfellas, Spider, how much of that was improvised? What are that? I mean, you know, it's so funny. When I see that scene, I think about how after he shoots you in the foot and you're limping back to get the drink for him again, the next time you see him, you say, Tommy, why don't you go fuck yourself? There's not a more justified go fuck yourself ever. That was the

only line that was in the script. I'm sure. Literally, you know, I'll tell you the whole, it's kind of a funny story, right? So I get this, they say, I knew they were casting that movie. It was originally called Wise Guy. That was the name of the book. Right.

I just started doing little things in movies. I had done one or two, and I was, like, desperate to get seen for that because those were my heroes, Scorsese and De Niro. And I had an agent. I just started working with an agent. They got me an audition for the casting director. And they were giving all the guys scenes for Joe Pesci's character, Tommy. And in the book, Tommy was like 21.

Right. So the scene I prepared for the audition was as Tommy, as Joe Pesci's character. And I thought I was auditioning for that part. So what I did was I improvised a lot because I knew Scorsese liked improv, because I knew a lot about how he made movies. Right.

So I went in and I'm playing Tommy and I'm improvising, blah, blah, blah. And the casting person says, that's great. Come back and meet Marty. So I do the same scene from Marty. And I audition and they call me. They say, you got the part as Spider. I'm like, Spider, what part is that? And I went through the book and I see this tiny little thing.

I thought I was getting the lead. Wow. Deluded and dumb, you know? And I was like, all right, well, it's Martin Scorsese. So I get this part. There was literally no lines except for that. Wow. So on the first day, you know, we rehearse.

And he just says, you know, just bring the drink over to the table and whatever happens, happens. And there you have it. I mean, it was different every take and we just went with it and had fun with it. You know, when I started shooting it, I played him a little more as a wise ass. Right. And Marty came up to me and said, you know what? I think this kid's a little slow. So I kind of turned that into having him stutter,

and that's where that came out of, which was actually a very good choice because it made it a little bit more imbalanced and pathetic in a way, and just kind of a lot more unwarranted, you know? In a movie with iconic scenes, like crazy, that might be the most iconic scene is you as Spider. And just a great job what about

what about the sopranos how does christopher moltisanti how does that come into your life well like i said i did the audition for for uh david chase through the casting people who were my friends at that point and david um at that point his name was dean moltisanti in the script right the pilot script and tony soprano's name was tommy soprano in the script, the pilot script. And Tony Soprano's name was Tommy Soprano in the script. And I guess David liked me because they flew me out to LA to test for the network. And I think at that point, I was the only one they were testing. And I based him on a guy that I knew who was a New York guy who kind of was on the periphery. He had family who were involved in the mob and he was doing some jobs for them and got really scared. They

had to do some job and he got really, really fucking scared and left and went to LA to be an actor. Wow. And that's who he was. I found the rhythm and the kind of vibe through that guy. Wow. I mean, there's some dark stuff that your character does. That's what's so amazing about that show. You're doing all these dark things and they're lovable characters. You know what I mean?

It's like you're chopping guys up in Satriali's, the back of Satriali's pork stop. And, you know, and meanwhile, the characters you love, like the Mary Tyler Moore show or something. It's fucking, it's crazy how the charisma you have to have, and you definitely have it. Is there a favorite episode you did of the Surprows? I loved the Pine Barrens episode.ulie and christopher get lost in the snow

which was you know it wasn't written to be in the snow it just like snowed like a few days before we were going up to shoot at first they were thinking of postponing it and then they're like what are we crazy this is like it's perfect a blessing yeah um but that was just so much fun. You know, when those guys, you know, those guys are so much about their little world. In their little world, they're king. They know exactly what to do. They're very comfortable. When they're fish out of water, it gets really funny because they don't know how to really kind of behave. Exactly.

They don't have to behave under anybody else's rules at all, you know? Yes. To where it gets, and the rule there was a rule of nature. It gets cold and you're like, fuck it. And they're wearing these little leather jackets and, you know, loafers and shit. And they're totally ill-equipped, which is a real funny part. Yeah. And you yourself do a podcast now with Steve Scharippa.

