The Sopranos creator David Chase had a clear vision of what he wanted his characters to be. He was very strict about his storylines and the dialogue of the characters. However, he admitted that he once had to concede to the demand of an actor on the show. The demand came from Tony Sirico, who played Paul Gualtieri aka Paulie Walnuts, and Chase believed that Sirico’s demand was fair.
David Chase revealed that Sirico wanted to remove the word ‘bully’ from another actor’s line about his character. Chase revealed this rather sensitive side of Sirico in the wake of his passing in 2022. Sirico also had major roles in Goodfellas and several Woody Allen films including Mighty Aphrodite.
The Sopranos Actor Tony Sirico Wanted David Chase To Remove One Description of Him
During an interview with Vulture, David Chase recalled actor Tony Sirico’s one demand while filming the iconic crime drama The Sopranos. Sirico played Paulie Walnuts who begins as a soldier in the DiMeo crime family and later becomes a captain. Sirico originally auditioned for Dominic Chianese’s Uncle Junior role but Chase offered him Paulie instead.
Sirico was one actor who could make certain demands of creator and head writer Chase. The Sopranos creator usually doesn’t pay heed to such demands and runs a tight ship. For Sirico, his casting itself came with the sole demand that he wouldn’t be written as a ‘rat’ (via Uproxx).
Chase shared with Vulture that Sirico was part of the greatest cast he had ever worked with. He also happened to be the only one who asked for a line to be changed. Chase did it and explained why it was important to Sirico. The Goodfellas actor wanted to change the line of another character, who used the word “bully” to describe Paulie.
Chase shared, “Another character was talking about Paulie, and they said he was a bully. Tony didn’t like that.” Being a bully was not even one-tenth a crime that he otherwise did on the show. However, Chase shared that Sirico was very sensitive when it came to that word. Chase guessed that it must’ve had something to do with his past. He shared:
The important thing is, he didn’t like that word. He didn’t like it at all. I wonder if [his past had] something to do with why he was so sensitive about it. Maybe he had been a bully as a young man. I’ve seen a picture of him as a young man standing out in the street next to a parking meter with a tank top on. Flexing his muscles, you know. He looked the part.
Sirico’s Paulie is a violent and paranoid gangster in The Sopranos but he never was a bully. Despite many other characters turning against Tony Soprano throughout the series, Paulie remained loyal to Tony until the end. As Sirico made sure before he took on the role, Paulie never turned out to be a rat.
Tony Sirico Had A Criminal History Before He Turned His Attention To Acting
The Soprano crime family enforcer was a real-life mobster who racked up 28 arrests before his film career (via Uproxx). In 1967, Sirico served 13 months behind bars after being found guilty of robbing a Brooklyn club. In 1971, he pleaded guilty to felony weapons possession and was sentenced to 20 months in jail.
While serving his time, he came across a performance troupe of ex-cons called the Theater of The Forgotten, who performed for the inmates. Sirico once recalled this experience, “When I watched them, I said to myself, ‘I can do that’”.
He reached out to Richard Castellano, The Godfather actor, for a role in Hollywood. He joined as an extra in Crazy Joe and later took on more meaty roles. Sirico’s association with the Colombo crime family often became part of his Sopranos story arc.
The Sopranos is now available for streaming on Max.
