What do mob gangsters and 1960s garage rockers have in common? The answer is David Chase, the creative mind behind one of HBO’s most successful television dramas, The Sopranos.
As music blogger Alan Cross highlights, Chase has turned his gaze to music and film as he gears up for the premiere of his latest work, Not Fade Away. The writer/director/producer has been relatively quiet since The Sopranos finale aired back in 2007 and is set to make waves with his feature film debut this Friday when Not Fade Away hits US cinemas for a limited release.
The film has been described as a ‘music-driven, coming-of-age story’ that revolves around a 1960s teenage drummer, played by John Magaro, who believes he has what it takes to form a band that will rival the musical talents of The Rolling Stones.
Set in New Jersey, the film was a reunion of sorts as James Gandolfini, who you may remember as mob boss Tony Soprano, stars in the film as Magaro’s disapproving father.
“It was good to work together again after The Sopranos because The Sopranos was such a big, huge thing and it was nice to just get back to shooting a film somewhere with nobody around,” Gandolfini told Associated Press. “It was kind of just going back to work.”
Steve Van Zandt also returns to Chase’s side as producer and musical supervisor of the film following on from his role in The Sopranos as gang-member Silvio Dante.“I didn’t want to do a biopic. If it was going to be a biopic, I wanted to do a biopic about nobodies – which is what it kind of is.” – David Chase, Director
Van Zandt seems an appropriate choice for the executive position given his experience as guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. The guitarist reportedly played a large part in prepping the young actors in the film to succeed in accurately representing a genuine 60s garage rock band.
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“Yeah there was the civil rights thing going on; there was the women’s rights thing going on; there was this thing called Vietnam going on,” Van Zandt remarked to Associated Press about the film’s period setting. “Cities were burning to the ground. And we were like: ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just get me to band rehearsal and let’s figure out the chords to this new Yardbirds song’.”
According to The Telegraph, the story incorporates autobiographical elements that derive from Chase’s experiences growing up in New Jersey and his love of music. “I love rock ‘n’ roll so much that I really wanted to make a movie about the music, not about the personalities involved, not about the ups and downs or the rise and fall of it,” Chase says.
Adding: “I didn’t want to do a biopic. If it was going to be a biopic, I wanted to do a biopic about nobodies – which is what it kind of is.”
This ‘biopic about nobodies’ is the latest in a string of film productions about ‘definite somebodies’, detailing the lives of legendary musicians.
Earlier in the year, the Jeff Buckley biopic Greetings from Tim Buckley – which looked more like a romcom than a serious narrative -premiered, while there is still talk of a second unrelated Jeff Buckley chronicle, Mystery White Boy in the works.
There’s also no less than three film projects in the works on the life and times of fallen INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, including the band giving their blessing to two-part miniseries Never Tear Us Apart: The INXS Story, following on from writer/producer Bobby Galinsky announcing Two Worlds Colliding on the 15th Anniversary of the singer’s death, based on the book written by Hutchence’s sister Tina and late mother Patricia Glossop, Just A Man.
Lastly is one simply called Michael, a Screen Australia-funded production from Richard Lowenstein, the director of cult INXS-starring flick Dogs In Space and several of the bands videos from their 80s heyday, including ‘Need You Tonight’ and “Never Tear US Apart.
Let’s not forget Dave Grohl’s all-star rockumentary Sound City: Real to Reel, chronicling the titular LA recording studio, interviewing a star-studded lineup associated with the infamous studio, as well as providing a jaw-dropping, kick-ass soundtrack including collaborations between the Foo Fighters frontman and the likes of Joshua Homme, Stevie Nicks, Trent Reznor, and Rage Against The Machine; as well as the Paul McCartney-fronted Nirvana reunion track, ‘Cut Me Some Slack’.