Yes. We're almost done. We have only one more episode to record. It'll air at the, the last airing will be like right before Christmas. Has that been fun for you? That's a totally new thing then. There's a different thing than acting. We didn't know what the fuck we were doing.

Yeah, it's been fun just really examining the show because we go scene by scene of every single episode, you know. It's been fun to really, because I didn't watch it since it went off the air. I had not looked at that show since 2007. Right.

So going back with some distance has been really interesting, you know, and really fun. What do you think about the ending of the show? What was your opinion on that? Did you know any of that was going to happen fun. What do you think about the ending of the show? What was your opinion on that? Did you know any of that was going to happen? And what did you think of it when you saw it?

David told me like a year before. Because I asked him once. I said, well, how are you going to end this? He goes, well, I think everything just goes to black. Which kind of made sense and kind of didn't. And I forgot about it. And on the day that show aired, for the first time, the finale, we did a big event down in Hollywood, Florida, the Hard Rock, the main cast. We did like a Q&A and meet and greet kind of thing.

And then at 9 o'clock, we went into a private room to watch it together. And the audience saw it on a big screen. And we were all pretty shocked. We weren't sure if that was we we were pretty stunned like everybody else and then i just thought oh he's dead that's the last thing he saw right he went black yeah um and i've always kind of maintained that that's what happened um you know it's it's a very controversial, people have a lot of mixed opinions. I mean, to its defense, 15 years later or something, people are still talking about it.

Oh, absolutely. Well, the reason, the best argument I've heard for the fact that he dies is earlier in the season or maybe another season when he goes up to Montreal with Steve Schripper's character. And they're talking about what do you think happens when you get shot? You know, they're talking about death. And Tony said, I think it just all goes to black. And like the last thing you see or you hear is someone shooting, and it goes to black, and that's exactly what happens. I loved it.

He says you don't see it coming and they flash back to that see that's the first that's the first episode of the final season what you just mentioned right and they flash back to that in like the next to last episode right yeah yeah yeah so i think i think chase had his mind up what he was going to do for a while. I agree. You know, just again, if they're still talking about it, that means you're doing something right. This episode of Artie Lang's Halfway House is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy. Doing this show, is that like therapy for you? It is. It's very therapeutic to do this.

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Chew.com. Promo code ARTIE, A-R-T-I-E, to try it for free. Visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank Blue Chew for sponsoring this podcast. What about you and Gandolfini, man? I remember being shocked at that myself and just sad because, you know, the world lost an amazing actor. And he seemed to be a good friend to you guys, right? Oh, he was a great friend. You know, I acted with Jim more than I've acted with anyone else in my whole career, probably more than I ever will. And, you know, we did a lot of really heavy stuff as actors and really meaty stuff as actors.

And we really enjoyed working together. And we hung out a lot. Right. A lot of the cast did. And we had a lot of fun together. And he was just a really phenomenal actor, but as good as an actor, as good a guy. And the day he died was, you know, like the worst day of my life.

Yeah, yeah. That and 9-11 were the two probably worst days of my life. When Christopher dies in the show, the way Tony kills him, how much of that, you know, was thrown around a little bit of like, you know, okay, if he's got, because, you know, it seemed to me like that your character had to die at some point.

It was going to happen. Oh, yeah. You know. It was doomed. Yeah. How much of that was input from you? None. No, no.

There was, you know, the only time I really had input was on, because I wrote five episodes. So for those things I had input. But besides that, I never went and said, this would be good for my character or this or that never never never it was just you know those scripts are always perfect you know pretty much when you receive them as an actor which is very rare for anything tv or film absolutely but it just made sense if you mean the last you know season they call it season 6A and B. We always said season 6 and season 7 because they were like a year apart.

