Cleaver (The Sopranos)

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Poster for the film Cleaver.
Poster for the film Cleaver.

Cleaver is a metafictional direct-to-DVD mafia-slasher film — described alternately as "Saw meets the Godfather II and "the Ring meets The Godfather" — within the mob-drama The Sopranos. The screenplay was written by J. T. Dolan based on a story by Christopher Moltisanti, directed by Morgan Yam and produced by Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. and Moltisanti. The film starred Jonathan LaPaglia as Michael "the Cleaver" and Daniel Baldwin as mob boss Salvatore ("Sally Boy"). Also starring as Sally-boy's key advisors are George Pogatsia as Frankie and Lenny Ligotti as Nicky. Moltisanti and Lupertazzi initially attempted to recruit Ben Kingsley to fill the role of the mafia don in "Luxury Lounge (6x07)," but Kingsley turned down the part.

Contents

[edit] Taglines

  • "It's about a wiseguy with a big mouth, and bigger dreams." — Christopher Moltisanti
  • "The story of a young man who goes to pieces, then manages to find himself again." — Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.
  • "He wants a piece of you." — Movie poster.

[edit] Plot

Cleaver — originally titled Pork Store Killer and starring a protagonist named "the Butcher" — follows Michael (a nod to actor Michael Imperioli), a "young wiseguy, assassin, gets betrayed by his people. They whack him, leave his body parts in dumpsters all around the city. Long story short, he is put back together, by science, or maybe it's supernatural. And he gets payback on everyone who fucked him over, including the cunt he was engaged to. She was getting porked by his boss the night the hero was killed."

Several episodes in the film are drawn from Moltisanti's own life experiences as a made-man in the Soprano Crime Family, including a misinterpreted and overblown rumor concerning a potential affair between Family head Anthony Soprano and Christopher's then-fiance Adriana La Cerva. The film closes on a tight-shot of a crucifix and a cornicello, juxtaposing "the sacred and the profane" (or, as Lupertazzi malaprops, "the sacred and the propane.")

[edit] Development

Moltisanti met Dolan while both were in rehab recovering from heroin addiction in "In Camelot (5x07)." Their friendship was quickly complicated when Christopher introduced J. T. to the underground world of high-stakes poker games, inadvertently giving the writer a new outlet for his addictive personality. Dolan rapidly found himself $57,000 in debt, and soon wound up back in rehab at Moltisanti's prompting.

The film itself originated in "Mayham (6x03)," when Moltisanti offered Dolan a way to clear his debts: write a screenplay for a digital slasher film based on a concept by Christopher. But the story had its genesis long before when Christopher began his quest to write a screenplay in "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti (1x08)." After struggling through 19 pages, Moltisanti became disillusioned and slipped into a depression, throwing away his work. He later had an affair with studio vice-president Amy Safir in "D-Girl (2x07)"; through her he met Swingers and Made scribe Jon Favreau, with whom he discussed his film concept.

In "Kaisha (6x12)," he discussed the similarities between Sally-boy and Anthony Soprano with Julianna Skiff, describing both as men who think that everything belongs to them — a notion crystallized by Sally-boy in Cleaver's finale when he tells Michael that "what you have belongs to me" because "what's mine is mine; what's yours is mine."

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Mockumentary

In conjunction with the premiere of "Stage 5," HBO aired the seven-minute mockumentary Making Cleaver, detailing the film's production. Including in-character interviews with Moltisanti, Lupertazzi, Yam, Baldwin, LaPaglia, and special-effects make-up artist Steve Kelly, the behind-the-scenes look is broken up into four segments: "Concept," "Courting Kingsley," "Cast and Crew," and "A 'Family' Production."

[edit] External links

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