After a six season run, the cast of The Sopranos have plenty of interesting stories to tell about the time they spent on set throughout the early 2000s. In a recent interview with Insider, Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby Baccalieri on the series, recalled a time when two of his co-stars got too drunk between takes and had to be tied to a tree.
The cast was filming an episode from season four titled, “Whoever Did This,” in which Tony (played by James Gandolfini) and Christopher (played by Michael Imperioli) need to hurl a body off of a cliff.
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In today’s day and age, it’s become common practice for film sets to prioritize risk reduction with the use of green screens, but on The Sopranos, things were done a bit differently.
The scene in question was being shot at night, using a real ledge, and according to Schirripa, it was taking awhile to get things right, so his buddies began drinking to pass the time between takes.
“On the break, while they set up the lights, Michael and [Gandolfini] drank a bottle of Wild Turkey,” the actor recalled to Insider.
“They were so drunk that they had to chain their legs to a tree, because they were afraid they were going to fall off the cliff.”
Imagine that – Tony Soprano himself, chained to a tree. Luckily for everyone, the shoot was completed without incident, and what was once a stressful workday for many on set can now be looked back upon as a comedic story.
If you want to hear more about what happened behind the scenes of The Sopranos, check out the Talking Sopranos podcast, hosted by Schirripa and Imperioli.
[Via]