Right. That last nine episodes, that season 7, Tony gets very, very dark. Yeah. I mean, he kills his whatever, nephew or cousin, however they were related somehow, I mean, in pretty much cold blood. Yeah. To save his own ass, basically. Yeah, Christopher was definitely doomed. There was no, that was very clear. But he's, you know, if you watch those last few episodes,

Tony gets really almost like evil, satanic. Absolutely. It's pretty hard, yeah. The scenes when you're actually on heroin, I'm a heroin addict. I guess it's a dark thing to say, but I am. And you always are. I'm in recovery and stuff like that. But you really seem to be able to nail that.

Like the time when you, the episode in back of Bada Bing, when you tell Tony, you say, oh, my, I snorted a lot of H. And you're really, you could tell you're out of it. I mean, is that just, that's just acting? Do you have anything to draw from that? Or are you just acting like, you know, you think someone might be on heroin? Both. Yeah. Yeah. um both yeah yeah it uh i was always impressed by how perfectly you played the nuance of those scenes you know oh

thank you very much um you know i've been around a lot of people who had issues with that and saw it very up close and very personally and um and then you use your imagination as an actor and that's what you do but um um i'll be really honest they were really anytime he was high there's that one episode called the ride and he's at the feast and it's like it's the song the dolphins by fred neal and it's no dialogue and he's just high, that shit is really fun to play as an actor. If you could do it. It just is. If you could do it well because there's so many people you see

over the years that try it and they don't get it. Yeah. If you can, you know, it's just really juicy stuff to do as an actor and a lot of fun. You won an Emmy for season five. And how much, how special was that for you? You know,

at the time it was special, you know, because I had been nominated a few times and I, and I didn't win. And, you know, that kind of stuff is really good for business. Right.

Of course. It helps you get better salaries and better jobs for a little while, maybe for like two years, maybe not even that long. And then you're back to square one. But, you know, that was a really good night because that night was Dre DiMatteo won and I won. Right. The show won best show for the first time at the Emmys. It had been nominated like four times. Can you imagine it was nominated like four times before that didn't win best show?

Wow, that's unbelievable. So we all won. It was a lot of fun. And that night Pacino was sitting across from me and he won. So I have pictures backstage of Al and I, you know, Al giving me a hug and me holding the thing. And Al was one of my, you know, probably the reason more than any other actor why I became an actor. So that was a big night for me. Yeah. You know, you talk about Pacino and acting and how stuff like The Godfather came about, how like they wanted to give it to

somebody else, that part of Michael. And coppola just argued it was sheer acting ability that got pacino that part just you know able to that that turn he makes you talk about tony turning dark that turn that uh pacino makes from being the war hero and naive kid to what he becomes at the end of that movie is pretty amazing. Oh, it totally is. Cause he's kind of innocent in the beginning and kind of goofy and sweet. And, uh, yeah, he was a pretty, you know, he had done panic and needle park, which was an indie movie. Right. That did pretty well, but probably nobody, most people didn't see it. You know what I mean? He had done Broadway.

I think he had won a Tony by then. So in the theater world, but like in the mainstream film world to America, he had no, you know, no box office appeal. So and it was paramount. It was a huge movie for them. I think they actually even wanted Redford at one point. Yeah. They're like blonde haired, blue eyed. Michael Corleone.

Ryan O'Neill, I think. Yeah, Ryan O'Neill. Anybody who could make some money. Exactly. And then you did Law & Order. And I got to ask you how that was because that seems like a lot of great New York actors come through Law & Order. And you did a full season of that? No, you know, Law & Order has really helped New York actors, a lot of theater actors, indie film actors for years, you know, keep them employed.

