After the height of “The Sopranos” madness, Matt Servitto, known for playing Special Agent Dwight Harris in the HBO original, thought fans would stop recognizing him for the role. Thanks to streaming, that hasn’t been the case at all.
“What’s crazy is it’s come full circle,” Servitto told TheWrap Wednesday at a press event at New York’s Da Nico Ristorante tied to the 25th anniversary of the show. The actor pointed to the 20 and 30-year-olds who binge watched “The Sopranos” during the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for its recent burst in popularity.
“The greatest gift of ‘The Sopranos’ was COVID because all of my kids’ generation watched the show because they weren’t allowed to watch it when they were 10,” Servitto said. For walking around New York, he thought the rabid fanbase around the show was “over” because everyone who watched “The Sopranos” when it first premiered “were home in bed.”
“No, now their kids are out and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, we gotta get a picture. Can we get a picture with you?’” Servitto said.
When he first auditioned for the pilot of David Chase’s crime drama in 1997, he didn’t think “The Sopranos” would last. He was so confident of this that during Season 1’s wrap party in a “low-key pizzeria in Little Italy” he used the event to say goodbye to his castmates.
“I thought, ‘Everything I end up loving just doesn’t last, and things I hate go on for 10 seasons,’” Servitto explained. “I thought, ‘America’s not ready for this show. I don’t know if it’s going to work.’”
It ended up working beyond his wildest expectations.
Servitto likened walking around New York in the late ’90s and early 2000s with James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico to “being with the Rolling Stones in 1969.”
“Everywhere we went in New York, the door would swing open. The entire crowd would separate, and we go to the coolest table,” Servitto said. “And then The Rolling Stones started hanging out with us. They loved the show. They gave us their entire library.”
Years later, Servitto is grateful to streaming for keeping his work alive and for giving other generations an opportunity to see it.
“It just proves that good art lasts,” Servitto said. “I’m overjoyed. My kids had no idea, and now they think I’m cool, so I’m very grateful.”