You know, God bless that production. And New York crew people. It's just brought a lot of business and a lot of work to the city. I did one episode as like a villain before Sopranos. And then one year, Jesse Martin, who at the time was the lead with Dennis Farina, they were the stars. Jesse's a friend of mine. And he was going off to do the movie Rent because he did the original Broadway production. And he kind of arranged and asked if I would fill in for like six episodes as the star and HBO and NBC somehow worked it out

because I was still doing The Sopranos under contract that I could go off and do six episodes with that. It was really fun because I got to be with Dennis Farina, who is a wonderful dude. And yeah, he passed away. Yeah. He was so fun. We had a really good time, became really good friends on that. And that was a lot so fun. We had a really good time, became really good friends on that. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, I could imagine. I mean, you know, that's what it seems like when you watch you act, you know, you could see that it's a passion that you have. And that comes through, you know, whenever you're an actor, that comes through in anything you do, hopefully. How did you find out about Gandolfini passing away?

I was on the street. I was living in California for a number of years, in Santa Barbara, California. And I was on the street, and Steve called me, Sharippa. And he said, Jim died. And at the time, we had a friend, another friend named Jim, who had cancer, who survived, but at the time, he was going through treatment. And I said, Jim, who? He said, Gandolfini. And I was like, I was like, the floor just opened up. I was like, what? Yeah. Now, at the time, there had been weird weird uh google like internet hoaxes about people dying there

was one about me uh oddly enough it was a weekend i went camping and my phone wasn't working and my wife was like people were calling my wife saying where's michael is he okay and she's like why uh just call him and like like shit like that was happening right right so i said to steve wait a second this might be one of those things and and steve myself and jim all had the same lawyer and i called him and uh he said no i was just off the phone with the sister she's with him she was with him in rome he's dead and it was you know it just just complete, complete, complete shock. I mean, he was only, I think, 52. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The same thing happened to me on the Stern show. Somebody called up and said, Artie's dead. And they just started running it on CNN, like on the bottom scroll. Yeah. And I'm sitting there and we happen to be in Vegas. And someone called in to the police department that I had died. be in Vegas. And someone called in to the police department that I had died. And the details they had were unbelievable. Like it was of a drug overdose. His girlfriend found them and they

had to come up and physically look at me to see that if I was there. They had a security. Did you think for a minute it was true and that you were like watching it from the other world. Michael, I still think that about my life. Absolutely. And you can see you guys did a lot together as a cast, and that, I think, helps it work even better. Like you said, that Pine Barrens episode, you and, what's that actor's name? Tony Sirico.

Tony Sirico, yeah. You guys had a tremendous rapport together. That last scene where Tony says, if the guy comes back, he's going to be your problem. And you see his hair's all like, he's got the wings out. You realize you never saw him without a good haircut before. Like he's got the wings out. You realize you've never seen a good haircut before. But, you know, in all honesty, sometimes you get compliments that you just really remember.

And I appreciate what you had to say about the film I made, Beer League. I was going to bring that up. Beer League, you know, was one of those movies. I knew a lot of the people. Like Seymour was one of my closest friends. Yeah, Seymour Casale. I loved Seymour. What an interesting guy.

He stayed, when he came to New York, he used to stay at my house. So my kids kind of thought he was their crazy uncle. And Anthony DeSando, who was on Sopranos. He was so amazing in that, yeah. Yeah. But that movie took me by surprise because it had a lot. I mean, it's a very funny movie, but it had a lot of heart and it's an indie. It's a real New York indie movie that I, and I would not say that if I've seen a lot of indies that I don't

like, and I wouldn't say that just to compliment you. It had a lot of heart and it was a really well done movie. Now you wrote that? I co-wrote it with a kid named Frank Sebastiano, who, Italian kid from Jersey, went to NYU and wrote a lot of Norm MacDonald's jokes on Weekend Update. Did you write, did you direct it? No, it was directed by Frank Sebastiano. Yeah. He's, who was a film school student who was really, I wouldn't have done it the injustice of trying to direct it because that's such a specific skill. How much do you like, are you, do you like directing? You know, I directed a lot of theater over the years,

which I like because it's just you with the actors, really, you know. Right. I directed one indie film that I wrote that I, you know, I raised the money through some generous friends basically and I had complete freedom over that. Right. That's the only way I really want to work as a director. I don't have ambitions to be like, you know, a director per se.

I like writing a lot. director per se. Uh, I like writing a lot. Um, um, but, uh, did you, um, was beer league inspired by something true? Yeah. I played in those leagues a lot. Well, I, I, is that where you're from? No, from Jersey. I'm from Jersey. I'm from union, New Jersey. But it was filmed in Staten Island. It was filmed. No, it was all filmed in Jersey. Oh, it was? Yeah, North Jersey, Bayonne, Jersey City, Rutherford. And basically the whole opening sequence of The Sopranos, we shot in every town, you could see. But yeah, we had both played in those softball leagues, me and Frank. And it was just something that had never been done before on film. No one ever captured that attitude and that world like we were going to try to do, at least,

in beer league. So yeah, I got up from playing ball in those leagues. I was a good baseball player in high school. And after I graduated, I didn't go to college or anything. And I just started playing in those leagues. I played for probably like seven years before I didn't go to college or anything and I just started playing in those leagues I played for probably like 7 years before I had to go to California so yeah it was anyway my manager Tommy will tell you how impressed I was

and how excited I was that you had seen the movie and liked it I liked it a lot and Carol Bono she played Christopher's wife another great actress how hard is it Yeah, I liked it a lot. And Carol Bono, she's also, she played Christopher's wife. Yeah, yeah. Another great actress. How hard is it to see? Like, you always wonder with The Sopranos, who's going to go next?

Who's going to die? Who's going to? The scene where your girl dies. Yeah. They let Miami Steve kill her. Yeah. They let Miami Steve kill her. Yeah. What goes through your mind when you see that? Like, you probably got very close to Jair Mateo, too, right?

Yeah. You know, the hard thing is knowing, you know, when those characters left. My character almost, there was only a couple episodes left. It was the last season. Right. It wasn't like I felt, oh, I'm going to miss out on that. That wasn't really the case. But some of the characters left early, like Vinny Pastor and Dre. You knew you weren't going to be seeing them at work every day.

That was, you know, the thing that was emotional about it. Because we all became such good friends. And that was more what that was about in a way yeah and uh also real quick just to let me just to let you know uh the saints the many saints of newark uh i haven't seen it yet but um how are you you approached it all to do something in that i i do narration in that oh you do yeah The movie, the central character in that movie is Christopher's father, Dickie Moltisanti. So the movie actually opens on Christopher Moltisanti's grave.

Right. And it's my voiceover from hell. He's talking from the other place. Right. Talking about his Tony Soprano. And Christopher, his narration ends the movie and is a little bit in the middle. Yeah, wow. I watched that movie with my wife.

Right. And it reminded me how long it had been since I watched The Sopranos. And just like he's been saying, we stopped thinking about The Sopranos at the end of it. And 10, 12, 15 years, however long, has gone by. So we binge-watched it over the last month or six weeks. And it's funny. When I was 23, 24, I would identify with Christopher's character. Fast forward, I now have people who work for me.

I have two kids. I have a wife. I have a wife. I have a house. And I identify with the Tony Soprano character more so. And it just reinforces that that as a work of art was so timeless, that show. Yeah, it's something really special to be a part of, obviously. And, you know, you're one of the main guys. Listen, Michael, I really appreciate you doing this.

My pleasure. I just want to mention, we just last week came out, Steve and I put out a book called Woke Up This Morning, which came out of the podcast and expanded on it. We re-interviewed a lot of the actors and crew people, and it's got personal photos and stuff. It's like 500 pages, and it's an oral history of the show. Oh, that's great.

That just came out this last week. So, you know, anybody interested, any fans who, you know, want to learn a little bit more behind-the-scenes stuff, Woke Up This Morning is available. And, yeah, man, thanks for having me. I hope to see you on stage soon. When's the next gigs? I haven't had anything planned for a while. I took some time off, but I'll be getting back up there. Absolutely.

Okay, brother. Thanks for asking. Michael, thanks so much again. And we'll talk to you. I look forward to seeing the next thing you do as well. We'll be right back. Thank you.